FEAR DEATH NO MORE.

Good Day~

In the fourth century there was a lovely young woman named Macrina. She was the sister of two of the greatest teachers the church has known – Basil of Caesarea and Gregory of Nyssa. ??She was, at the age of 13, engaged to be married to a wonderful man – not an uncommon age for that time. But before the marriage could take place her fiancé died. Macrina decided that God must have something else for her to do and she established one of the earliest Christian communities just for women – kind of a precursor to a nunnery. Macrina was very studious and a great woman of prayer and wisdom. ??On her deathbed she said a prayer that was so profound, one of her brothers, who was attending to her, wrote it down.  It is the prayer of a person who clearly understands and grasps what the apostle Paul has been saying in 1 Corinthians 15.

“O Lord, you have freed us from the fear of death. You have made the end of life here the beginning of a true life for us. You give rest to our bodies in sleep, and you awaken us again with the last trumpet. The dust from which you have fashioned us with your hands you give back to the dust of the earth for safe keeping, and you who have relinquished it will recall it after reshaping with incorruptibility and grace our moral and graceless substance...”?   Wow!

So much of life is uncertain.  We cannot flip the pages of the calendar to see what will happen at the end of this year or five years from now.  One thing is certain about this life we know—it will come to an end. Many fear death, and yet I have been ‘bedside’ with folks who are at complete peace knowing this life is almost over . . . what is the difference?  One fears what may be on the other side, and what fate awaits him, while the other believes that his Good Shepherd is waiting for him just on the other side.  Confidence in the promise of Heaven affords the dying soul peace, and that is a beautiful thing.  Macrina had that. 

Here is the triumphant conclusion of 1 Corinthians 15:

“ Now I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.  Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.

 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?”  The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law;  but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.”  1 Corinthians 15.50-58

‘Makes me think of this joyful song from my youth:

When the trumpet of the Lord shall sound, and time shall be no more,?And the morning breaks, eternal, bright and fair;?

When the saved of earth shall gather over on the other shore,?And the roll is called up yonder, I’ll be there.

On that bright and cloudless morning when the dead in Christ shall rise,?And the glory of His resurrection share;?

His chosen ones (that’s you…that’s me!) shall gather to their home beyond the skies,?And the roll is called up yonder, I’ll be there.

Let us labor for the Master from the dawn till setting sun,?Let us talk of all His wondrous love and care;?

Then when all of life is over, and our work on earth is done,?And the roll is called up yonder, I’ll be there.    James Black, 1893

Oh, yeah . . . I'll be there.  You be there too!

Christine