Revelation 14:13 Then I heard a voice from heaven say: “Write this: blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on. Yes, says the Spirit, they will rest from their labour, for their deeds will follow them”.
Recently , I was thinking about some issues relating to death while comforting someone who lost a loved one. She told me how a great man of God in the country prayed for the person during her sickness. She was troubled about why such an anointed preacher would pray without getting result. Well, I know many people who have been in her shoes with similar experience. I know how painful that could be especially when we preachers tell people God is a prayer answering God. On other hand, there are believers who break the heart of people in grief by referring to sin or lack of faith as the cause of their loss. What an insensitive conclusion!
We try to play the role of the comforter and accuser sometimes but they don’t mix. I tried to search within on the mystery of death and the answer I got was shocking to me. This is it, ‘the believer doesn’t die, the believer sleeps in the Lord and the exit of a believer from earth to glory is a great victory over Satan, sin and death’. That’s deep. We may not see it that way probably because of the circumstances under which the person dies but a believer that sleep in the Lord has achieved what the rest are struggling to achieve. He/she now has rest from temptation, sin, disappointments and failures. The devil has no business attacking such a person anymore, in that regard, that believer has won completely.
Balaam had a pre knowledge about the death of a righteous man. When he saw the glories of the world to come he said, ‘Let me die the death of the righteous that my end may be like him’,Numbers23:10. The righteous believer that sleeps in the Lord has already attained a better end. Hallelujah! God always want us to look beyond physical death for his children that sleep, He want our attention to be fixed on their present state of glory. So if a believer dies after several struggles and battles here on earth, prayers and fasting for survival, don’t see God as wicked or defiant to prayers. He has only given the person the highest form of victory- transition into glory. God is always wiser than the devil.
father, we thank you for the blessedness of sleeping in the Lord. Comfort the hurting in Jesus name.