If you go to my grandfather Albert's crypt at Forest Lawn in Glendale, California, you will notice nearby on the same wall, the crypt of Francis X. Bushman, famous star of silent movies. But, being famous or wealthy or powerful is no defense against death. The not so well known person, and the very well known person, lay side by side – their empty hands incapable of clutching and holding onto anything of value from this world.
Ponder this a moment. Look at the graves of some famous people you would easily recognize. The Emperor Napoleon, Sir Winston Churchill, Marilyn Monroe, John F. Kennedy, Lenin or Stalin. Impressive monuments left behind for important people in their lifetime.
Impressive deaths, perhaps, but what is "an impressive life." Here are two more people whom you probably do not recognize. William Brafford, a pastor friend of mine, and a Filipino missionary lady, both encrypted at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Covina, California, perhaps 100 feet from each other. The inscriptions on their markers talk about their faith in Christ, and a hope in eternal life, a life that did not end for them as their last breath was drawn.
When the hospital machinery finally shows no more brain wave activity; when the doctors and nurses leave the room and my body is taken from the hospital room to await the mortuary station wagon, the words of Charles Wesley's poem, "Oh for a thousand tongues to sing, my great Redeemers praise" can be shouted down the hallways for me by those who are left standing at my hospital bed.
Those who serve the Creator God and have made their peace with Him through His Son Jesus have nothing to fear when death approaches. I do not have a clue as to what happened inside the tomb where Jesus body lay for three days. I don't know the process that caused his dead body to live anew and resurrect – but I do know that every child of God will experience that same resurrection life and shall rise again.
One of the first passages of scripture that sent a chill through me over 40 years ago was Job 19:23-27 (NASB): "Oh that my words were written! Oh that they were inscribed in a book! [24] "That with an iron stylus and lead they were engraved in the rock forever! [25] "And as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, And at the last He will take His stand on the earth. [26] "Even after my skin is destroyed, Yet from my flesh I shall see God; [27] Whom I myself shall behold, And whom my eyes shall see and not another.
Those words still leap out and grip my attention. For you see I know that who I am, and what I am, is not lying out there among all those pretty grassy lawns and monuments. You can come visit those places all you want to looking for us, but we are not there!
2 Cor. 5:1-10 (NASB)
For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. [2] For indeed in this house we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven; [3] inasmuch as we, having put it on, shall not be found naked. [4] For indeed while we are in this tent, we groan, being burdened, because we do not want to be unclothed, but to be clothed, in order that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. [5] Now He who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave to us the Spirit as a pledge. [6] Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord-- [7] for we walk by faith, not by sight-- [8] we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord. [9] Therefore also we have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him. [10] For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.
We are just not there, lying six feet under ground with the stars shining down upon us. No, we are seated in the heavens with Christ Jesus getting ready for the next act in the drama. Why don't you make sure that you are ready to come and be with us.
1 Cor. 15:50-58 (NASB)
Now I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. [51] Behold, I tell you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, [52] in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. [53] For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality. [54] But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, "Death is swallowed up in victory. [55] "O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?" [56] The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; [57] but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. [58] Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.
Ponder this a moment. Look at the graves of some famous people you would easily recognize. The Emperor Napoleon, Sir Winston Churchill, Marilyn Monroe, John F. Kennedy, Lenin or Stalin. Impressive monuments left behind for important people in their lifetime.
Impressive deaths, perhaps, but what is "an impressive life." Here are two more people whom you probably do not recognize. William Brafford, a pastor friend of mine, and a Filipino missionary lady, both encrypted at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Covina, California, perhaps 100 feet from each other. The inscriptions on their markers talk about their faith in Christ, and a hope in eternal life, a life that did not end for them as their last breath was drawn.
When the hospital machinery finally shows no more brain wave activity; when the doctors and nurses leave the room and my body is taken from the hospital room to await the mortuary station wagon, the words of Charles Wesley's poem, "Oh for a thousand tongues to sing, my great Redeemers praise" can be shouted down the hallways for me by those who are left standing at my hospital bed.
Those who serve the Creator God and have made their peace with Him through His Son Jesus have nothing to fear when death approaches. I do not have a clue as to what happened inside the tomb where Jesus body lay for three days. I don't know the process that caused his dead body to live anew and resurrect – but I do know that every child of God will experience that same resurrection life and shall rise again.
One of the first passages of scripture that sent a chill through me over 40 years ago was Job 19:23-27 (NASB): "Oh that my words were written! Oh that they were inscribed in a book! [24] "That with an iron stylus and lead they were engraved in the rock forever! [25] "And as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, And at the last He will take His stand on the earth. [26] "Even after my skin is destroyed, Yet from my flesh I shall see God; [27] Whom I myself shall behold, And whom my eyes shall see and not another.
Those words still leap out and grip my attention. For you see I know that who I am, and what I am, is not lying out there among all those pretty grassy lawns and monuments. You can come visit those places all you want to looking for us, but we are not there!
2 Cor. 5:1-10 (NASB)
For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. [2] For indeed in this house we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven; [3] inasmuch as we, having put it on, shall not be found naked. [4] For indeed while we are in this tent, we groan, being burdened, because we do not want to be unclothed, but to be clothed, in order that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. [5] Now He who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave to us the Spirit as a pledge. [6] Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord-- [7] for we walk by faith, not by sight-- [8] we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord. [9] Therefore also we have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him. [10] For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.
We are just not there, lying six feet under ground with the stars shining down upon us. No, we are seated in the heavens with Christ Jesus getting ready for the next act in the drama. Why don't you make sure that you are ready to come and be with us.
1 Cor. 15:50-58 (NASB)
Now I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. [51] Behold, I tell you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, [52] in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. [53] For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality. [54] But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, "Death is swallowed up in victory. [55] "O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?" [56] The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; [57] but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. [58] Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.
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