After these things I looked, and behold a great multitude. . . – Revelation 7:9
What do dark alleys, caves, and nighttime walks through uncharted forest paths have in common? They are all unknown, mysterious, threatening. There are some people who thrive on exploring the unknown, get excited about solving mysteries, and face threats with courage. But others, probably most people, rest in what’s known ignoring the unknown, skip to the end of the book to uncover mysteries, and avoid threats altogether. You know what else is dark, cavernous, and uncharted for many people? Death, and that can be scary.
Death, though we will all die, is something we willfully ignore or presume not to worry about. But as we get older or perhaps face a life-threatening circumstance in a loved one or in ourselves, the inevitable questions about the afterlife rise to our attention. Depending on what you know, death can be a scary, dark, avoid-at-all-costs life event, or a door to a greater existence than you’ve ever known or even conceived of.
The purpose of this writing is to help you deal with death and find relief from grief. Hopefully, this will serve as a practical tool when death becomes part of the day’s events, or when you’re left behind grieving the departure of a loved one. I encourage you to prayerfully study through what follows and even expand on it. We will all encounter death one day. (The only exception is for those raptured from this world by Jesus, but that is for another study.)
Hope in God’s Word
I’m going to be sharing a lot of scripture with you as we consider this topic. There is a reason for that. The Bible states:
Romans 15:4 – For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.
Dealing with death and finding relief for our grief is not going to be found in the secular or through mere sharing with others. When we talk about eternal things we need to go to the conduit that connects us to the eternal God, that is the Bible. There is no better source of understanding about death or comfort for the grieving.
The Delicate Nature of Life
No matter how long we live, life is brief, brittle, and easily ended. When Joseph had been providentially raised up and positioned by God to save his patriarchal family, his father Jacob met with Pharoah. The Bible describes that meeting in part like this:
Genesis 47:9 — Jacob to Pharaoh: “The days of the years of my pilgrimage are one hundred and thirty years; few and evil have been the days of the years of my life.”
When Job, (who some believe was a contemporary of Abraham and in what many commentators believe is the oldest book of the Bible), was working through severe life trials he said:
Job 14:1-2 — “Man who is born of woman is of few days… He comes forth like a flower and fades away; he flees like a shadow and does not continue.”
In Psalms, the hymn book of God’s people, it states:
Psalm 39:4-5 — “You have made my days as handbreadths… Certainly every man at his best state is but vapor.”
Psalm 102:11 — “My days are like a shadow that lengthens, and I wither away like grass.”
In the New Testament the Apostle Paul comments:
2 Corinthians 4:18 — “the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.”
James, the half-brother of Jesus was inspired to write:
James 4:13-15 – Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; 14 whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. 15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.”
The Apostle Peter was moved by the Spirit to quote Isaiah (Isaiah 40:6-8) and write:
1 Peter 1:24-25 – “All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers, and its flower falls away, but the word of the LORD endures forever.”
Life is fragile and in the broader scope of human history, it is fleeting.
God did not originally create us to die.
God didn’t create us to die. He created us to spend eternity with Him. But why then do we die and is our lifespan so short?
People die because of sin:
Genesis 2:17 — “but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
There were and are still certain things God withholds from our knowledge. Adam and Eve were instructed to not eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. This was a test to validate their love to God. Love and obedience, faithfulness, are intertwined (e.g., John 14:15 and 21). But Eve, and Adam, disobeyed the Lord and the result was, “For dust you are, and to dust you shall return” (Genesis 3:19).
Theologians have been pondering the vast effects of that fateful decision since it was first made. The magnificent New Testament book of Romans summarizes the dreadful effect saying:
Romans 5:12 — “Through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned.”
But in Romans we are given beam of hope:
Romans 6:23 — “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
The solution to death is found in Jesus. More on Jesus in a moment. We need to understand what the cause of death is, sin. Sin is breaking a known law of God. Sin starts with a desire and is birthed with an action on that desire. Sin then results in death:
James 1:15 — “Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.”
This has always been the case. “The soul who sins shall die” (Ezekiel 18:20).
God takes no pleasure in our death.
It broke God’s heart when Eve and Adam sinned against Him. God knew the terrible consequences sin would lead too. He knew in His perfect foreknowledge the pain and suffering humanity would inflict upon itself in sin. Therefore, God says, “For I have no pleasure in the death of one who dies,” says the Lord GOD. “Therefore turn and live!” (Ezekiel 18:32; 33:11).
