13/10/2023 - THE DEATH OF HIS SAINTS

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Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of His saints. Psalm 116.15

Several advantages await the born-again. Let us enumerate some that speak of death. This is how Joshua expressed himself: Behold, this day I am going the way of all the earth. And you know in all your hearts and in all your souls that not one thing has failed of all the good things which the LORD your God spoke concerning you. All have come to pass for you; not one word of them has failed (Joshua 23.14). He lived to be 110 years old!

One of the oldest books of the Bible, Job, contains the following statement: You shall come to the grave at a full age, as a sheaf of grain ripens in its season. (Job 5.26). When the time comes for the saints to depart for the Father’s House, they are gathered in a simple and perfect way. The man who fears this day, certainly does not feel saved. Some go before their time, but this is not God’s plan. That time will come for everyone!

Jesus spoke of our last breath in this world as a good passage to the other side: “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life (John 5.24). This will happen in a fraction of a second. One moment, the saved will be on Earth, and the next, in the arms of the Lord.

Jacob, the patriarch of the Hebrews, considered death a natural fact, leaving earthly life for eternal life. When he sensed that his days were ending, he summoned his sons and said: Gather together, that I may tell you what shall befall you in the last days (Genesis 49.1). He had a good mind, for he spoke of the future clearly and blessed each of his sons. Every saint can be used like this!

The patriarch was 147 years old when he died. After blessing his descendants, he spoke about the place of his burial: Then he charged them and said to them: “I am to be gathered to my people; bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite (Genesis 49.29). Being saved, you can leave this wolrd without pain or despair. Jacob departed as should be the death of every one who fears God.

His sons surrounded him and wrote down everything he said, so that they could fulfill what was said about them without fighting or fear. This is how the Word declares about the death of the one who was faithful to God until the end: And when Jacob had finished commanding his sons, he drew his feet up into the bed and breathed his last, and was gathered to his people (Genesis 49:33). The first time I read that, I cried a lot. It was as if he was my ancestor – and, by faith, he is. God is beautiful!

King Asa’s mistake was to participate in a conspiracy that did not come from God (2 Chronicles 15:12-15). The result: And in the thirty-ninth year of his reign, Asa became diseased in his feet, and his malady was severe; yet in his disease he did not seek the LORD, but the physicians. (2 Chronicles 16:12). Never make a vow that the Bible doesn’t recommend, because you will be in trouble if you don’t keep it. God does not force anyone to promise something He has not prescribed. Watch and pray!

In Christ, with love,

R. R. Soares