Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

Even though I walk
    through the darkest valley,
I will fear no evil,
    for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
    they comfort me.

• Psalm 23:4

“The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried.

• Luke 16:22

We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.

• 2 Corinthians 5:8

God is our refuge and strength,
    an ever-present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
    and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,

• Psalm 46:1-2

Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said,
“Never will I leave you;
    never will I forsake you.”

• Hebrews 13:5

The last enemy to be destroyed is death.

• 1 Corinthians 15:26

The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what they had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death.

• Revelation 20:13-14

“Death. Your favorite subject? It’s not mine, either. I’m not trying to cloud up your day, but I want to point out that for many people, death is the ultimate fear and the ultimate confusion. When someone dies, I hear a lot of people saying, “He’s in a better place,” even though before the death they tried with all their might to pray him away from that place
Woody Allen once said, ‘It’s not that I’m afraid of dying, I just don’t want to be there when it happens.’ Apparently he has given the matter some thought, because this comment is also attributed to him: ‘I don’t want to achieve immortality through my work. I want to achieve immortality through not dying. I don’t want to live on in the hearts of my countrymen; I would rather live on in my apartment.’
We treat death as the ultimate obscene word. Rather than simply saying, “He died,” we plug in an endless supply of euphemisms: ‘Passed on.’, Went to a better place.’ ‘Was called home.’ ‘Went to sleep.’ ‘Departed this life.’ Or if Shakespeare is your thing, ‘shuffled off this mortal coil.’ The poet John Betjeman wanted to know, ‘Why do people waste their breath inventing dainty names for death?’
…
The believer, however, has a radically different perspective. We grieve, of course. We miss our loved ones with every fiber of our being, and our suffering is real. But we also know that the separation is not what it seems, that life consists of more than the visible. Deep in our mourning, our souls are kindled by the eternal hope of reunion with those we have lost, after which there will be no more parting.
Non-Christians only meet to part again; Christians only part to meet again.
…
Born in 1800, a century before Lewis, John Todd also saw the significance and hope of death. Todd was a Vermont boy who at the age of six lost both parents. He lost his siblings, too, when they were divided among relatives. John was taken in by a kindly aunt. He lived with her for fifteen years until he left to study for the ministry. The years passed, and he became an effective pastor. One day he received a letter from the aunt who raised him. She was dying, and she had the same questions we all ask: “What awaits me in death? Is this the end?” John could feel her anxiety in every line she wrote. John loved his aunt, and he sat down to answer her letter. He began with the story of a little boy of six who waited for the arrival of the woman who would become a mother to him.
…
John Todd painted for his aunt a picture of new life as beautiful as any person could hope for. But I can assure you that it is only a dim shadow compared to the magnificent beauty and joy awaiting us when we finally close this gate and open the new one into God’s presence.”

• Dr. David Jeremiah, Hope, Living Fearlessly in a Scary World

Dr. Jeremiah covers “death” from a variety of angles.  Our attitude, its inevitability, the faces of it, and the fear of it.  And once we identify the fear, we turn that over to God to obtain the Hope.  What promises does God make?

God is our refuge.  God will never forsake us.  When we die we will be carried to the bosom of Abraham.  We will awaken to see God’s glory.  As I have heard, the first thing we see will be Jesus’ face.

And why did Dr. Jeremiah say that Rev. Todd’s description of Heaven falls so short?  I have mentioned it several times in the recent past.  Regardless of what our minds can imagine, Heaven will be beyond our capability of explaining, for there are no words for it in any earthly language.

My wife had a vision about her death, and when she passed away, all the parts of that dream that I could verify came true.  Our soul does not die.  She was carried to Heaven, and she is in Paradise today.

And in the End, God puts an end to death, casting death into the lake of fire.

Lord, strengthen me.  I have experienced death in my family.  Both of my parents and my brother died within a couple of months of each other.  My wife has been with You for a little over a year and a half.  As an evangelist said in a recent interview, being dead carries no fear.  Being physically dead in this body means that I get a new body that will never die and there will be no pain.  But the process of dying may be concerning.  Yet, the more often that I experience severe pain, I think that I can handle that too.  You give me promises and I know You are good on those promises.  May we all have that confidence in You.  As Paul said, to live is Christ and to die is gain.  In Your name I pray.  Amen.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.