An Eternal Sleep
I lay on my bed one night tumultuously struggling with thoughts of death. My emotions are overwhelmed with the terror of not being able to escape such a dreadful fate. I pull the covers over my head wishing I could find some refuge but my fear only grows in intensity. As I toss from side to side I cannot stop myself from trembling and crying. In my mind and in my spirit I keep saying, “I don’t want to die; I don’t want to die” but my thoughts are oppressive and keep me terrorized with fear.
Then calm overtakes me as likened to when clouds roll back and you feel the warmth of the summer sun light brush your face with a cool accompanying breeze. I hear the voice of the Lord speak softly to my spirit. He says I am His child because I have accepted Jesus Christ as my personal Savior and Lord and I belong to Him. He says He loves me and has forgiven me of all my sins and is always with me. He tells me how His unfailing love has been graciously preparing me for the very moment that I find myself so fearful. He reminds thatI have practiced all my life for the very moment when I will physically die and He assures me that I have become well versed in the process. It is called falling asleep.
Peacefully, every night of my life I have rehearsed my grand exit from this world. As I fall asleep each night I cannot recall exactly when I lose consciousness and fall into a state of sleep. How peaceful those moments are; how unafraid I am of falling asleep at those times. The Lord reminds me that that is exactly what is going to happen to me when I physically die. He says “I am going to go to sleep one more time, then when I awake, because I belong to Him, I will wake up to find myself with Him in paradise for eternity.”
People will have an experience of thinking about death at some point in their lives. For some it will come when they are small children. For others it will come when an event has threatened their life. Some might witness a loved one die right before their eyes. Regardless of the circumstance, people are destined to confront their mortality.
Death is a reality. Death was never in God’s original design for man. Man’s sin brought consequences of physical death from this world and spiritual death from God. Death affects the human spirit. It separates the human spirit from the presence of God and from the physical body. Adam and Eve brought a curse on all humanity in the Garden of Eden when they sinned against God. As a result, everyone’s spirit is separated from the presence of God at birth. Everyone is spiritually dead at birth. In addition, everyone will physically die. Everyone will experience a separation of their spirit from their physical body at the end of their life. Both of these deaths are a reality we all must face.
Unless you have knowledge concerning your human spirit, the thought of death creates anxiety, fear and trepidation. Unless you have knowledge of God’s love for you and what He has done to resolve the dilemma of your human spirit, the thought of death stings your very soul.
Scripture identifies two resting places for the human spirit when physical death comes. One for those who are reunited with the presence of God through rebirth and the other for those who remain separated from the presence of God through the rejection of Jesus Christ. The location of the former is the bosom of Abraham; the location of the latter is Hell.
You see, man cannot change the reality of his physical death; the separation of his human spirit from his physical body. But he can change the reality of his separation from the presence of God. By believing in Jesus Christ’s death as the propitiation for man in satisfying God’s judgment for Adam’s sin and by believing in Jesus Christ’s resurrection as God’s justification for man, a provision is given to man that resolves his separation from the presence of God. The provision is a manifestation of God’s grace. The provision is a gift of God. It is salvation. The provision is Jesus Christ.
Accepting Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior brings you into perfect fellowship with God. It answers the question, which resting place will my spirit go to when it is separated from my physical body. It will go to the bosom of Abraham. Positioned to receive a new body that will never be separated from God but united with God eternally.
1Corinthians 15:50-57 (NASB) says:
Now I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Behold, I tell 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 trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.
For this imperishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality. But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, “Death is swallowed up in victory. O Death, where is your victory? O Death, where is your sting?”
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Therefore, if you have accepted Jesus Christ, you can continue your “dress rehearsals” with a peace that surpasses all human understanding. You never again will have to become fearful about death.
