Departure or Arrival?
Departure or Arrival?
As in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. (1 Cor. 15:22)
The Journey
Imagine driving up to a five-star hotel where a valet parks your car and a doorman opens the door and escorts you inside. Your car is like your body that transports you through this world—a fallen world that’s not your true, lasting home. Your soul needs a body so it can get around.
But at death your body is parked in a cemetery, the underground garage, put to rest, while your spirit is escorted to the gates of heaven. The gate is opened by the doorman, Jesus, the One who paved the way and paid the price for you to enter in. By the way, He doesn’t just meet you on the other side. He also walks with you on this side and through the journey of death. He’s there all the way through.
The Arrival
So while death at first seems to box you in, it actually frees you to go to God to experience the luxuries and amenities of an out-of-this-world resort (heaven). Death is often referred to as a departure when actually for believers in Jesus Christ it is an arrival. Death is the doorway through which you can leave the limitations and pains of this existence to enter into the heavenly realm, made completely and perpetually alive in the presence of God. So while the Bible describes death as an “enemy” (1 Cor. 15:26) it is also the doorway to much better things.
Bottom Line
The grave is not an entrance to death but to life. Have you made preparations for the journey?