Hell, the Lake of Fire and Beyond

Broadcaster

On Dying

by John David Clark, Sr. - August, 1987

For 40 years, Moses had led the Israelites in the wilderness. Now, at the age of 120, he was about to die. He was not sick. On the contrary, he was in perfectly good health. "His eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated" (Dt. 34:7). God simply took him. Remarkable as it may seem, we do not have to become sick to die! As one man of God told his flock on a Sunday morning, "If God wants to take you home tonight, He still would want to heal you this afternoon." The Scriptures clearly show that there is the possibility for us, when we have finished our course, to do as Jacob of old who, when he "had made an end of commanding his sons, gathered up his feet into the bed, and yielded up the ghost, and was gathered unto his people" (Gen. 49:33).

Now, on the other hand, some faithful servants of God, most notably Elisha, did die of a sickness (2Kgs. 13:14). But isn't it exciting to know that it need not always be so! That when we have completed our duties here, God is not restricted to sickness or disease as a means of delivering us from this mortality! Weary Elijah prayed that God would allow him to leave this world, and God sent a whirlwind to carry him away (2Kgs. 2:11)! Righteous Enoch was simply and suddenly taken away to be with God, as Gen. 5:24 succinctly phrases it, "he was not; for God took him." To which the author of Hebrews adds by way of explanation, "By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him, for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God" (Heb. 11:6).

Paul tells us that many saints will have an experience similar to Enoch's at the return of Jesus, never having to experience the death of this mortal body. "Behold", he says, "I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep (i.e. go to our graves), but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump. For the trumpet of God shall sound, and the dead [in Christ] shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed" (1Cor. 15:51-52). Giving more detail, Paul wrote to the Thessalonians, "For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, and with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God. And the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words" (1Thess. 4:16-18). And what a comfort those words are!

An old hymn springs from memory with these precious words:

I sang that song at the bedside of an elderly and godly mother in Christ, a few days before she departed this life. What great comfort there is in the Spirit's assurance that "whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord. Whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord's" (Rom. 14:8). How the hope of the resurrection and the hope of being reunited with the saints gone before, compels me to walk in truth and love! In our time, much is being said, and perhaps necessarily so concerning child abuse. It is a terrible crime to harm a precious little child. However, the greatest form of child abuse has yet to be mentioned in the media. That is, of a parent dying in sin. When a mother or father goes to his or her grave without being forgiven and cleansed from sin, the children are left in a horrible, cruel dilemma. If the children follow their natural feelings, their natural, strong desire to be with their parents, they must refuse to receive God's cleansing Spirit and, so, go where their parents went. Or, they can follow after godliness, all the while realizing that to receive God's Spirit and walk in God's ways means never to see their mother or father again. It is a horrible dilemma. A cruelty beyond description, perpetrated upon children by parents who will not humble themselves before God. Parents, consider the choices you will be forcing your children to make if you go to your graves in a sinful condition.

On the other hand, how an offspring's love of mother and father can work hand in hand with the convictions and calling of God, when the parents die in faith. The child then knows that in order to see mother or father again, he must submit to the righteousness of God. What a great demonstration of godly love it is for a parent to fall asleep in Jesus! How that helps the children make the right choice!

I remember being with my brother and sisters around my mother's bedside, holding her hands that were once so warm and gentle but now were growing cooler every moment, as her spirit slowly forsook its earthly house. With tears, and yet with confidence of her hope in Christ, my brother and I together sang softly to her, as she drifted away, the words of that beautiful hymn,

I want to stroll over heaven with you some glad day,
When all our troubles and heartaches have vanished away.
We'll enjoy all the beauty where all things are new.
I want to stroll over heaven with you.

What a great gift she gave to her children by dying in Christ! How my desire to hold her warm and gentle hand again works with, not against, God's call to come! How I thank God that my mother lived so that her children all know that to be reunited with her, we must follow after the wonderful things of the Spirit of God! And my prayer is that when my time shall come to cross that wide, fixed gulf between here and eternity, that my children's desire to be with their father shall also be a help to their faith, rather than a weight, pulling against it.

It is no wonder that the Scripture says "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints" (Ps. 116:15). God knows the powerful, compelling effect that a saint's death will have upon those who were close to that righteous person. But God grieves over a sinner who dies in sin, not only because of that one lost soul, but because of the powerful, compelling effect that a sinner's death will have upon those who loved that unrighteous person. "Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die?" God asked, "and not [rather] that he should return from his ways, and live?" (Ezek. 18:23). There is no joy in heaven when an unconverted person dies. No joy. But even the angels rejoice, Jesus told us, over just one sinner who turns from sin (Lk. 15:10). It is, truly, an event for which to rejoice. As the song says, it "makes news in heaven" when a soul is delivered from sin.

Let me ask you again to pause and consider the question, if you were to die today, would the love that others have for you work with the call of God on their lives or against it? Are you going to a place to which you want your loved ones to come? Are you traveling to a place wherein they will join you? Your destination, your condition at death will bear an incredible weight of influence over your loved ones. And if you're thinking that for the sake of others is not a godly enough reason to come to Christ, let me remind you that everything that Christ himself did was for the sake of others. That, my friend, is the best reason to do anything.

If you are feeling the tender call of God to eternal life, if your spirit is not free of sin, take time now to set your sails in the other direction. Set your sails toward the home of the blessed. Jesus is waiting there for you. And those you love will not be far behind.