Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed (1 Cor. 15:51, 52).
One day while in London we visited Bunhill Fields cemetery, the resting place of many of God's children. There lie John Bunyan, Isaac Watts, Dr. John Conder, and others. On the latter's tomb are these words: "I have sinned, I have repented; I have trusted, I have loved; I rest, I shall rise; and through the grace of Christ, however unworthy, I shall reign." Love demands a future life. Even Hume's skepticism disintegrated as he pathetically confessed that whenever he thought of his mother he believed in immortality.
The poet Browning's last words were "Never say that I am dead." To the believer death is a sleep. Jesus said of Lazarus, "Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep" (John 11:11). Death is an anomaly, a disharmony in God's universe. Someday it will be unknown. "The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death" (1 Cor. 15:26). The day of life is coming, and then we shall understand this mystery that we shall not all sleep but we shall all be changed.
"For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words" (! Thess. 4:16-18).
Surely He cometh! then the end of sickness,
Death, and heartache in a world deranged;
This is the end and this is the beginning,
This the beginning, for we shall be changed.
MEDITATION PRAYER: "As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness" (Ps. 17:15).
One day while in London we visited Bunhill Fields cemetery, the resting place of many of God's children. There lie John Bunyan, Isaac Watts, Dr. John Conder, and others. On the latter's tomb are these words: "I have sinned, I have repented; I have trusted, I have loved; I rest, I shall rise; and through the grace of Christ, however unworthy, I shall reign." Love demands a future life. Even Hume's skepticism disintegrated as he pathetically confessed that whenever he thought of his mother he believed in immortality.
The poet Browning's last words were "Never say that I am dead." To the believer death is a sleep. Jesus said of Lazarus, "Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep" (John 11:11). Death is an anomaly, a disharmony in God's universe. Someday it will be unknown. "The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death" (1 Cor. 15:26). The day of life is coming, and then we shall understand this mystery that we shall not all sleep but we shall all be changed.
"For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words" (! Thess. 4:16-18).
Surely He cometh! then the end of sickness,
Death, and heartache in a world deranged;
This is the end and this is the beginning,
This the beginning, for we shall be changed.
MEDITATION PRAYER: "As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness" (Ps. 17:15).
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