Now if we died together with Christ, we believe that we shall be living together with Him also, having perceived that Christ, being roused from among the dead, is no longer dying. Death is lording it over Him no longer.
Paul to the Romans 6: 8-9, Concordant New Testament
There is a saying in life that there are but two constants which we can count on. That being death and taxes. From our human perspective, this is all too true. We spend a great deal of our lives here on earth preparing the way for that final chapter. The belief that death is the end of us has never been more real. To honor his own death, man has erected great and grand tombs of granite, stone and jewels to remind those left behind of who they once were. Even in Christian circles, the idea that we need to be immortalized after we die is very prevalent. My good friend continues to care for a small plot family cemetery, whose headstones span many generations of relatives. We place great effort at times in making sure that we are remembered. After my mother passed, I felt guilty that cremation was the only ceremony which I could provide for a person who had such an impact on those around her. Certainly, she deserved more of a memorial, didn't she? Then again, that is our thinking, that we be remembered. How is it that Jesus is remembered? Is He remembered for His miracles? Is He remembered for His words He spoke? Or, is He remembered for the empty tomb His followers discovered that resurrection morning? I would say that we remember Jesus more for His words and works than for where He was temporarily buried. But, that's Jesus, He was never meant to be handcuffed by the sting of death, right? Indeed. Yet what many well meaning Christians fail to realize is that we also have been liberated from the finality of death. The apostle Paul speaks to this in Romans. That if we died with Christ Jesus, that we should be living together with Him as well {Paul to the Romans 6:8-9}. Scripture tells us that Jesus has defeated death once and for all {Paul to the Corinthians (1) 15:22}. Therefore, if Jesus has defeated death, then what do we need to fear from it? Our passing from this world is not our final chapter but our next.
For we are aware that, if our terrestrial tabernacle house should be demolished, we have a building of God, a house not made by hands, eonian, in the heavens.
Paul to the Corinthians (2) 5:1, Concordant New Testament
As far as I know, the Lord has not prepared a place for His children to be when they pass from this world. When Jesus spoke of going to prepare a place for us, He was speaking of our union with He and the Father {Johns Account 14:2-3}. God is not taking special care to secure a proper place for us to die. Nor is He building for us memorials that we should be remembered. For the memorials of man are nothing but monuments of our temporary flesh vessels. There can never be a monument to our one true spirit identity because it will NEVER pass away. The empty tomb of Jesus speaks to the life He truly lives today. The ashes of the former flesh body of my mother do not represent who she truly is in Christ. For all intents and purposes, the finality of death has been defeated once and for all. Paul asks the all important question, "Where, O death, is your sting? Where, O death, is your victory?" {Paul to the Corinthians (1) 15:55}. If Jesus had not defeated death, would He not tell is so? We're told that we are not in the flesh but in the spirit image of the Father {Paul to the Romans 8:9}. The death of the flesh is not the end of us.
For the disposition of the flesh is death, yet the disposition of the spirit is life and peace.
Paul to the Romans 8: 6, Concordant New Testament
~Scott~
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