Published September 4, 2015

The Comfort I Have

“And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord.” [Revelation 14:13]

The comfort I have in the death of my wife resides in knowing that she died “in the Lord”, meaning that I believe she died possessing the salvation from her sins that only Jesus Christ could provide. She was trusting in the complete and full payment for all her sins that Jesus paid when He died on a cross 2,000 years ago at a place in Israel outside of the city of Jerusalem known as Calvary. My wife was not trusting in her good deeds, penance or religious rituals of any kind to even assist with her salvation. By God’s grace she understood that as the Bible states in Ephesians 2:8 & 9, that if we are to avoid eternity in Hell, we can only be saved by the grace (unmerited favor) of God and that it is not of works lest anyone should be able to boast before God that they were better than so-and-so. If you are depending on your own goodness to qualify you for Heaven, then you will need to be able to say that you are as sinless as Jesus Christ – then and only then can you hope to escape the ETERNAL wrath of God that will be poured out on all unsaved mankind on the day of Judgment. A person receives the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ when they become “saved” (also referred to as “born again”).

Perhaps you don’t believe any of this. Well then perhaps you don’t know what Heaven will be like. It will not be a place where you can indulge in any of the lusts and sinful behaviors that you indulged in on earth. It will be a place of absolute holiness, sinlessness and moral purity. For all eternity, no one in Heaven will ever use the name of the blessed Saviour Jesus Christ as a curse word. But instead, they will be forever praising Him for shedding His blood and for dying in their place for their sins.

Do you plan to ignore this message and just “take your chances”? Do you realize that Jesus Christ is eternal God and that He left His glorious home in Heaven to demonstrate His love to us? Knowing that none of us sinful creatures could ever measure up to His standard of perfect holiness and sinlessness, Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners, by suffering and dying for lost sinners like you and I. His perfect life and perfect sacrifice was the only acceptable payment to God for our sins.

Have you turned to Christ and received His forgiveness and repented of your sins and trusted in Him and His sacrifice ALONE to protect you from God’s wrath on Judgment Day? Our own self-righteous deeds are considered as nothing more than filthy rags to God. He is far more holy than we could ever imagine. Our sins are an enormous crime and offense against God, who stated that if we break one commandment, it is as if we broke them all. Jesus said if a person ever hated another person, they are a murderer at heart. He said if a person ever lusted after another person, they have committed adultery in their heart. We like to compare ouselves to people who we think are bigger sinners than we are. God compares us to Himself, in whom there is no sin. Heaven is all about fellowshipping with this holy sin-hating God. Is that the kind of Heaven you were expecting to go to when you die? If not, then you will surely end up in Hell instead. But so that you have time to seek the Lord while He may be found, I am writing this message. I hope and pray that you will call upon God while He is near – to be YOUR savior while there is still time. You probably won’t have any time to seek Him on the day He ushers you into eternity.

One last thought: When God came to earth 2,000 years ago in the person of Jesus Christ, how did we treat him? He told people he was God and he proved it by the many miracles he performed (including raising people from the dead) yet they arrested him, imprisoned him, beat him and brutally murdered him. Yet he rose from the dead on the third day further proving his divinity. And how do we treat him today? Do we revere him or do we instead use his name as a curse word? Do we worship him or simply ignore him and his commandments? When was the last time you read the bible to find out more about this God you will have to meet some day? — R.K.