But God has always had a redemptive plan in mind and heart for us. He first mentioned it to His people through Moses saying:
Deuteronomy 30:19 — “I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live.”
In the New Testament He says:
1 Timothy 2:3-4 — “For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”
2 Peter 3:9 — “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise… but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.”
God “desires all men to be saved,” and is, “not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” Jesus came to model and manifest the redemptive plan of the Triune God. Jesus proclaimed:
John 10:10 — “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”
The nature of sin. We will talk more of this “good news” or gospel of Jesus Christ, but first we need to consider what happens to those who persist in their sins and rebellion against God. Sin is rebellion against and rejection of God. And sin spreads. There are no small sins because of the nature of sin. The best illustration of sin is cancer. Like cancer, a single cell of sin metastasizes and spreads; one “little” sin leads to another, and another, and another. The effects of sin spreads like leprosy deadening the sinner making then less sensitive to the voice of God. It is possible for a sinner to get to a point of no return if they refuse to deal with their sin. I pray you never reach that point where it is said of you, “Therefore they could not believe” (John 12:39).
The more we sin the further it pushes us from God. Sin is like earwax that prevents us from hearing the Lord clearly. Sin is like plaque that clogs our spiritual arteries preventing the cleansing blood of Jesus from giving us life. Sin is humanity’s worst plague. It is the worst plague because it distances us from our loving Creator.
When we die we face judgement
If the sinner persists in sin unrepentantly, and dies in their sins, they will face judgment from God. God is gracious, merciful, long suffering, and loving, but He is also the Supreme Just Judge and will judge the unrepentant sinner. God will not welcome the pain producing rebel sinner into His heaven to wreck more havoc; that would ruin heaven. But God will justly condemn those who choose self and sin over Him. The Bible says:
Ecclesiastes 12:14 — “For God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil.”
The Father has committed judgment to the Son Jesus (John 5: 22 and 27). Imagine being an unrepentant sinner who has rejected the atoning sacrifice of the Judge who died for them, but they rejected that sacrifice? Their judgment will be just.
The Bible states:
Matthew 25:31-32 — “When the Son of Man comes in His glory… He will sit on the throne of His glory. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats.”
John 5:28-29 — “the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.”
Acts 17:31 — “because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained; whereof He has given assurance to all men, in that He has raised Him from the dead.”
The longer you put off turning from or repenting of your sins, the worse your penalty for your sins will be:
Romans 2:5-6 — “you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who ‘will render to each one according to his deeds.'”
Even those who have received and trusted by faith in the gospel of Jesus will face judgement. But their judgment is to determine their rewards, their eternity is secure with Jesus:
Romans 14:10-12 — “For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ… So then each of us shall give account of himself to God.”
Therefore, understand the seriousness of what you are reading. This is something not to be ignored. We need to understand that death leads to final judgment:
Hebrews 9:27 – And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment,
There are no Biblical grounds for and purgatory or second chances after death. Relying on purgatory itself is evidence of a lack of true repentance. Now, right now, is the time to get right with God. “Behold, now is the accepted time; behold now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2). God does guarantee any other time to respond to the gospel but “now.” Do not wait until it is too late:
Revelation 20:12-13, 15 — “And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened… And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books. . . And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.”
If you’re not right with God, if you’re uncertain or unrepentant, now is the day of salvation for you. NOW!
But because God loves us He has made a way for us to be forgiven our sins and spend eternity with Him when we die.
God our Creator could have scrapped what he’d made when our first parents sinned. He would have been just in doing so. But thankfully for us, GOD IS LOVING AND LOVES US. GOD LOVES US ENOUGH TO CREATE A REDEMPTIVE PLAN TO REDEEM US FROM OUR SINFUL PREDICAMENT.
The Bible states:
Romans 5:8-11 – But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. 10 For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. 11 And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.
When you read that do you breathe a sigh of relief? Do those words lead you to well up with love in your heart to God?
Completely in His love, with no deservedness of our own, God demonstrated or showed the nature of His selfless gracious love through His redemptive plan in Christ.
When we confess or admit our sins to God and ask His forgiveness, not based on any work by us but solely on the completed work of Jesus, God has promised to forgive our sins and the Holy Spirit then indwells us giving us spiritual life. You see, sin deadens humanity. We are born with a body and a mind, but that part of us, which is spirit, suited for eternity with God, is dead. Through faith in Jesus we can experience spiritual birth, a second birth (John 3). The Bible explains:
Romans 8:11 — “But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.”
