Meditation on (Death) LIFE
Ecclesiastes 2:14-16, 3:18-21, 2 Corinthians 5:1-10, 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
Solomon contemplated his life and the meaningless of everything. One of the observations he made is that we all share the same fate, DEATH. Death comes to us all. Death is the true equal opportunity. It is not a respector of wealth, or social status. . Rich man, poor man, beggar, thief, they all die. Man, woman, child, gender doesn't matter. Eighty, forty, twenty, ten or one, DEATH does not care how old we are. Wise or foolish, as Solomon says, share the same fate.
Solomon also compares us to animals. Mankind and animals share the same breath of life. Because we are the higher species doesn't give us an advantage. Solomon says we are tested by God to show us that fact. But the most important verse is 3:21, "Who knows if the spirit of man rises and if the spirit of the animals goes down into the earth?" We know the answer to that question.
This brings us to the words of the Apostle Paul. For the church family, my family and myself death has made a couple of visits one December. No matter how strong we see ourselves as being, it really hurts to lose love ones and friends. Sometimes it is very hard to see the divine hand and it is too easy to forget how better off our loved ones are. They are in an enviable place where they can be with Jesus.
Paul in his second letter to the Corinthians uses a comparison that he would be very familiar with being a tent maker. He compares this present life with the heavenly life by using a comparison between tents and dwellings. We need to look at the differences between the two.
Tents were used as a temporary dwelling. Made of fabric and supported by poles, ropes and pegs to gave temporary shelter. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Esau all lived in tents. This reminds me that just like them we are strangers and aliens in the land. Where we live is not our true home. Just as this corrupt body is not are true body. While we are in this body we suffer. Pain, disease, hunger, sorrow, loneliness, shame and a whole host of other ills we suffer while we are on this present earth. For the Christians we also groan because we want to be with Jesus. We feel lost in this corrupt world with all the evil going on around us. Every day is a struggle as we work and deal with non-Christians, we who send are children to public school, send them to be influence by non-Christians. Yet it is for the benefit of non-Christians and our fellow believers that we stay.
God has provided us a new building, a heavenly dwelling. In Paul's time most buildings where made of stone and many have lasted to today. Even though they can be destroyed those buildings were built to last. You can go to Israel and visit the place where Jesus was thought to be born. How much more indestructible will our heavenly dwelling be? Our current tent has many tears and flaws, and we are away from Jesus. Jesus, the one who we love. His presence is with us, but how so much better to be face to face with Jesus, our SAVIOR and LORD.
Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:50-54 uses a word to describe the heavenly body which has been translated into two words depending on the bible translation used. The one word is incorruptible and the other is imperishable. The root word of incorruptible is corrupt. The meaning from the American Heritage Dictionary is as follows: (1) To destroy or subvert the honesty or integrity of. (2) To ruin morally; pervert. (3) To taint; contaminate. (4) To cause to become rotten; spoil. (5) To change the original form of. Perishable means subject to decay, spoilage, or destruction. So the heavenly body is not subject to any of the following: moral ruin, perversion, contamination, decay, spoilage or destruction. Finally, the new body will not be changeable.
My closing point comes from 1 Thessalonians 4. With this knowledge about death, we do not grieve like men who have no hope. Yes, we miss our loved ones. But, we know they are in a place were we ourselves would like to be. If we die before the Lord comes, we will go to be with our loved ones. If the Lord returns then: "with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever." Amen.
Paul Gyomory
