Death

"The place I went was real.  Real in a way that makes the life we're living here and now completely dreamlike by comparison.  This doesn't mean I don't value the life I'm living now, however.  In fact I value it more than I ever did before because I now see it in its truest context." -Eben Alexander, M.D. regarding his near death experience, Proof of Heaven, 2012.
“If I had my life to live over again, I should form the habit of nightly composing myself to thoughts of death. I would practice, as it were, the remembrance of death. There is no other practice which so intensifies life. Death, when it approaches, ought not to take one by surprise. It should be a part of the full expectancy of life. Without an ever-present sense of death, life is insipid. You might as well live on the whites of eggs.” Muriel Spark, Memento Mori.

“Throughout the whole of life one must continue to learn to live, and what will amaze you even more, throughout life one must learn to die.” Seneca

"Don't be afraid, and don't let your heart be troubled. In my Father's house are many rooms. I go to prepare a place for you." Jesus, John 14.
"The mere thought of death somehow makes every blessing vivid, every happiness more luminous and intense." Tony Snow, Commentator and broadcaster; Pres. Bush's press secretary.
Written while experiencing cancer, of which he died at the age of 53 in 2008.

Scriptures Regarding Death

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. [Jesus](John 3:16)
I tell you the truth, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. [Jesus](John 5:25)
I tell you the truth, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death. [Jesus](John 8:51.)

I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. [Jesus](John 11:25-26)
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.[Jesus] (John 14:3)
He is not the God of the dead, but of the living for to him all are alive. [Jesus](Luke 20:38)

Do not be afraid of those who kill the body

but cannot kill the soul.[Jesus]

(Matthew 10:28)

For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.
(1 Corinthians 15:25-26)
I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. (1 Corinthians 15:50)
Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed--in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. (1 Corinthians 15:51-52)
Where, O death, is your sting? Where O death, is your victory? (1 Corinthians 15:55)

No man has power over the wind to contain it; so no one has power over the day of his death. (Ecclesiastes 8:8)

I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death. Where, O death, are your plagues? Where, O grave, is your destruction? (Hosea 13:14)
Those who walk uprightly enter into peace; they find rest as they lie in death. (Isaiah 57:2)
Man's days are determined; you have decreed the number of his months and have set limits he cannot exceed.
(Job 14:5)
For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. (Philippians 1:21)
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. (Psalm 23:4)
But the eyes of the LORD are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love, to deliver them from death and keep them alive in famine. (Psalm 33:18-19)
But God will redeem my life from the grave; he will surely take me to himself. (Psalm 49:15)
For you have delivered me from death and my feet from stumbling, that I may walk before God in the light of life.
(Psalm 56:13)
Our God is a God who saves; from the Sovereign LORD comes escape from death. (Psalm 68:20)
My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. (Psalm 73:26)
For you, O LORD, have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling, that I may walk before the LORD in the land of the living. (Psalm 116:8-9)

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:38-39)

If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. (Romans 14:8)

Death is the destiny of every man;

the living should take this to heart.

(Ecclesiastes 7:2)

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity

under heaven: a time to be born and a time to die…

(Ecclesiastes 3:1-2)

Man’s days are determined; you have decreed the number

of his months and have set limits he cannot exceed.

(Job 14:5)

For since death came through a man, the resurrection of

the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam

all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.

(1 Corinthians 15:21-22)

And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man,

so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven.

(1 Corinthians 15:49)

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!

In his great mercy he has given us new birth into

a living hope through the resurrection of

Jesus Christ from the dead.

(1 Peter 1:3)

Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face

judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins

of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear

sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.

(Hebrews 9:27-28)

For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ,

that each one may receive what is due him for the things

done while in the body, whether good or bad.

(2 Corinthians 5:10)

But our citizenship is in heaven . And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that

enables him to bring everything under his control,

will transform our lowly bodies so that they

will be like his glorious body.

(Philippians 3:20-21)

So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body

that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable…

It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.

(1 Corinthians 15:42,44)

Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?

We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. (Rmns 6:3-5)




And the world passes away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides for ever. (1John 2:17)




I have fought the good fight; I have finished the course; I have kept the faith; in the future there is laid up for the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing. (2 Tim. 4:7-8)

So we are always of good courage; we know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. For we walk by faith, not by sight. We are of good courage and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord (2 Cor. 5:6-8)

The Bible and many life experiences remind us of the transience of life. It is very important that we not fear death, for our fear will cause us to expend unnecessary energy keeping the reality of it pushed away, denied; and we will be deprived of the great blessing that its awareness brings to us. Death gives great importance to life. Death gives life a peaceful urgency that causes us to move onward toward and into those activities that we most want to accomplish. Death awakens us to priorities, and spurs us toward their fulfillment. Death causes us to examine our way of being in the world. It reminds us that we only have a limited time to love our loved ones, all of whom must face their death also. Perhaps most importantly, death reminds us to cultivate our life in Christ; our spiritual life, which is eternal and constantly being renewed, even as the body slowly deteriorates [2 Cor.4:16]. We are essentially spiritual beings in physical bodies. Our bodies will return to the dust – and it’s important to remember it – but our souls are eternal.

The Christian Faith

Those who would seek to diminish, discredit or destroy the Christian faith are facing a formidable foe. The Church, the Body of Christ, has been called "an anvil that has worn out many hammers." The more you poke and prod it,  the more florid and verdant it becomes.  The more you persecute it, the more it prays for you and stands in the Light that it propagates. And always there are some standing by, in the darkness, witnessing the persecution, [like Saul at Stephen's martyrdom] who hear that prayer and know that it comes from a place of eternal Truth, and they become a part of its enduring revolution.  The blood of its martyrs sows a million seeds into the heart of the human family.  Many intelligent historians have unsuccessfully tried to disprove it; some of them converting to the Faith. Its historical veracity is undeniable in any legitimate academic arena. The truly great men and women of history acknowledge its beneficent power. Its affect on the world is undeniably beneficent to a maximal degree. Today and every day there are millions of Christians who are selflessly practicing love for the weak, powerless and destitute because of Jesus. Amazing acts of kindness, generosity and service are being enacted every moment on this earth because of Jesus; and without fanfare or earthly reward. People forgive and even practice love for those who have caused them immense suffering. We ignore the Truth of the Bible at our own peril. The hatred of Christianity issues out of spiritual blindness that endangers the soul. All free nations have embraced it; and all tyrants hate it. All who oppose it will end up in the dust heap of history, while it continues to grow and flourish, here and there, taking root in mens' hearts, setting people free from the dark and oppressive forces in this world, transforming hearts. This is a truth that has withstood two thousand years of history and shows no signs of diminishing. We can't change the fact this is 2015 A.D. anno Domini, in the year of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who is the center of history, the center of all valid human experience, the "Way, Truth, and Life", the Light of the world.
May all come to know the joy, peace and freedom that He gives.
Mark Graham