Six Things You Need to Know About Death

Gregg Allison offers "Six Things You Need to Know About Death":

1. Death is the gateway between the current earthly existence and eternal existence of either blessedness in the presence of the Lord or of misery and torment in hell (Matt. 25:46; 2 Thess. 1:5-12).
2. This gateway of death is unnatural, the result of sin and not part of the created human order. There is no hint in Scripture that God created Adam and Eve with the eventuality of death as the natural result of the aging process of their bodies. Rather, death was introduced into the human realm as a punishment for sin (Gen. 3:19; Rom. 5:12). The experience of death, therefore, is unnatural, even if it is universal.
3. Christians should view their own death as a homecoming, leaving their earthly body and going home to be with the Lord (2 Cor. 5:8). Death, then, as the passage into their future life, is “gain” and means departing this life so as to “be with Christ,” which is “far better” (Phil. 1:21, 23). Christians do not need to fear death, because the evil one who holds everyone in fear of death has been defeated (Heb. 2:14-18).
4. While grieving deeply over the death of other believers (e.g., Acts 8:2; 20:37-38; Phil. 2:27), Christians should also rejoice with hope (1 Thess. 4:13), knowing that these Christ-followers are now in the presence of Christ experiencing his blessings, comfort, and rest (Rev. 14:13).
5. Such anticipation is not the case with the death of those who did not embrace Jesus Christ.
6. We nurture a steadfast hope for the complete defeat and disappearance of death, a future reality that will one day be realized through Jesus Christ. Then the church redeemed by its Lord will be able to cry, “Death is swallowed up in victory!” (1 Cor. 15:54-55).