By MARK MOLINA
Living Waters Church
Pastor Mark Molina
It has been a terrible and difficult week for several families. My son-in-law — husband to my oldest daughter, father to their 6-year-old daughter, and youngest son to his mother — passed away Monday evening after a tragic accident. The prior week he was floating down a river and swimming in Oregon where they live. He decided to climb up to a bridge so he could jump into the river. It is a popular place to do this in the summer months. Unfortunately, he slipped as he was climbing and he landed on the rocks. He held on for a week before the decision was made that the time had come to remove him from life support. Several of his organs were donated, giving life and hope for many in great need.
As a Pastor, I have seen several people pass from this life to the next in perfect peace. I have seen their family members release them knowing they will rejoin them in a time to come. Christians have great hope in the hour of death; hope that we will live on in eternity with Christ as our Lord and Savior; hope of the “blessed assurance that Jesus is mine.”
But the question is what happens next? What happens when we die and can we be free from the fear of death? Let’s look at the Biblical perspective:
“And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment.” Hebrews 9:27 NKJV. “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.” II Corinthians 5:10 NKJV.
The Bible gives us a clear understanding of what happens after death. Are we ready? Are we ready to give an account to the one who came to save us from the power and fear of death?
“For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well. My frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them.” Psalms 139:13-16 NKJV.
All of the days of the life that we have been given have already been written down. God knows every single one of them intimately. Even before we were formed and given life, they were all known. For many people, this can be a point of contention and anger because we want more time. We want the ones we love to have more time. We have to understand that it is God and God alone who makes these decisions. Only God knows the exact moment of our first and last breath.
Jesus Himself says, “I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death.” Revelation 1:18 NKJV. We see the Apostle Paul writing about this same truth, “’O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?’ The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” I Corinthians 15:55-57 NKJV.
It is Christ and Christ alone who removes the fear of death. It is in accepting the work He did for us on Calvary’s Cross that we reconcile ourselves unto Him and find peace with God after we die.
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” John 3:16 NKJV.
Are you ready to meet Him face to face?
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