What Will the Christian Discover at Death?

 

Psalm 143:5 saays, “I remember the days of old; I meditate on all thy works; I muse on the work of thy hands.”

I want us to think seriously about that word “muse.” To muse means to think, to meditate, to ponder, and to concentrate upon something. We live in a world filled with amusement, but amusement is often designed to keep us from thinking. We can spend hours watching, listening, and being entertained without ever stopping long enough to consider the great truths of God.

David said, “I muse on the work of thy hands.”

Creation is the work of God’s hands. Redemption is the work of God’s hands. Providence is the work of God’s hands. And one part of God’s providence that we seldom want to think about is death.

The Bible teaches that our days are numbered. God has appointed our bounds that we cannot pass. The day of our birth was not outside His providence, and neither is the day of our death.

Death comes to saint and sinner alike, but their deaths are not the same. Scripture says, “Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints.” There is a difference that God Himself places between the death of the believer and the death of the unbeliever.

For the child of God, the sting of death has been removed because Christ has dealt with our sin. The Bible says, “The sting of death is sin,” but it also says that “the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.” Christ has redeemed us, not with silver and gold, but “with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.”

That means I may not want to die, but I do not have to be afraid to die.

Christ has removed the bondage of the fear of death. Hebrews tells us that through His own death Christ destroyed him who had the power of death and delivered those “who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.”

Death cannot hold the child of God any more than it could hold the Son of God.

The Christian also has the assurance that when he leaves this body he enters the presence of Christ. Paul said that to be “absent from the body” is to be “present with the Lord.” He told the Philippians that he had “a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better.”

For the believer, death is going home.

That raises a question worth pondering: what will we discover when we arrive there? I am not attempting to describe everything about heaven. Scripture gives us far more than I could cover in one article. But I believe there are several tremendous realities that will become clearer to us the moment we leave this life and enter the presence of Christ.

The first is the gloriousness of our Sovereign.

I do not believe we have begun to comprehend the glory of God. We read about it. We preach about it. We sing about it. But we have never seen even the smallest portion of His glory as we one day shall.

The Queen of Sheba came to see Solomon and was overwhelmed by what she saw. She confessed that what she had heard had not prepared her for the reality: “the half was not told me.”

If that could be said of Solomon, how much more could it be said of Almighty God?

Moses desired to see God’s glory, but the Lord told him, “Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live.” God allowed Moses only a limited revelation of His glory.

Isaiah saw the Lord “high and lifted up,” with the seraphim crying, “Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts,” and Isaiah immediately became conscious of his own uncleanness. Ezekiel fell before the glory of God. John fell at Christ’s feet as dead.

Yet the hope of God’s people has always been that one day we will see Him.

Job said, “Yet in my flesh shall I see God.” David said, “I will behold thy face in righteousness.” Jesus said, “Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.” John wrote, “We shall see him as he is.”

Can we really imagine that?

We cannot now see the fullness of His splendour, majesty, holiness, wisdom, power, and glory. Paul said, “Now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face.”

I suspect that when I enter His presence, I will not casually walk up as though I were meeting an ordinary acquaintance. I believe I will be overwhelmed by who He is. Like John and Ezekiel, I may discover that the only proper response to such glory is to fall before Him.

The second thing I believe we will understand more fully is the greatness of our sin.

I am not saying that the believer will face condemnation. There is “now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.” Our sins are forgiven. The penalty has been paid. Christ has redeemed us completely.

But forgiveness does not mean that sin was insignificant.

We treat sin far too lightly in this life. We confess that sin destroys individuals, families, societies, and nations, yet we still fail to comprehend its true wickedness. God says concerning sin, “Oh, do not this abominable thing that I hate.”

Do we hate sin as God hates it?

Not as we should.

We say we hate sin, yet we still commit it. We say we want holiness, yet our sinful nature pulls us toward rebellion. We often sin without considering the majesty of the One against whom we are sinning.

When we see the glory of God, I believe we will finally understand more clearly what sin really is.

Sin is rebellion against the sovereign God.

It challenges His authority. It despises His goodness. It treats His commands as though our wisdom were greater than His. It says, in effect, that we know better than our Creator.

