We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.–2 Cor.5:8
It is wonderful that believers living upon the earth can have such blessed confidence as to face death without fear. They see heaven as all gain and no loss, the beginning rather than the end. Now if that is true of those yet bound to this planet, just think how those in heaven must feel! For us it is anticipation, for them it is actuality. They have entered into their inheritance and are present with the Lord. It doesn’t get any better than that!
As Christians we don’t fret about going to heaven, but some do fear the death experience itself. “Will it hurt?”, is the question most on our mind. God, however, has taken care of that also. As this story shows–for the child of God there is nothing to fear. Your dear departed loved one didn’t suffer and neither will you. Think about it like this:
Peter Marshall tells the story of a young boy about four years old who had a terminal disease. At first he was simply sick and in bed and didn’t understand his condition, but eventually he realized that he wasn’t going to get better and would never again play with his friends. One morning he asked his mother, “Am I going to die?” And she said, “Yes, dear.” “Mommy, what is death like? Will it hurt?” The mother ran out of the room to the kitchen and leaned against the refrigerator, her knuckles gripped white to keep from crying. She prayed and asked the Lord to give her an answer for her son. Suddenly, an idea came and she went back to his room and sat down on the bed. “Do you remember how you used to play outside all day and when you came inside at night you were so tired you just fell down on the couch and slept? In the morning you woke up in your own bed. During the night your father would come along and pick you up and carry you to your own bed. That’s what death is like. One night you lie down and go to sleep and your Heavenly Father picks you up and carries you to your own bed. In the morning when you wake up, you’re in your own room in heaven.” The little boy smiled and nodded. And several weeks later he died peacefully. That’s what death is like for the Christian. Satan’s hold is broken. The fear is taken away. Jesus came to break the bondage of death.
For the Christian death is good-night down here and good-morning up there!
