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The Daily Word of Righteousness
The Day of Christ, #4
Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing. (II Timothy 4:8)
Apparently the spirit realm is an area of waiting until the Day of Christ. What will happen to most of us, what our experiences will be during the period of waiting, is not—as far as we know—discussed in detail in the Scriptures.
The Christian Gospel does not prepare us for death as much as it does for the Day of Resurrection. It is not what happens to us after we die that is so critically important but what awaits us in the Day of Resurrection. It is in the Day of Resurrection that our rewards are given to us and our eternal roles and responsibilities are assigned to us.
The doctrine of the resurrection of the dead and of eternal judgment has been lost to the Christian Church but now is being restored by the Spirit of God (Hebrews 6:2).
We have no need to sorrow for our loved ones if they are in the Lord. The Lord Jesus will restore them to us in the Day of Christ. Whether or not our loved ones are in the Lord depends on the particular family under consideration. The best inheritance we can give to our loved ones and friends is the godly example we have set as we have pressed into Christ with all our heart, all our soul, all our mind, and all our strength. If we do this we will save ourselves and those who hear us. The final decisions are made by our righteous and compassionate Lord.
"Even as others which have no hope." How bleak is the outlook of the unsaved! A mother, or father, or son dies—and that is the end. It appears that the deceased has vanished into oblivion. To have no hope beyond this present world is to be bound horribly by the fear of death.
Some Christian people live "in the flesh" to such an extent they nearly are as afraid of death as the unsaved.
For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. (I Thessalonians 4:14)
"For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again." Our hope of being reunited with our deceased loved ones is based solidly on the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Because the Lord Jesus returned to life as a real, identifiable Person, able to eat the fish and the honeycomb, being solid flesh and bones, we know beyond all doubt that we shall see our deceased loved ones again as living, identifiable individuals.
"Them also which sleep in Jesus." What does it mean to "sleep in Jesus"? It means to die physically while one is abiding in the Lord. If we die physically while we are not abiding in Christ we are not sleeping in Jesus.
It is one matter to "accept" Christ in the sense of assenting to a theologically correct concept of Jesus as the Lord and Savior of men. It is quite another matter to accept Christ truly and to live and walk in Him in the Spirit of God.
To be continued.