And here is how we deal with death. Here is where we find relief from grief. The Bible states:
1 Corinthians 15:54-55 — “Death is swallowed up in victory. O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?”
1 Corinthians 15:57 — “But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
2 Timothy 1:10 — “our Savior Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.”
Hebrews 2:14-15 — “that through death He [i.e., Jesus] might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.”
Jesus’ redemptive work on the cross and His resurrection is LIVING proof of the defeat of death. Through Jesus, we need not ever fear or even dread death. Jesus said, “Because I live, you will live also” (John 14:19). Oh, we should be so thankful for that, so worshipful to the Triune God for that.
All of this God provides as a gift of His grace received by faith,
But there’s more. God could require anything of us for our redemption, but all He wants is our heart. God’s salvation from sin is a gift of His GRACE. Grace is God’s Riches at Christ’s Expense. God’s Grace does end at His forgiveness. God’s grace sustains us throughout life and eternity and so is also defined as God’s Resources at Christ’s Expense. The Apostle Paul testified to this grace in his life saying:
1 Corinthians 15:10 – But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.
All we need do to experience such grace is trust in Jesus. Indeed, we experience God’s grace as the Holy Spirit convicts us of our need of a Savior before we even think of such a need (John 16:8-11). This is the grace that goes before or prevenient grace. But all we need do to experience the redemption of God’s gracious gospel is trust Jesus as Savior:
Romans 10:9 — “that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”
Romans 10:17 — “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”
Galatians 2:16 — “knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ… for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified.”
Titus 3:5 — “not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit.”
John 1:12 — “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name.”
Why am I sharing this with you?
Why am I even bothering to share this message of redemption with you? What is the point or motivation of preaching, writing, sharing this message with others? Why do I bother? Why don’t I just say, “I’ve got mine, who cares about anyone else?” My answer comes in my favorite passage of the Bible 2 Corinthians 5. I will summarize my motive and reasoning as it states:
2 Corinthians 5:9-11- Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him. 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. 11 Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are well known to God, and I also trust are well known in your consciences.
The terrible consequences of dying without Jesus as your Savior motivates me to share the good news of the gospel with people in hope that they too will be saved from the consequences of their sins.
2 Corinthians 5:12-15 For we do not commend ourselves again to you, but give you opportunity to boast on our behalf, that you may have an answer for those who boast in appearance and not in heart. 13 For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; or if we are of sound mind, it is for you. 14 For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; 15 and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.
The motive to share the gospel with you is not personal enrichment but THE LOVE OF JESUS. Jesus died for us and those who have benefitted from His incredibly loving redemptive work, should no longer live for themselves, but for Him. THE LOVE OF JESUS COMPELS ME TO SHARE THIS MESSAGE WITH YOU. I PRAY YOU TOO WILL EXPERIENCE THE COMPELLING LOVE OF JESUS.
2 Corinthians 5:16-21 – Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. 18 Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, 19 that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. 20 Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. 21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
Therefore, once you’ve experienced the love of Jesus in the gospel, we no longer see people from only a superficial material or ideological perspective. Now we see people from an eternal perspective. Now we introduce people to the hope of becoming a new creation where all the old sin and sinful ways are left behind and everything is made new by Jesus. Now we are ambassadors representing God to this lost world calling sinners to be reconciled to God through the gospel. Now we proclaim how Jesus was made sin for us and His perfect sinless righteousness was put to our account through faith in Jesus as a gift of God’s grace. It’s an incredible message suited to all humanity.
The narrow gospel? Critics of Christianity, and even some “Christians” who minimize the gospel, claim this message is too narrow and the punishment for rejecting it too severe. But I bring to your attention the phrase, “that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself. . ..” Such words are beyond our comprehension. Some overlook them because of certain Bible translations. Others overlook it because truth, no matter how profound, no matter how prolific the evidence, is not as important as their human traditions, human reason or feelings, religious affiliations, or alternative belief systems. No matter. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). Jesus said that because no other “God” was willing, able, or interested in dying for lost sinners let alone rising from the dead to defeat death. Marx is dead and on display in the Kremlin. Muhammed was not sinless, performed no miracles, and showed live love, and remains dead and buried. Confucius is dead and buried. All the gods of Hinduism, Mormonism, even the 144,000 of Jehovah’s Witnesses all fall short of the glory of God in Jesus Christ. He is the only resurrection proved way, truth, and life.
