When you walk through a cemetery, you see all kinds of epitaphs on tombstones and one will say, 'our mother is resting in the arms of Jesus until the resurrection morning'. Another one will say, 'our mother is walking the streets of gold in heaven with the Angels'. Actually, where is she? The story is told of a school boy walking through a cemetery and came upon a tombstone that said, 'Stop my friend as you go by, As you are now, so once was I, As I am now, so you will be, so be prepared to follow me'. The boy pondered that for a minute and then took out a crayon and wrote on the tombstone, 'To follow you, I'm not content, until I know just where you went'. Isn't that the great question that a lot of folks are pondering today, there are so many answers, but which one is right? The Bible tells us exactly what happens to the dead.
When Lazarus died, Jesus said, Lazarus is asleep in John 11:11.
Ecclesiastes 9:5 "For the living know that they shall die; but the dead know nothing, And they have no more reward, for the memory of them is forgotten. Also their love, their hatred, and their envy have now perished; Nevermore will they have a share in anything done under the sun."
Genesis 3:19 tells us that we were made from dust and to dust we will return.
1 Thessalonians 4:14-18 "For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout with the voice of an archangel, and with a trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words."
If our loved one has gone on to heaven when they died, what reason would there be for a resurrection when Jesus comes to gather us all together. These verses tell us that those of us who die in Jesus will be resurrected when He comes and will be caught up with Him in the air.
Our God is a loving God and those who die, are sleeping a dreamless sleep in their graves until Jesus comes. What would happen if they were taken to heaven when they die and they saw all the misery their families are going through, maybe some raped, some murdered, some fighting and hurting each other. Some dying of terrible diseases and in horrible pain. How would they feel. God is a merciful God and is allowing them to sleep in their graves until He comes to claim them for His own. There are a lot of other texts to convince you of this but I don't want to bore you with text upon text, but if you press the button that says Amazing Facts you can get the whole Bible Study from them on the whereabouts of the dead. It is such a relief to know that they are asleep in Jesus and not watching all the crime and sin in this world. To me that would be a horrible thing.
There is no fear in death if we are living our life in Jesus and letting His Holy Spirit guide us and protect us.
What is there to fear. I would fear greatly if I was out of His loving care and not living His life in me.
I know this was a heavy study, and I pray that you will ask for the study from Amazing Facts on the state of the dead and you will be blessed. Grandma Joan
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