.... from - Rebirth Through Death -
Death is Birth
.... True Home for every human heart is in the vast, beautiful Presence of God. Whenever one has tasted His intimate, eternal tenderness, it is always hard to come back to ephemeral reality. Physical life cannot compare. The heights are irresistible, addictive if you like: full completion. Our mother was able to leave this life without fear, to say good-bye to us, her earthly treasure, and to embrace her now appointed time.
For those who have chosen to know Him, I believe there is an immediate passing over of our spirit from this life to the next. Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death" (John 8:51). Death is separation from God. Just as we must continually choose to die to our flesh during life in order that the spirit may become master, so the final deaths of our physical frames release the rescued, eternal spirit into its fullness. This reality is what God desires for all of us. A dear friend wrote to me when her husband passed from this life - worshiping! Before he left he said to her, "I wish you could see what I am seeing now!" How wonderful to have deep serenity during a time that much of the world shrinks from. In Acts 13: 36 we read how "When David had served God's purpose in his generation, he fell asleep." And in Isaiah 57: 2, "Those who walk uprightly enter into peace; they find rest as they lie in death." We, as those left behind, can release our loved ones peacefully when we know they are going to be with the Lord. The sting of death is indeed turned around and lives instead within our world that experiences loss.
©2005, J. Abel
