DEATH-CHRISTIAN-COMFORT
Christian!
Death cannot hurt you! Death is your best friend – who is commissioned by
Christ to summon you from the world of vanity and woe, and from a body of sin
and death – to the blissful regions of glory and immortality, to meet your
Lord, and to be forever with Him!
The
One Thing Needful to Make Poor Sinners Rich and Miserable Sinners Happy.
Living is
death; dying is life. On this side of the grave we are exiles, on that,
citizens; on this side, orphans, on that, children; on this side, captives; on
that, freemen; on this side, disguised, unknown; on that, disclosed and
proclaimed as the sons of God.
Henry
Ward Beecher
Death is not
the end of the road; it is only a bend in the road. The road winds only through
those paths through which Christ Himself has gone. This Travel Agent does not expect
us to discover the trail for ourselves. Often we say that Christ will meet us
on the other side. That is true, of course, but misleading. Let us never forget
that He walks with us on this side of the curtain and then guides us through
the opening. We will meet Him there, because we have met Him here.
Erwin
Lutzer
One Minute After You Die, Moody, 1997, p. 78-79.
Death is the
Chariot our heavenly Father sends to bring us to Himself
Erwin
Lutzer
One Minute After You Die, Moody, 1997, p. 60.
Think of how
powerless death actually is! Rather than rid us of our health, it introduces us
to "riches eternal." In exchange for poor health, death gives us a
right to the Tree of Life that is for "the healing of the nations"
(Revelation 22:2). Death might temporarily take our friends from us, but only
to introduce us to that land in which there are no good-byes.
Erwin
Lutzer
One Minute After You Die,
Moody, 1997, p. 45.
Most of us
find comfort in being told that we are going to go on living; [the apostle]
Paul was comforted when he was told that he would soon be dying [see
Philippians 1:21]! He kept referring to death as that which was "far
better." The fact that we don't view death with optimism just might be
because we think of death as taking us from our home rather than bringing is to
our home! Unlike Paul, we have become so attached to our tent that we just
don't want to move.
Erwin Lutzer
One Minute After You Die, Moody, 1997, p. 56.
Why is death
such a blessing? Paul said, “Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God”
(1 Corinthians 15:50). The fact is that you and I can’t go to heaven just as we
are today. No matter how alert and primed, no matter how neatly we have
showered and dressed, we are not fit for heaven. You can’t have a decaying body
in a permanent home.
Erwin Lutzer
Taken
from One Minute After You Die by Erwin Lutzer, Moody, 1997, p. 77.
The day of
our death is the day of our glorification. Death is the grand entrance, the
door that swings into eternity. Eventually it will open in God’s time and in
God’s way to let another child come home where he or she belongs.
Erwin Lutzer
Taken from One Minute After You Die by Erwin Lutzer,
Moody Publishers, 1997, p. 133.
Our death is
just as meticulously planned as the death of Christ. There is no combination of
evil men, disease, or accident that can kill us as long as God still has work
for us to do. To those who walk with faith in God’s providence, they die
according to God’s timetable… The immediate cause of death might be any number
of things, but the ultimate cause is God. Yes, wicked men nailed Christ to the
cross, yet we read, “But the Lord was pleased to crush Him, putting Him to
grief” (Isaiah 53:10).
Erwin Lutzer
Taken from One Minute After You Die by Erwin Lutzer,
Moody Publishers, 1997, p. 130-131.
The
very happiest persons I have ever met with have been departing believers. The only
people for whom I have felt any envy have been dying members of this very
church, whose hands I have grasped in their passing away. Almost without exception I have seen in them
holy delight and triumph. And in the
exceptions to this exceeding joy I have seen deep peace, exhibited in a calm
and deliberate readiness to enter into the presence of their God.
The best
moment of a Christian's life is his last one, because it is the one that is
nearest heaven. And then it is that he begins to strike the keynote of the song
which he shall sing to all eternity.
C.H. Spurgeon
Death in its
substance has been removed, and only the shadow of it remains… Nobody is afraid
of a shadow, for a shadow cannot block a man’s pathway for even a moment. The
shadow of a dog can’t bite; the shadow of a sword can’t kill.
C.H. Spurgeon
We see his
smile of love even when others see nothing but the black hand of Death smiting
our best beloved.
C.H. Spurgeon
Depend upon it, your dying hour will be the
best hour you have ever known! Your last moment will be your richest moment,
better than the day of your birth will be the day of your death. It shall be
the beginning of heaven, the rising of a sun that shall go no more down
forever!
C.H. Spurgeon
Christ with the Keys of Death and Hell, #894.
This is our
comfort. We are “immortal until our work is done;” mortal still, but immortal also.
Let us never fear death, then, but rather rejoice at the approach of it, since
it comes at our dear Bridegroom's bidding!
