| January
27, 2007
Newsletter
Archives
Like many who have lost loved ones lately,
I have been brought face to face with the recent loss of
a friend. A time like this raises old questions about death
and dying. We wonder what death really is. We look at a
still form that, a few days before, was engaged in the activities
of our world. Suddenly all this has ended. He or she lies
still in a coffin. What has really happened here? What has
changed? Why is it that one moment they are capable of existing
in this world and the next moment they are not?
The Bible answers much that we would otherwise be in the
dark about. It states, for example, that death is the departure
of the soul from the body. We have an example of such an
assertion in the life of the patriarch Jacob. When his wife
Rachel died in child-birth, the Bible speaks of her soul
leaving the body: “And it came to pass, as her soul
was in departing, (for she died) that she called his name
Benoni: but his father called him Benjamin” Genesis
35:18. The death of the body is the departure of the soul.
But the soul never dies. In the Bible, when the soul is
first mentioned, it is called “a living soul.”
It is never call “immortal.” The term “immortality”
is descriptive of the human body, not of the soul. Accordingly,
after death, we go on living. Somewhere! Forever!
The Lord Jesus spoke of two men who died. One went to heaven,
the other to hell. He stated, “And it came to pass,
that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into
Abraham’s bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried;
And in hell he lifted up his eyes, being in torments…”Luke
16:22,23. Clearly, after the body was buried, both Lazarus
and the rich man were still very much alive. We will be
too.
The burning question is, Where? When Job had suffered the
loss of his family, he asked, “But man dieth, and
wasteth away: yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is
he? Job 14:10
That is an excellent question, but there is one that comes
closer to home: Where will I be? Whether we are here for
a longer or shorter time, eventually we all will come to
the end of life. Preparation for that inevitable day is
vital.
When doom lay ahead for the nation of Israel, the prophet
Amos gave them advice, we all need to take: “Prepare
to meet thy God” Amos 4:12.
Russ Nesbit
|
