It seems I’ve been talking with people dealing with death lately, so I thought I would write a little on it. It’s never easy when we loose someone we love. I remember when my father died at sea in a storm, we never recovered his body and it was hard to except his death. All kinds of thoughts can run through you mind. Did he live? Was he picked up by a ship and taken to a different country? It’s hard to have closure when that happens. But even when we can say goodbye it is never easy. The bible talks about death in several ways.

First it tells us that God is sovereign over death; his timing is as he planned.

Psalm 39:4-5 Show me, O Lord, my life’s end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting is my life. You have made my days a mere handbreadth; the span of my years is as nothing before you. Each man’s life is but a breath.

Hebrews 9:27 Just as a man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgement.

See also Genesis 3:19,; Matthew 10:29-31

God is in control of every part of our lives. Although we may think we make our own destiny’s, the fact is only god can give or take away. As Christians we need not fear death.

Not even death can separate us from God and his love.

Psalm 23:4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they

comfort me.

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 be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Death for the believer means being in the presence of Christ

Philippians 1:21-23 For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far.

2 Corinthians 5:6-8 Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are far a way from the Lord. We live by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.

Death for the believer means receiving a changed and glorified body.

John 11:25-26 Jesus said to her, " I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?"

1 Corinthians 15:51-52 Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed-in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.

1 Peter 1:3-5 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade-kept in heaven for you, who through faith are

shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.

Romans 12:15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn whit those who mourn.

John 11:33-36 When Jesus Saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. "Where have you laid him?" he asked. "Come and see, Lord," they replied. Jesus wept. Then the Jews said, "See how he loved him!"

Death will be conquered in the end

1 Corinthians 15:26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death.

Isaiah 25:8 He will swallow up death forever. The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces; he will remove the disgrace of his people from all the earth. The Lord has spoken.

God is sovereign, he created all things, and all things will be done in His time, even death. But God wants all of us to live, and by accepting Jesus as your Lord and Savior, that is exactly what will happen. We will live life eternally with him. God bless, mel