Precious
in the sight of the LORD is the death of His saints (Psa 116:15, NKJV).
In this verse, we need to understand that Yahweh does not take the death of His
saints lightly, as if we were expendable, inconsequential, or insignificant. On
the contrary, the homecoming of a saint, according to the Psalmist, is precious or extremely valuable
in the sight of God. This statement would be rather odd if we died and that was
it; into oblivion we go, as some maintain! Consider our value to God (cf. Psa
49:7-8) in light of this passage found in Matthew 16:26,
For
what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or
what shall a man give in return for his soul?
Did
you know that homecoming is really a big event in heaven! It is on an
unimaginable scale; let me explain. In Luke 15:10, Jesus stated, …there is joy in the
presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.
Think
of it; there is a myriad of good angels; like the stars, that are too numerous
to count! So, if you include their joy with the joy of the Triune Godhead, as
well as the saints who are already there, over the repentance of one sinner, it
makes sense that all of the inhabitants of heaven are rejoicing whenever one
saint finally arrives in heaven! I don’t know how that all works out
logistically, but I am of the opinion there is a great celebration in heaven
over the homecoming of every individual saint or godly one!
Here
is where we see the vivid contrast in how homecomings are treated in heaven and
home-goings are handled on earth. In heaven, there is only joy. When our loved
one takes his or her first step on those supernal shores, the whole of heaven is
rejoicing, not a tear in the bunch; I suspect.
Down
here on planet Earth, however, tears of sadness are commingled with tears of joy.
We are easily torn every which away if we are not careful. Why would we not
rejoice and offer thanksgiving to Yahweh for our loved one who is now in heaven
where there is no more death, no more sorrow, no more tears, and no more pain
and suffering, only eternal bliss?
As
believers in Jesus Christ, we are not suggesting that we should never cry over
loved ones who have gone home to be with Jesus as if it was something
unspiritual. We are not cold, indifferent, or weird, but we do not sorrow as
those who are without
Christ … having no hope and
without God in the world (Eph 2:12; cf.1 Thes 4:13).
Solomon
said in Eccl 3:1,
To
everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven.
Our
loved one’s home-going was not an untimely event or some unfortunate incident. According
to Hebrews 9:27,
And
as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment (cf. 2 Cor 5:10; Rev
20:11-15).
Sooner
or later, we all have an appointment with death, barring the rapture of the
saints (1 Thes 4:17),
Once
our time on earth is complete, we are summoned to glory, “safe and secure from
all alarms.” It is God’s call and the right call; it always is, for God makes
no mistakes.
As
Solomon lists these various seasons or times in chapter 3 of Ecclesiastes, he mentions
in v4 that there is
A
time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance.
We
find ourselves caught up in this mixture of two different seasons in the death
of someone we love or care about or respect. It is natural for us to weep and
mourn over a loved one. But in conjunction with that, it is also natural that we
should also laugh and dance within our hearts without apology or fear of being
misunderstood as being insensitive over the celebration of a loved one’s home-going,
for he or she is in a far better place than we are! Miss him or her, we should;
be happy for him or her, we must!
For
this rejoicing during a season of sadness is a testament to a firm belief that
there is life after death made possible through the death of Jesus Christ on
the cross and His physical resurrection three days later.
From
His great sacrifice came forth life eternal, offered to all of mankind, but sadly,
many have rejected God’s offer or continue to refuse His offer of redemption.
This rejection or refusal is tantamount to unbelief.
John
the Apostle said in 1 Jn 5:11-12,
And
this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in
His Son.” John goes on to say, “He who has the Son has life; he who does not
have the Son of God does not have life.
The
demarcation of who is going to heaven and who is not cannot be clearer, based
on the authority of the Scriptures (cf. Jn 14:6; Acts 4:13).
Seeing
our loved ones in the throes of pain and suffering and the feeling of helplessness
to do anything about it are two of the hardest things we are called on to do in
those, “It’s only a matter of time” moments, not to mention reversing the
roles. I am persuaded that there is no one here who has suffered more than Job
other than Jesus Christ.
During his affliction, Job revealed an extraordinary thing about the integrity of his faith while under extreme duress, and I say duress because Satan was surefire that he could get Job to curse God to His face. What emerges is a spiritual jewel of the ages,
Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him (Job 13:15a).
I believe that Yahweh is waiting for us who know Him to take that step of faith from seeking or demanding
answers of Him to trusting in Him without reservations, regardless of
the season or situation for nothing enters our lives without His permission.
To
move beyond the shadow of doubt and making this a spiritual reality in our
lives, we desperately need to learn the Word, love the Word, and live the Word,
allowing the Holy Spirit to transform us by the renewing of the mind. What
makes this so necessary is though we are saved, we are contaminated by sin in
the fabric of our being.