C.H. Spurgeon
Christ with the Keys of Death and Hell, #894.
Some may not
fear death but may dread the way they might die. Long illness, great pain, or
some form of violence could be the means of bringing our earthly life to an
end. We shall be wise if we are always ready for any experience which God may
allow us to pass through. Is it not right that He should do what He will with
His own? Is not His will infinitely holy, wise, just and good in all things?
Does He not know what is best for us and what will bring most glory to Himself? Very many people have found they have been able to
endure the things they have dreaded most because much more strength and peace
of mind have been given them than they could ever have expected.
John Owen
Meditation
on the Glory of Christ, 1684, Preface.
The dust of
Lazarus was dear to Jesus; He would not leave it in the rocky tomb. So is the
dust of every Lazarus dear in His sight.
He will not lose so much as one of them. Wherever they lie, it matters
not – beneath the deep blue sea, or on some distant battlefield, or consumed in
flame and smoke – the Lord Jesus will yet collect their scattered dust, sand
make them like His own glorious body.
Robert Murray McCheyne
Comfort and Sorrow, Christian Focus
Publishers, 2002, p. 132, Used by Permission.
A Christian
knows that death shall be the funeral of all his sins, his sorrows, his
afflictions, his temptations, his vexations, his oppressions, his persecutions.
He knows that death shall be the resurrection of all his hopes, his joys, his
delights, his comforts, his contentments.
Thomas Brooks
The Transcendent Excellency of a
Believer's Portion above All Earthly Portions.
For the child
of God, death is not the end but merely the door into a higher and more exalted
life of intimate contact with Christ. Death is but the dark valley opening out
into an eternity of delight with God. It is not something to fear, but an
experience through which one passes on the path to a more perfect life.
Phillip Keller
A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23, Permission by
Zondervan, www.zondervan.com. 1970, p.
76-77.
I account
this body nothing but a close prison to my soul; and the earth a larger prison
to my body. I may not break prison, till I be loosed
by death; but I will leave it, not unwillingly, when I am loosed.
Joseph Hall
A Puritan Golden Treasury,
compiled by I.D.E. Thomas, by permission of Banner of Truth, Carlisle, PA. 2000, p. 71.
All death can
do to the believer is deliver him to Jesus.
It brings us into the eternal presence of our Savior.
John MacArthur
1 Corinthians, Moody, 1984, p. 92.
Where sin has
been removed death can only interrupt the earthly life and usher in the
heavenly.
John MacArthur
1 Corinthians, Moody, 1984, p. 445.
Has this
world been so kind to you that you should leave it with regret? There are
better things ahead than any we leave behind.
C.S. Lewis
I am ready to
meet God face to face tonight and look into those eyes of infinite holiness,
for all my sins are covered by the atoning blood.
R.A. Torrey
While in the body we do not literally see Christ…rather walk by faith in the
physically absent and unseen Lord. Death brings us into
spatial proximity and visible contact with Christ. Thus death, rather than
severing our spiritual relationship with Christ, heightens and enhances it!
Death brings us into the immediate vision of our Savior and the increased
intimacy of fellowship which it entails.
Sam
Storms
Individual Eschatology, November 8, 2006, www.enjoyinggodministries.com.
Used by Permission.
Death is not
the end; it is only a new beginning. Death is not the master of the house; he
is only a porter at the King’s lodge, appointed to open the gate and let the
King’s guests into the realm of eternal day.
John Henry Jowett
Death is the last and best physician, which cures all
diseases and sins – the aching head and the unbelieving heart. Sin was the
midwife which brought death into the world; and death shall be the grave to
bury sin! O the privilege of a believer!
The Christian's Charter.
We spend our
years with sighing; it is a valley of tears; but death is the funeral of all
our sorrows.
Thomas Adams
A Puritan Golden Treasury,
compiled by I.D.E. Thomas, by permission of Banner of Truth, Carlisle, PA. 2000, p. 70.
As I go into
a cemetery I like to think of the time when the dead shall rise from their
graves… Thank God, our friends are not buried; they are only sown!
D.L. Moody
The fear of
death is ingrafted in the common nature of all men,
but faith works it out of Christians.
Vavasor
Powell
A Puritan Golden Treasury,
compiled by I.D.E. Thomas, by permission of Banner of Truth, Carlisle, PA. 2000, p. 71.
Afraid?
Of what? To feel the spirit's
glad release? To pass from pain to perfect peace.
The strife and strain of life to cease? Afraid – of that?
E.H. Hamilton
He whose head
is in heaven need not fear to put his feet into the grave.
Mathew Henry
Tears are a tribute to our deceased friends. When the body is
sown, it must be watered. But we must not sorrow as those that have no hope;
for we have a good hope through grace both concerning them and concerning
ourselves.
Matthew Henry