Have you ever given much thought to your death? Do you ever think about things like how and when it will happen? What about after your death? Have you ever given much thought to that? Many people look at death with a fear and dread. Hebrews 2:15 speaks of those whose lives are held in “slavery by their fear of death.” It seems that none of us are immune from this fear.

People have developed several purely human approaches to deal with death. Some seek pleasure and think that pleasure is the only thing of value. Others respond with pessimism. This is the “woe is me” approach to life. A third approach is to deny or avoid death. People spend hundreds of thousands of dollars in “stay young” or other beauty products. These are the people who know that death happens, but they prefer to think about it happening to somebody else. A fourth human approach is to devise some way to explain death away to make it seem not so bad. Despite the clear teaching of Scripture to the contrary people use a variety of escape explanations like expecting everyone to go to heaven, or being re-born through reincarnation or transmigration.

But in contrast to these human approaches, the Bible prescribes a response of faith. Early Christians in Thessalonica had some questions and fears of their own about death. They fully expected Jesus to return in their lifetime and therefore many worried about loved ones who had died. What would happen to someone who died before Jesus came back?

In chapter 4 of 1 Thessalonians the Apostle Paul reassures and comforts his readers with some information about death. These same ideas will encourage us too. Paul wanted the Thessalonians to know that death is not a crisis to be faced but a corner to be turned. He connected the resurrection of Jesus with that of Christians. He did the same thing in his first letter to the Corinthians where he referred to Jesus as the “firstfruits” meaning that Christ’s resurrection assures us of our own resurrection. Paul wanted his readers to realize that for a Christian death is simply the door into the presence of God. After describing how the dead in Christ and those who are still living will be caught up together at the second coming, Paul concludes “…And so we will be with the Lord forever.” The idea that for a believer death is the entrance into God’s presence is a consistent message of the New Testament. One excellent example is found in 2 Corinthians 5 where Paul says if we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, but when we are away from the body in death we are at home with the Lord.

“At home with the Lord…” That is such a comforting thought. No wonder Paul wanted his readers to know that Christians do not need to grieve as those who have no hope. We still mourn, but our mourning is tinged with a glimmer of hope because we know that for a Christian death means we have turned a corner and have entered into the presence of God where we will live forever.