[Faithwalker012]

You know, this is a very important and very sensitive topic. We all have ones we've loved and that we've lost, whether they're a close family member or a close friend... or a spouse or boyfriend/girlfriend. When we lose one who was dear to us, naturally there's a sense of grief and for many a lack of certainty. But yet in the first verse of Ecclesiastes 7:1 it says that the day of death is better than the day of one's birth. Why would that be? Well, think about it. We're born into this world, this world and this world age has problems in it. There's pollution.... there's natural disasters that kill people... there's evil and evil people in this world... and these flesh bodies don't really last all that long. Even 100 years is nothing compared to the eternity, and if you're fortunate enough to make it to 100 years in a flesh body, you've put a lot of wear and tear on that flesh body. But at death, if you are saved especially, you leave all that behind, and you have something much better waiting for you.

I was a little distressed to hear from a good friend of mine that he believed we lay in a hole in the ground until the return of Jesus Christ. This is simply not not the case, and greatly misses the mark not only biblically, but in terms of just how much God loves His Children... those who are in His family, but even those who did not make it are still there with Him... awaiting judgment, but there with Him nonetheless.

I want to start out in the same book of Ecclesiastes, the 12th Chapter, just a couple of verses.

Ecclesiastes 12:6 "Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern.

This sounds like pottery or objects, but it really refers to the death of the body. That will hopefully be clear in the next verse. But the silver cord is basically the spinal cord. The spinal cord transmits messages and signals and impulses from the brain. In other words when the brain shuts down or your central nervous system shuts down, when your heart stops pumping blood, the heart here is what is referred to by pitcher... when any and all of that happens, that's it. You're done with the flesh. But then what comes next?

Ecclesiastes 12:7 "Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God Who gave it."

Now does that say the flesh goes back to dust and the spirit goes to the earth and stays there? NO! The spirit returns to God. When does that happen? As verse 6 stipulates, immediately after the death of the flesh.

You know, Paul had what might be called a near death experience. Paul was actually stoned as it was recorded in the 14th chapter of Acts, and he was left for dead. I mean, they thought they had killed him. Then in 2nd Corinthians 12:2 Paul speaks of a man 14 years prior who not really knowing if it was in body or out of body who was taken to the third heaven age. Many people believe Paul was speaking of himself. But be that as it may, what does Paul say in 2nd Corinthians 5:8?

II Corinthians 5:8 "We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord."

Friends, if you're no longer in your flesh body, you're present with the Lord... good,bad, or ugly. I'll get to that as well. Now, I'm going to go to the so called "rapture chapter" in 1st Thessalonians.

A lot of people build the rapture theory up on this chapter, and people believe you have bodies coming out of the graves in this chapter too. But God's Word is consistent and let's apply what has already been mentioned and just think a little bit here.

I Thessalonians 4:13 "But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope."

See, you who believe have hope. That hope is in Jesus Christ. Why? Let's keep reading.

I Thessalonians 4:14 "For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him."

Jesus died and rose again. Is He in some hole in the ground? Of course not... He is in heaven with the Father. So if Jesus isn't in some hole in the ground, why would those who sleep in Him be? God loves His children, and He's the God of the living, not the dead. He wants them with Him, not in some hole in the ground.

I Thessalonians 4:15 "For we say unto you, by the word of our Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent in no wise [precede] them which are asleep."

Why would we not precede those who are asleep? Because they've already gone to the Father.

I Thessalonians 4:16 "For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with a voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first;"

Again, why shall the dead in Christ rise first? They already have! If this is a struggle for anyone, it shouldn't be, but if it is, compare scripture to scripture. This same man who wrote this letter to the Thessalonians is the same man who said to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord in 2nd Corinthians. Is God down there in a hole in the ground? Of course not! The flesh is nothing but a temporary hunk of dirt or meat that we ride around in for a while. When we're done with it, we're done with it. Ashes to ashes and dust to dust... or dirt to dirt if you prefer. We won't take it with us, it's not us or any part of us.... not the true self or true inner man or soul. So let dead flesh lie and let the beauty that God has in store for those who do love Him come forth. It's going to be so much better.

I'm going to take a break personally and come back and close in Luke.

Jason