What About The Faithful Who’ve Died?

There are three things that are true about believing loved ones that have gone on. The first thing that’s true is: They’re with the Lord. They go to heaven. To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord, the Apostle Paul writes (and I paraphrase) in 2 Corinthians chapter 5, the second part of v. 8. To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. And so when a believer in Jesus Christ dies, they are no longer there in their body. But they’re some where. At the exact moment after their last breath, these go directly to Jesus. It’s the first thing that’s true about believing loved ones that have gone on: They’re with the Lord. They go to heaven. It’s that quick, my friends. And now the second thing that’s true about believing loved ones that have gone on: They’re made whole. They get new bodies. ******* And when Jesus first reappeared after rising from the dead – have you ever read it? – the disciples were “startled and frightened,” the Bible says, “and thought that they were seeing a spirit” (Lk. 24:37). But then Jesus said to His startled and frightened disciples – He spoke and said, “‘Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? See My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself; touch Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have’” (Lk. 24:38). The fact is Jesus had a restored body after having died and come back to life. Jesus had a restored body. And then He even went on to ask for something to eat to give further proof. I just love that story. Have you ever read it? ******* “For this perishabl[e, my brothers and sisters] (that is, these frail and very temporary bodies of ours) – 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’” (1 Cor. 15:53-55). It’s the second thing that’s true about believing loved ones that have gone on: They’re made whole. They go to heaven. They get new and restored bodies, too! And now on to the third and final thing that’s true about believing loved ones that have gone on: We’ll see them again. They will be at the reunion. Will you? ******* What reunion? ******* “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God; and the dead in Christ shall 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” (1 Thess. 4:16-18). The church at Thessalonica worried about believing loved ones who’d gone on and what would happen to them? And so the Apostle Paul wrote 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, verses 16-18 that I just read so that they would feel at ease. Those who’d gone on were to be a part of the reunion – that grand and glorious reunion when Jesus comes back for His people. Those who’d died wouldn’t be left out of it. Actually, they were the first ones who’d participate. It’s the third and final thing that’s true about believing loved ones that have gone on: We’ll see them again. They go to heaven. They get new and restored bodies, too! They will be at the reunion. Will you? “[I]f you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved” (Rom. 10:9). “Whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed” (Rom. 10: 11bc).