After Death

O DEATH WHERE IS YOUR STING? O GRAVE, WHERE IS YOUR VICTORY? 1 Corinthians 15.55.

No one considers death seriously, even as a remote possibility! But the truth is that people like you and I are dying everyday!

There are countless people all over the world who are facing the grim prospect of death due to one reason or another while their distressed loved ones hopelessly watch life ebb away. It is a great pity that most of these dying ones will have no clue of their eternal destiny beyond the grave. The bereaved relatives are left to wonder where their dear ones have gone to and whether they would ever meet them again!

But the Bible, the Word of God, clears all doubts and proclaims emphatically what the future holds for those who trust in God. Listen to the apostle Paul, “I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep (die), but we will all be changed -- in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet of God. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. … when the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: "Death has been swallowed up in victory." "Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?" … thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Cor 15.51-57).

Dear child of God, you and I will surely die one day, sooner or later. You may die at a ripe old age or by sudden illness or calamity. But God has numbered your days as He has an account of the hairs on your head! He has determined your destiny. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son (John 3.16-18). You may be uncertain about your death or may not have even thought about it. But you can be certain that you have eternal life with God when you die!

Pray and practise with me: Dear Lord Jesus Christ, I believe that You are the Son of God who died for me and rose again on the third day. Because You live, I know I too shall live even after I die! Grant hope to the dying and comfort to the distressed. Amen.