Facing the Inevitability of Death

We are all going to die. Death is total and all-encompassing. We must face this inevitability of death if we are to conquer the fear of death and live life to the fullest.So what happens the moment after we breathe our last breath here and take in our first breath in the hereafter?The Bible describes in detail the meeting that all of us will have one day after we die. The Scriptures describe the players, what they bring to the table, the goals of the meeting, and everything surrounding this event.Amazingly, though, many people are unprepared for the most important meeting in the universe. Although the Bible tells them in explicit detail what to expect and how to prepare for this meeting, they will be confronted with the sad realization that they ignored God’s advice.Immediately after our bodies die, our souls will be transported to an eternal existence in the spiritual realm. What that means for the Christian, the believer in Christ, is an instantaneous trip into the presence of the Lord. For the unbeliever, who will also live on after physical death, the opposite will be true. When they are absent from the body, they will be separated from God in eternity as they await the final judgment.Then the Bible tells us that at some point in the future, when the body of Christ is complete , God will caught us up (rapture) and we will be meeting Him in the air. This simply means that the bodies of those who have died will be reunited with their souls. After the resurrection of the dead, the believer and unbeliever alike will be judged.What will be the benchmark by which we are judged on that fateful day during that cosmic scene with Almighty?God will be looking for one thing and one thing only in this meeting. He will look at our lives to see if a cosmic transaction has taken place, if we have received what his Son did for us on the Cross.Ephesians 1:13-14 explains the process by which someone makes this transaction and what occurs: “And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.”I love that word seal because when we make that defining-moment decision to receive Christ, our very lives are stamped with the person of God in the form of the Holy Spirit. When we make the commitment to Christ, all of our sinfulness, guilt, shame, and pain are transferred to his shoulders. And all of His forgiveness, love, righteousness, and grace are transferred to our shoulders. That is the cosmic transaction.What is flashing across your heart today? Does the computer screen of your soul say “transaction complete”?If you have placed your trust in Christ, you are sealed, and the transaction is complete for all eternity. Your have nothing to fear; your salvation is secure in the love of Christ.You have every reason to fear death if you have not made a true commitment to Jesus Christ by faith. The old cliché is true: you are not ready to live until you are ready to die.Ed Young, Jr., Know Fear, Nashville, TN, Broadman & Holman Publishers,2003. Used by Special Permission.