It
is the only way to develop trust and hope in God by growing in the grace and
knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. When Peter wrote about growing
in grace, he was on the eve of facing a martyr’s death. Approaching death has a
way of focusing on the essentials we wished to God we had done while we were in
better shape!
Before
coming to the precipice of this life on terra firma, would to God that we would
realize just how important it is to understand that being under the Word is not
the same thing as being in it! Willful spiritual ignorance of the Scriptures remains
one of the major hindrances of maturing in the faith and poses the greatest
threat to Christianity today.
Unfortunately,
we can get distracted and focused on what we consider not as good in our lives.
It is important to note in Romans 8:28, that the Apostle Paul never said that
all things were good, but rather, all things work together for good to those who
love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. This phrase all things is a pretty big net,
catching any and everything in this life! My dear reader, only an all-powerful,
all-knowing, and all-wise God can make Romans 8:28 a reality in our lives if we
let God do the fishing!
It
wouldn’t hurt any of us to learn or be reminded to pursue a joy that is
pleasing to God. Have you ever heard of this acronym for joy? J: Jesus first,
O: others second, Y: yourself last! That provides a practical pattern of living
a life pleasing to God. It is a suggestion not a legalistic formula for all
ills, but this preventative medicine sure prevents a lot of avoidable things in
our lives. Somehow, for most of us, that truth of joy has to be learned the
hard way rather than taking it at face value and running with it and experiencing
the benefits from the outset.
Whenever
you and I decide to put aside our lame excuses to get down to business and
surrender to the authority of God’s Word as a rule of life and to love and
serve Yahweh with the totality of our being, we wind up experiencing more of
what I call, counterintuitive [or illogical] things for the glory of God; let me give you some quick examples: to go up we have to go down, to get we have to
give away, to keep we have to let go, or to live we have to die.
Before
we know it, we find ourselves rejoicing in the valleys (cf. Acts 16:23-25)
because we are trusting in God’s sovereignty and His sufficiency by default, or
we find ourselves naturally putting Jesus and others before ourselves out of
love and respect, or how about laughing and dancing in our hearts during a funeral service!
It seems like the supernatural thing to do! It’s a God-thing which always cuts
against the grain of worldly or carnal thinking! It’s crazy good, just crazy
good!
Jim
Elliot, a martyr for Jesus Christ who was killed in 1956 by a primitive tribe in
the Ecuadorian jungles, once said,
“He
is no fool who gives what he cannot keep – to gain that which he cannot lose”
(10-28-1949, d. 1.8.1956).
Consider
that our loved one is no more thwarting or enduring the attacks by the adversary of our souls; Consider that our loved one is no more being mistreated
from the dictates of an evil world-system; Consider that our loved one is no
more dealing with the flesh or the sin nature that constantly plays havoc with
our intellect, emotions, and will in serving God faithfully, day in and day out;
Consider that our loved one is forever free – free from all of that mess!
Glory!
It
begs the question; why then should we not join in and rejoice with the whole
chorus of heaven (the good angels, the Godhead, and the saints) in celebrating the
homecoming of our loved one and turning our sadness into great joy in the here
and now?
For you who are believers, the question I ask
of you is this; are you prepared to go to heaven at any moment?
For those who may be without Christ, ask
yourself this question, “Do I really want to end up in a place like the lake of
fire for all eternity?” That world of eternal darkness is the sum of all fears;
it is the antithesis or exact opposite of what we know about heaven.
If you die without Christ, according to the
authority of the Scriptures, go there you will, leaving temporal darkness for
eternal darkness. Please, do not listen to those with a broken view of love
that would tell you that a God of love would never send you into a dark
eternity; that is fake news and a blatant lie. If you step out into eternity
without Christ, your unbelief is your own eternal death sentence. Listen to
what Jesus said in John 3:18,
He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he
who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the
name of the only begotten Son of God.
Though we are heartbroken and miss our loved
ones dearly, we who know the Lord are excited that it doesn’t end at some creepy
dead-end cemetery but in heaven where there are no burial plots to be found
anywhere! We will see our loved ones again, but more importantly, we will see
Jesus! Jesus told His disciples,
Because I live, you will live also (Jn 14:19b). Ah,
eternal life, I love the sound of it.
It’s okay for us to weep and to laugh and to
mourn and to dance on this side of eternity, but for our departed loved one, he
or she is no longer weeping or mourning, only laughing and dancing forever in
the visible majesty of Yahweh’s presence! A suggested and practical way to live
as a believer is by putting Jesus first, others second, yourself last as we
live by faith, grow in grace, and walk in love (the agape kind)!
Let us remember and latch on to this legacy of
J-O-Y that I truly believe is pleasing to Yahweh and a testament of our faith
in how we think, feel, and act during the death of a loved one.
“Extremely valuable in the sight of Yahweh is
the homecoming of His saints” (Psalm 116:15). <><
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