Good Morning Everyone,
Our theme for this month: “Family”
Our Bible verse for today: “But now that he is dead, why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I’ll go to him, but he will never return to me.” 2 Samuel 12:23 (HCSB)
Our thought for today: “We will see our loved ones again.”
The scene recorded in 2 Samuel 12:15-23 is very sad. It tells of the time that the child born from David’s adulterous relationship with Bathsheba was taken from them by God. David was devastated, as he should have been, but the death was actually no penalty to the child. That child got to skip all the pain and sorrow and heartache that is a normal part of life on earth, and instead went straight to heaven.
There’s actually a great spiritual truth about death revealed to us in this passage. Right at the end, in verse 23, David consoles himself with the knowledge that one day in heaven he would get to see his son again. This is just one more place in the Bible where God assures us that one day in heaven we will see our saved loved ones again, and we will recognize them for who they are.
As I write this we’re just days away from Christmas. For most of us Christmas is a joy-filled time of celebration. We will be surrounded by family and friends and it will be an enjoyable time of good cheer and happiness. But at the same time we will surely think about those friends and loved ones who are no longer with us because they have gone on to heaven. That can make the holidays a time of sadness as well as a time of joy. But if you are a Christian, and if those friends and loved ones were Christians too, then you have the promise of seeing them again in heaven.
Recently I’ve been re-reading Dallas Willard’s great book “The Divine Conspiracy”. The other night I came across a passage where he was writing about the subject of what death means for the Christian. He explained that the moment of death is nothing but a transition from this life into the next. The illustration he used to help explain that transition is that of two rooms. Imagine two rooms separated by a doorway. You are in the first room filled with people, but headed through the doorway into the second room. As you pass through the doorway into the second room you begin to see and hear the people in the second room, and so your attention turns from those in the first room to those in the second.
In previous generations, before the days when medical professionals kept patients heavily sedated as they were dying, it was not uncommon for people on their deathbed to be awake and talking to people in the room with them, while at the same time apparently being able to see friends and loved ones who had died before them. The dying person would often engage those dead loved ones in conversation as he or she was passing through the moment of death. It was clear to everyone witnessing the death that the dying person was seeing friends and loved ones waiting for them on the other side of death (or in the next room).
The point is that if you are missing a friend or loved one who has already died, and if you are a Christian and so were they, you can rest assured that you will see them again.
For the Christian death is just a transition from this life into the next and when we get there, we will see our family and friends and loved ones again. They will be there waiting for us.
God Bless,
Pastor Jim
Oak Hill Baptist Church 