Death Is Always Unwelcome

Our daughter and son-in-law’s next-door neighbor died unexpectedly the other day at her workplace, a major healthcare clinic. She was 55. About the same time, two teenagers were killed in a car crash in our mountains. The driver who died was just 16.

Death is always unwelcome, regardless of a person’s age. The loss of a young friend or loved one is especially tragic, but our hearts hurt even at the loss of a 90-year-old friend or loved one. It's always hard to say good-by.

However, “Good-by” doesn’t hurt as much when a Christian friend or loved one leaves this life. We sorrow, but not as those who have no hope. Our hope rests in the promises of eternal life and eventual reunion with our departed Christian friends and loved ones in Heaven. Unless Jesus returns for His Church in our lifetime, all of us Christians will traverse “the valley of the shadow of death,” but we will enter our eternal Home and see our Savior face to face.

The body is a temporary tabernacle for the soul, but someday we will be absent from the body and present with the Lord (2 Cor. 5:8). Ultimately, He will resurrect the body, give it immortality, and reunite it with the soul. For Christians, then, comfort accompanies the harsh reality of death. For non-Christians, the harsh reality of death presents a challenge: “Man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment (Heb. 9:27); but “believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31)

 

 

Perfect Government

Tired of big government? Someday the government will be upon Messiah’s shoulders, and all will be well. When He establishes His kingdom on earth, peace, prosperity, justice, righteousness, and good health will prevail. He will receive the worldwide homage He deserves. Zechariah 13:9 proclaims, ”And the LORD shall be King over all the earth.”  Further, Zechariah 14:16 promises “that everyone who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the King . . . . “

As Christians, we have a bright future in spite of the current challenges of a fallen world. Let’s look up and look ahead in 2010.

The Church and the Kingdom

Are the kingdom and the Church identical? Are we Christians building the kingdom, working in the kingdom, and advancing the kingdom? Am I the only one who believes the kingdom and the Church are not the same, that the kingdom is future, not present? Jesus is building His church now, but He will establish His kingdom when He returns to earth in a dazzling display of glory.

At the turn of the 20^th century, liberal clergymen were predicting a perfect era of human history brought about by good deeds performed by sincere religious men and women.  They were “building the kingdom” and teaching postmillennialism.  However, two world wars put a big dent in postmillennialism; clearly, the human race was not advancing toward Utopia.

The kingdom will not arrive on the heels of human effort. It will arrive when Jesus abruptly ends the vilest period in human history, the Tribulation, in which wickedness runs amok. He will judge the lawless, topple corrupt, satanic government tyrants, and then usher in His kingdom of peace and righteousness.

A Grieving Octogenarian

I received a letter from a grieving octogenarian, a retired international banker who played golf regularly until failing health forced him to hang up his clubs. I had met him when I spoke at a golf outing, and we struck up a friendship. When we met, his wife was suffering from Alzheimer’s, and he was deeply concerned about her. However, he was an agnostic, so he did not believe in prayer or have any confidence in the Bible. Comfort and hope, therefore, were beyond his reach. I shared the gospel with him, but he politely ignored it.

In his letter, the agnostic old gentleman informed me that his wife of 59 years had passed away. He offered these sad words: “I know I will never see her again or talk to her or just be together as we were for 59 years.”

How differently Christians grieve when a Christian loved one dies. They harvest the promises of Scripture about eternal life in heaven, and by faith they grasp the hand of the risen Savior. Christmas escorts us to the birth of Jesus and reinforces in our thinking the fact He came to save us from our sins and to give us assurance of heaven through personal faith in Him. “Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift” (2 Cor. 9:15).

Good News of Great Joy

Christmas cards and letters are arriving daily from friends in the USA and Canada. Many of them mention infirmities that accompany the aging process, but no affliction seems to snuff out the joy of Christmas. It remains intact in spite of physical challenges, the out-of-control national debt, Iran’s long-range missile capability, wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the swine flu threat, and a plethora of other troubling conditions. The Christian’s joy surmounts every crisis and lightens every burden.

An angel of the Lord announced the Savior’s birth as a joyful event. “I bring you good news of great joy,” he proclaimed (Luke 2:10). Secular culture seems to be intent on removing Christmas, but it can never take away the joy Christians share because Jesus was born to be our Savior.

Some who regularly sent Christmas cards to Gloria and me in past years will not be doing so this year. They are in Heaven, where they behold our Savior and rejoice in His presence. Their joy is complete now!

In proclaiming joy to the shepherds, the angel of the Lord said the good news of great joy will be “for all the people” (Luke 2:10). You and I can share this good news of great joy, and surely all who lack the true meaning of Christmas and the assurance of eternal joy need to hear the real reason Jesus came to earth. Let’s "go, tell it on the mountain, over the hills, and everywhere!"