No More Death or Dying
“Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death–that is, the devil–and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death” (Hebrews 2:14, 15).
Someone pointed out that every birth certificate comes with a death certificate attached. In the bureau of vital statistics, there are nearly equal numbers of birth and death certificates for every century. Though we prefer not to think of it–too depressing! –the reality is that everyone eventually meets the undertaker.
But–and this is very good news–there is coming a day when no more death certificates will be issued. Who says? God does. The prophet Isaiah, the most respected and eloquent of all the Old Testament spokesmen for God, records the claim. He boldly wrote the following: “He [God] will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations; he will swallow up death forever. The Sovereign LORD will wipe away the tears from all faces; The LORD has spoken” (Isaiah 25:7,8).
Did you catch those two phrases that describe death–“The shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations”? The poetry of it somewhat masks the bitter reality. I have logged a lot of air miles going to remote corners of the world—Asia, including China, Burma, Thailand, Taiwan, and more barrios in the Philippines that most Filipinos have seen. I’ve traveled in Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Poland, Africa, Latin America and the Middle East. It doesn’t matter whether it is in a little Egyptian village, a mountain hut in the Andes, or the home of a wealthy family in Hong Kong, when someone you love is taken from you, your heart in wrenched in pain.
But God says, “Enough is enough! One day, I’m putting a stop to all of this!” The prophet says that God will swallow up death forever, and put an end to our tears. Here’s a beautiful picture. God doesn’t just say, “Hey, don’t cry over this!” He tenderly says, “I will wipe away your tears!” There is nothing more comforting for a child than for his mother or father to hold him in his arms and gently and tenderly wipe away those big tears that trickle down a cheek.
One day your Heavenly Father will do that for you. The good news is that there are no tears in heaven. For most of us the only thing that is more difficult than saying “Good-bye” is to watch someone you love suffer and not be able to do anything about it. At times I hear of the strange irony of specialists–the finest doctors in the world–seeing ones they love waste away with the very disease they have specialized in curing. But Isaiah, the one I quoted, also says that in that day, “No one living in Zion will say, ‘I am ill’ or ‘I am sick!’” (Isaiah 33:24).
No wonder the songwriter rejoiced, “There’s a glad day comin’, a glad day comin’ by and by.” I feel sorry for those who have no hope of heaven, no assurance that they will live forever in the presence of the Lord, no comfort that one day we will be united forever in the presence of the Lord.
“In my Father’s house are many rooms;” said Jesus immediately before He went back to heaven. “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).
Some things are just too good for earth, and heaven is one of them. Who cares that equal numbers of birth and death certificates are issued? It’s the born-again certificate that has no corresponding equivalent.
Resource reading: 1 Corinthians 15:35-58.