'TILL DEATH DO US PART

Eltham Baptist Church 22nd July 2012

No. 384

There is a famous quote, "In this world nothing is sure but death and taxes" and this saying is attributed to Benjamin Franklin who wrote it in 1789. Things haven't changed at all since then. It simply means that if you're alive, you can be sure that you'll always pay taxes. And at the end of life, you can be sure that you'll be die. Other than those two things, what will happen to you in this world is..unsure. You'll never know what will come tomorrow. We have all been reminded of this fact again with the death of one of our congregation, Murray Laursen. He will be sadly missed. When someone dies it reminds us again of how frail we are in this life and how death can come at a most inconvenient time. There have been some stray cats at the bottom of York Street that I sometimes see when I go on one of my prayer walks. There was a sick one that I took cat biscuits too but some others soon joined in. The sick one eventually died but there has been another cute one that runs out to greet me hoping for a feed. The other night I took a handful of biscuits down there for her and was just about there when a car drove past very fast along with a sickening thud. It sped off leaving my favourite cat twitching in the middle of the road - very dead. I was glad for her that it all happened so fast but angry that the driver just took off. This also reminded me of the first time I was ever confronted with the inconvenience and sadness of death. As a child I was playing with a cat on the side of the road at Oakura in the sand when the cat run out onto the road and was immediately run over by a car. This really upset me as a child but wasn't the first and only time that I have been rudely awakened by the Grim Reaper. There have been many more pets from pet cats to bantams, budgies, uncles and aunts, friends and my father and then those in my congregation as a Pastor. The question I am sometimes asked is; "Do our pets go to heaven?" I can't be too sure but there are two scriptures that come to mind. Both are in the book of Isaiah (who must have had pets) and they both speak of the Millennium and how animals will be there along with humans.
"The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox, but dust will be the serpent's food. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain," Isaiah 65:25 "The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them." Isaiah 11:6

Another positive verse about animals in heaven is found in the Book of Revelation. As you all know, horses are animals and there are a lot of them coming from heaven when Jesus returns.
"I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and makes war. His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean." Revelation 19:11-14

No one can escape death, it's all part of the fall that originated in the Garden of Eden. God said to Adam and Eve that if they ate of the fruit, they would surely die afterwards.
"And the LORD God commanded the man, You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die. Genesis 2:16-17

As you all know, they ate of the fruit, but didn't drop dead straight away but soon left this planet for eternity and everyone else has done the same ever since. No one has escaped. God has said that the average life span of a human being should be 70 years, although this has varied at different stages in history depending on the conditions. I was reading that when the white man came to New Zealand the average Maori male only lived until he was thirty. In the Roman days it was 28 and in Medieval Britain it was 30 years as well. We today are blessed to live so long. There hasn't been a generation of so many elderly people around before. "The length of our days is seventy years--or eighty, if we have the strength; yet their span is but
trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away." Psalm 90:10

The question is, "What happens to us when we die"? Are we annihilated as some religions say or are we reborn or reincarnated as another creature according to the Hindu faith?
"And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:" Hebrew 9:27

Here the writer of Hebrews says that when we die we are not reborn as something else depending on how good or bad we've been in life but stand in the presence of God to be judged. We only have one death and not many, as we only have ONCE to die.
Romans 2:7 "to those who by perseverance in doing good seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life" 1 Corinthians 15:53-55 "For this perishable 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?"

Some say that we go into another place or fall asleep until some future date when we will enter into heaven but Paul said that when we die as Christians we are ushered into the presence of God straight away. When we leave this body as a Christian we are present with God. If God loves us so much then why would He want to put us away for years until some future convenient time?
"We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord." 2 Corinthians 5:8

Before Jesus died on the cross there was a place called 'Paradise' where the righteous departed dead went in a type of holding pen in lieu of heaven. But when Jesus finished His work on the cross He went and preached to them the gospel so they were then able to leave this place and enter heaven. As you know no one could go to heaven until Jesus had died on the cross and taken his blood and sprinkled it on the mercy seat in heaven. This place called 'Paradise' was also known as 'Abraham's Bosom' and here the righteous Jews used to live. The righteous beggar Lazarus went to this place while the Rich man lived across the ditch in a place of torment. Today those who have sinned are still kept in this place of torment until the Great White Throne Judgement. It says that after Jesus died he went to this place called paradise and preached to the captives who were waiting there.
"This is why it says: When he ascended on high, he led captives in his train and gave gifts to men. (What does he ascended mean except that he also descended to the lower, earthly regions? He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.) Ephesians 4: 8-10

After Jesus had preached the gospel to them He then ascended into heaven and it's recorded that on the way up after Jesus' resurrection, many righteous departed Jews walked the streets of Jerusalem.
"At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rocks split. The tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. They came out of the tombs, and after Jesus resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many people." Matthew 27: 51-53

Heaven is indeed a wonderful place where there will be no more tears, sickness or death. It's a place which we will really enjoy and be with the righteous ones we have missed, and above all we will be with Jesus. We may be envious of those who live in amazing houses here on earth but they will be nothing to compared to the custom built mansion that we will have when we get to heaven.
"And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away. Revelation 21:3-4 "In my Fathers house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am." John 14:2-3

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