The End…or the Beginning?

Death.  To the unbeliever, the very word strikes fear to the very core of his being.  To the believer, it holds incredible promise of so much more!  To be honest, no, I do not anticipate the day I die and physically leave behind this life on earth.  However, it will be a glorious day when I meet my Savior face to face!  How wonderful beyond my finite human comprehension it will be to be in the presence of the One Who died for me, Who paid my debt so that my account could be declared “Paid in Full”; to behold the One who, out of love, spared not His Son on behalf of a miserable wretch like me, the One who, at this very moment is interceding in heaven for me before the Father. 
Christ conquered death: He had to.  Death—physical and spiritual--was a part of the punishment for sin, way back in the Garden of Eden. Provision for the forgiveness of sins demanded a victory over the punishment of sin and captor of the sinner—the Devil. 
1 Corinthians 15 is a beautiful chapter for the believer.  It not only clearly states a confirmation of Christ’s personal past victory over death through His resurrection from the dead, but it also affirms the certainty of the future event of the resurrection of the believer!  Christ’s resurrection is the very foundation for the Gospel, for the believer’s salvation and hope for the future,  for my personal salvation and hope for the future!  Paul, being inspired by God, puts it incredibly clear and plain: “And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins” (1 Corinthians 15:17).  Yes, Christ’s divine blood that was shed on the cross is the complete satisfaction for the righteous demands of our holy and just God. Hallelujah!  What a Savior! Christ did not stay dead, lying in the tomb, wrapped in grave cloths!  He is risen again!  Praise the Lord!  He has triumphed over death.  He had guaranteed the believer’s future resurrection.  He has guaranteed my resurrection!
The verse preceding 1 Corinthians 15:17 ties together these two events: “For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised.”  What a comfort to know that God’s Word is sure and true because it was written by the One Who Himself is the very embodiment of Truth!  He will bring to pass all that is written in It.  More specifically: One day yet to come He will raise from the dead every believer, for Christ Himself rose from the dead. 
Death, as we know it, is merely the end of our human life that is marked by sin.  It is then the beginning of everlasting life marked by the ultimate salvation from the presence of sin.  Death is leaving behind a finite knowledge and understanding of God and entering into His very presence to bow down and worship Him for all eternity.
How wonderful to have such an incredible hope!

Bitter-sweet...

I never dreamed that I would be doing this,at this time, in this way...
yet I cling to the truth that God goodness is real, His faithfulness is enduring, His grace is sustaining.

Yes, it is Christmas--the most celebrated time of the year in which Christ's birth should be at the center of the cause for rejoicing--yet is it not the very fact of Christ's birth a part of the very reason we have hope in death? 1 Corinthians 15 makes clear the hope of the believer in Christ.

One person illustrated death as a ship leaving one port to arrive and be welcomed at another. Grandma said goodbye to those of us here on earth, but she was met and greeted by Another.

I love the words to the song "Finally Home" in which the author of it attempts to describe what it will be like to finally arrive in heaven:

"But just think of stepping on shore, and finding it Heaven!
Of touching a hand, and finding it God's!
Of breathing new air, and finding it celestial!
Of waking up in glory, and finding it home!"