The Resurrection Of The Dead...Continued from page 7

If he felt that he would be entering into a long period of soul slumber, I question whether he would have had this same yearning to die so that he could be with Christ. Paul constantly struggled with the desire to live and serve Christ and to die and be with Him. How else can we explain the conversation Christ had with the repentant thief on the cross. He responded to the heartcry of this one who wanted to be remembered when Christ entered into His kingdom. He said, "'This day shalt thou be with me in paradise."' Perhaps this could refer to a place of departed spirits that rest until the return of Jesus. It seems more likely to me that Jesus was promising that this very day he would know the fullness of relationship in eternity with his Savior. Either way, the same result would be effected. The next consciousness of the believer who dies is realized in the presence of Jesus Christ.

This is a word for those who are born again by the Holy Spirit. You have something for which to look forward.

Your circumstances are different from those who die without Christ. Even as the Bible makes positive promises to the believer, it directs some thoughts toward the nonbeliever. The wicked are not annihilated. Their eternal death is defined as living in the absence of the presence of God. Those who have not received the free gift of God's love and forgiveness in Jesus Christ remain alienated from Him for eternity. Jesus says specifically that there is a place called hell. Its implications are awesome. How foolish are those who are literally hell-bent in their destination to live lives independent of the Savior. If you have not come to Him, come now, confess your sins, allow your life to be opened to the Savior's love, allow Him to forgive you, turning you around, setting you in a whole new direction of life in which you qualify for the promises of life together with Him in heaven.

For those of us who have received Jesus Christ as Savior, we look forward to meeting our Savior. It's so easy to become preoccupied with the stuff of living here that we forget that we are one breath away from eternity. The prophet Amos was astounded at the way in which the people of Israel were preoccupied with life in the present. They were busy building their own houses, accumulating material possessions, neglecting their time with the Lord and the matters of justice in relationship to each other. Amos urges the people, "'. . .prepare to meet your God, O Israel!'" (Amos 4:12).

Sin is what stands in the way of a vital, lifegiving flow of relationship with the Savior. Sin is what makes death so awesome. That's why Paul quotes those words, "'Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?"' He goes on to declare, "The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Corinthians 15:54-57). Jesus Christ has removed the sting from death. As a result, those of us who love Jesus have the assurance that we are free to live and we are free to die. The life beyond this life is a better life than the life here. Yet God has put us here for a reason. We are not just accidents. There is intentionality to who we are, in what God wants to do with us here.