For me to live is Christ [His life in me], and to die is gain [the gain of the glory of eternity]. Philippians 1:21. If we live, we live for Christ, and should we die, we die for Him. Either ways, we win. I wonder how many of us today are afraid to die. Someone asked me “at gunpoint, if you are asked to deny you Faith and live, what would you do? My answer was what Paul said; if I live, it will be for Christ, and if I die, I will gain even more.
Why should I be afraid of death?
By the way, we will all be changed— in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.
Friends, I want to talk to you today about this interesting topic; Death is not the end. When Jesus sent out His disciples in Matthew 10, He told them in verse 8 that “heal the sick, raise the dead”. Why would Jesus tell them to raise the dead when we all know it is appointed for man once to die? Jesus knew death was not the end. Death was not God’s original idea; Romans 5:12, “when Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned.” Death came as a result of sin. Jesus came to destroy sin. He had no sin in Him so He could defeat death. Consequently, He told His disciples, raise the dead.
In John 11, when Jesus heard that Lazarus was dead, He said to His disciples “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going to wake him up.” Jesus is more powerful than death. Jesus wept at Lazarus funeral not because Lazarus was dead but He wept when He saw death which was an enemy of God tormenting God’s children. Jesus knew there was something those people could do instead of crying. He knew with faith, they could bring the dead back to life. Jesus felt the pains when He saw people having perception that death is the end of man. He wept because of their unbelief. He told Martha in verse 40 that “did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”
Death is an enemy of God which comes like a hawk to take God’s children but in the end, it shall be destroyed. 1 Corinthians 15:26 “the last enemy to be destroyed is death”
The good news for us is Death has no power over us because if we live, we live for Christ, and should we die, we die for Him. Either ways, we win. Whether we live or die, we are for Christ. A sinner or an unbeliever is afraid of death because he or she has no hope.
When a person dies, we don’t have to cry. No! We can do something better than crying. Jesus said John 14 “12 Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.” He raised the dead so we can also raise the dead. We have to stand as lights of the world instead of conforming ourselves to the beliefs of the world which are contrary to what the Word of God says.
Although death would come to take as many as it could, we, as believers, must do what Jesus told us to do; heal the sick, raise the dead. The first question a Christian asks a sick folk is; have you gone to see the doctor or GP? Have you taken drugs? If we cannot heal simple malaria, hay fever, headache, etc, how could we raise the dead?
And when we hear about the death of a loved one, the first thing we do is to cry, which is an act of unbelief.
Why do we cry?
We cry because we believe there is no hope for the person again. When you read Luke 8: 49, the Bible says “While Jesus was still speaking, someone came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue leader. “Your daughter is dead,” he said. “Don’t bother the teacher anymore.” In verse 50 “Jesus said to Jairus, “Don’t be afraid; just believe, and she will be healed.””. This, I believe, is what we have to do as believers. Don’t cry and later go in to raise the dead.
From today, be encouraged that you have power to raise the dead. Christianity is not only about prosperity as some folks want us to believe. Our Faith comes with POWER to do all things. Prosperity is just a fraction of it. Jesus said if anyone believes in Him, that person will do the works He did, and even do greater than what he did. I ask myself anytime I read this scripture that “What could be greater than raising the dead, walking on water, feeding multitudes with few loaves of bread, turning water to wine, opening the eyes of blind, casting out demons, overcoming temptation…? We can do more with our faith. God used Paul to do extraordinary miracles in Acts 19:11-12 “God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, 12 so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them.”
Death is not the end
Uplifting Christ 