But perhaps nothing will show us the greatness of sin more clearly than seeing our Saviour.

Why did Christ come?

Because of sin.

Why did He humble Himself and take upon Himself the form of a servant?

Because of sin.

Why did He become “obedient unto death, even the death of the cross”?

Because of our sin.

It was sin that brought the Son of God from heavenly glory. It was our sin that placed the crown of thorns upon His head, our sin that nailed Him to the cross, and our sin for which He suffered.

Yet even the physical suffering of the cross does not fully reveal the horror of Calvary. Scripture says, “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin.”

Think about that.

The sinless Son of God, who never committed sin, never desired sin, and never had the slightest inclination toward sin, bore our iniquity. He stood in the place of sinners.

When I see Him as He is, I believe I will understand my sin in a way I never could here.

But that will lead directly to the third great discovery: the graciousness of our Saviour.

The more clearly I understand the greatness of my sin, the more astonishing His grace becomes.

Isaiah said of Christ, “He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied.”

I confess that I have difficulty understanding how the Lord could look upon one such as I am and be satisfied with the result of His redeeming work. Yet that is the wonder of grace.

He bore our iniquities.

He forgave us.

He pardoned us.

He did not merely make salvation possible and then leave us to save ourselves. He created us, redeemed us, called us, regenerated us, sanctified us, and will finally glorify us.

All of it is grace.

God says, “Their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.”

What astonishing mercy that is. He forgets our sins judicially, yet He remembers our service. Hebrews says, “God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love.”

Think about the contrast. My sins are forgiven and remembered against me no more, yet a cup of cold water given in Christ’s name is not forgotten.

That is grace upon grace.

When I see the glory of my Sovereign and understand the greatness of my sin, I believe the graciousness of my Saviour will overwhelm me.

There is one more thing I believe we will discover: the grief of our service.

When I see how glorious He is, how wicked my sin was, and how graciously He saved me, will I not wonder why I served Him so little?

Will I not regret how much time I wasted?

Will I not wish that I had loved Him more, prayed more, studied His Word more, obeyed Him more faithfully, and placed His kingdom above my own interests?

Paul tells believers, “We shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.” He also says, “We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body.”

This is not condemnation for our sins. Christ has already borne that condemnation. It is an accounting of our stewardship and service.

Paul said, “Wherefore we labour, that… we may be accepted of him.” The idea is that we should desire to be well pleasing to our Lord.

How much of what occupies our lives is truly worthwhile?

There are things we do that may not be sinful, but they are worthless in terms of eternity. They contribute nothing to Christ’s kingdom, nothing to His glory, and nothing to the spiritual good of others.

That ought to make us think now.

If one day I am going to wish I had loved Christ more, why not love Him more today?

If I am going to wish I had served Him more faithfully, why not begin now?

If I am going to wish I had known Him better, why not study Him now?

Jesus defined eternal life this way: “And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.”

Eternal life is knowing God.

And eternity will be an endless discovery of His greatness. We will possess perfected minds and understanding, yet we will never exhaust the infinite God. Only God can fully comprehend God. Throughout eternity we will know Him more and more, and every new discovery will give us fresh reason to worship Him.

So why not begin now?

Study His Word. Learn His character. Meditate upon His attributes. Think about His holiness, sovereignty, mercy, justice, wisdom, love, and grace.

The more I know Him, the more I will love Him.

The more I love Him, the more I will want to serve Him.

Death for the Christian is not the end. It is our entrance into glory. We shall see Him as He is, and we shall understand as we have never understood before.

We will see the gloriousness of our Sovereign, the greatness of our sin, the graciousness of our Saviour, and perhaps the poverty of much of our service.

Knowing that day is coming, I want to change now.

I want to love Him while I can love Him here. I want to serve Him while I have opportunity to serve Him. I want to know Him better, obey Him more completely, and live for His honour and glory.

One day I shall see Him face to face.

Until that day, may God give me grace to live so that when I stand before Him, I may hear those words every faithful servant longs to hear:

“Well done, thou good and faithful servant.”