Yes, Jesus is the narrow exclusive way to deal with death and find relief for grief. And yes, so great is the accomplishment of GOD IN CHRIST ON THE CROSS AND RESURRECTION FROM THE DEAD that anyone who rejects such an omni-incredible magnificent redemptive work of God, is justly sentenced to the Lake of Fire eternally. Only such a sentence is suited for such a sin. It is the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, and it will be thus judged.
Yes, it is narrow, but it is appropriate. God loves us so much that He offers every person a clear path to eternity with Him. He didn’t make things confusing. He didn’t try to trick us. He put one door before us and calls us to choose; go through by faith, or not. Jesus said, “I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, . . .” (John 10:7-9). It’s as simple as that. God wants us with Him, eternally, so He made the way simple, truthful, life giving. He gave us Jesus.
Matthew 7:13-14 – “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. 14 Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.
It is a narrow way because of the exclusive redemptive work of Jesus on the cross. What Jesus did for us on the cross is magnificent, exclusively extraordinary, exclusively super sufficient to meet God’s holy just requirements to deal with sin. This is simply the truth, God’s truth, and we dare not, indeed it cannot be compromised.
Those who reject the incredible grace of God and redemptive work of Jesus, deserve every bit of their eternal punishment.
Relief for Grief
Even though we accept Jesus as Savior and receive eternal life, we will still likely die (unless we are raptured.) The Bible states:
Ecclesiastes 3:4 — “A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance.”
Those around Jesus wept and grieved at times as did Jesus Himself:
John 11:33 — “Therefore, when Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her weeping, He groaned in the spirit and was troubled.”
John 11:35 — “Jesus wept.”
But we find relief from grief in that we don’t sorrow as those who have no hope:
1 Thessalonians 4:13 — “But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope.”
Revelation 21:4 — “And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.”
The Christian has hope. For those who know Jesus, their goodbyes are only temporary, never permanent. That’s a tremendous relief in times of grief.
When we suffer loss and grieve, God is with us:
Isaiah 41:10 — “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.”
Jesus knows exactly what we’re going through when we grieve:
Isaiah 53:3-4 — “He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief… Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows.”
Jesus came, “to comfort all who mourn… to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness” (Isaiah 61:1-3). Jesus said, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted” (Matthew 5:4). That’s His promise to the grieving. Jesus extends a strong comforting hand to us saying, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me… and you will find rest for your souls” (Matthew 11:28-29). Jesus left us with the promise:
John 14:1-3 – 1 “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. 2 In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.
John 14:27 — “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”
John 16:22 — “Therefore you now have sorrow; but I will see you again and your heart will rejoice, and your joy no one will take from you.”
Jesus is there for us when we grieve. And because Jesus is there for us, and we have hope in Him, we are able to accept by faith:
Romans 8:18 — “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.”
We have a Heavenly Father to comfort us too:
2 Corinthians 1:3-4 — “the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.”
2 Corinthians 4:16-17 — “Therefore we do not lose heart… our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.”
With God and His promises we can take to heart:
Revelation 21:4 — “And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.”
But you can only deal with death and experience such relief from grief IF YOU KNOW JESUS AS YOUR SAVIOR.
Jesus said:
John 11:25-26 — “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die.”
It’s all about Jesus and how you respond to Him:
John 17:3 – And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.
John 3:36 — “He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”
Acts 4:12 — “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
1 John 5:11-12 — “And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.”
We find relief for our grief because in heaven there is “a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, saying, ‘Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” (Revelation 7:9-10). Now that, that is a comforting through that gives relief for our grief.
Have you experienced the life offered in Christ? Are you ready to die? Do you want God’s help with death and grief? Do you want relief for your grief? I offer this prayer for those of you who answered “yes” to these questions:
Father in heaven, I come to You in Jesus’ name. Please help me not to fear death. I admit my sins and ask Your forgiveness. I don’t rely on my efforts to appease You or make things right, but I trust in Jesus’ completed work on the cross and His resurrection. Please fill me and give me life Holy Spirit. Help me to live for You and share Your gospel with others. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
If you know Jesus as Savior then join me in this prayer:
Father, I come to You in Jesus’ name. Please help me not to fear death and to help others to do the same. Please make me what I need to be, so I can do what You call me to do and share You and Your gospel with others, for Your glory, until Jesus returns. In Jesus’ name. Amen.