Death Can Be the Gateway to Never-Ending Joy**

Time moves so quickly. When you are young, you never give death much thought; then you wake up and you are old. James 4:14 “For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.” God gives man a short time here upon earth, and yet upon this short time eternity depends.  “For death is no more than a turning of us over from time to eternity.” William Penn

God allows us the choice during this time to live with Him in eternity in Heaven or choose not to. It is through a choice to accept Christ as the only “Way” (John 14:6), “Grasping what the Bible teaches about Heaven shifts our center of gravity and radically alters our perspective on life. Therefore, we should always seek to keep Heaven in our line of sight. Those who know Jesus should realize that death is the gateway to never-ending joy.” Randy Alcorn, founder of Eternal Perspective Ministries

With this reality our approach to our short time on Earth should be like that described in Philippians 1:21-23 “For to me, living means living for Christ, and dying is even better. But if I live, I can do more fruitful work for Christ. So, I really don’t know which is better. I’m torn between two desires: I long to be with Christ, which would be far better for me”.

For the Christian, physical death should not be feared, for it’s the beginning of an eternal joy in the presence of the Lord and His love. Romans 8:38-39 “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Jesus came to deliver us from the fear of death, Hebrews 2:14-15 “so that by His death He might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil—and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death,” In light of the coming resurrection of the dead, the apostle Paul asks, 1 Corinthians 15:55,57 “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting? Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

“Death to the Christian is the funeral of all his sorrows and evils, and the resurrection, of all his joys.” James H. Aughey

Charles Spurgeon’s sermon in 1886 on “Dying is But Going Home” strongly reveals his confidence that Heaven is the place of great union with Christ and reunion with redeemed loved ones. As a caring pastor, Spurgeon desired his people to understand that embracing the gospel should change their view of death. He says, “Let no doubt intervene; let no gloom encompass us. Dying is but going home.” “Death is no punishment to the believer; it is the gate of endless joy.”

The psalmist writes in Psalm 116:15 “Precious in the sight of God is the death of His saints”. At the end of their physical lives, the redeemed are now more alive than ever before and will be with the Lord for all time. We mourn and sorrow for those who leave us at death. That’s natural, and there’s nothing wrong with it, but at that time they are celebrating with Christ in an unspeakable joy in the Eternal Home for the redeemed.

Physical death allows believers in God’s redemptive plan through Christ to escape these temporal sinful bodies and be resurrected into bodies like that of the resurrected Christ. Philippians 3:20-21 “For our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who by the power that enables Him to bring everything under His control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like His glorious body. “

To get a glimpse at what a resurrected glorious body like Christ’s will be able to do, we look at scripture covering the 40 days that He lived on earth after His resurrection (Acts 1:3). He passes through locked doors (John 20:19); eats food (Luke 24:30, 42-43); has flesh and bones (Luke 24:39); can appear/vanish/disappear quickly (Luke 24:31,36); can ascend and descend (Acts 1:9,11); a body that is in the prime of life (Jesus was about age 33 years when crucified and resurrected); a body that is recognizable (Luke 24:31), and a body that will not experience tears, sorrow, crying, pain and any more death (Revelation 21:4).

Thank You, Heavenly Father, for allowing us through Jesus Christ to live in Never-Ending Joy for eternity.

**In the memory and love of Wanda, my wife for 55 years on this Earth, who went Home in Heaven in March 2022 and now lives in eternal joy with Jesus Christ and His believers who have preceded those of us to come.