Death. The last enemy. When it comes, death tears apart body and soul, leaving behind sorrow, loss, and pain. In God’s sovereign providence, death is very much on the minds of people all around the world as new counts of deaths caused by the coronavirus are reported daily in the news. When this issue was planned, we knew nothing of the scourge that was coming. Death itself is painful. It is not natural, for it is God’s punishment for man’s sin. The child of God does not have a terror of death, for our Lord went through death that He...
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“Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.” John 17:24 Do you meditate on what Jesus is doing for us in heaven today? At the beginning of this lengthy discourse (John chapters 14-17), He tells His disciples, “I go to prepare a place for you…that where I am, there ye may be also” (John 14:2, 3). At the end of the discourse He utters His high-priestly prayer, and concludes with...
Q. 86. What is the communion in glory with Christ, which the members of the invisible church enjoy immediately after death? A. The communion in glory with Christ, which the members of the invisible church enjoy immediately after death is, in that their souls are then made perfect in holiness, and received into the highest heavens, where they behold the face of God in light and glory, waiting for the full redemption of their bodies, which even in death continue united to Christ, and rest in their graves as in their beds, till at the last day they be again...
It is probably not too strong to say that a Christian ceremony for burial at the cemetery is as significant as a Christian funeral at the church. But there are less Christians attending funerals today than in the past (the funeral directors I have contact with indicate that), and there are probably even fewer who go to the graveside for burial. In the past it was different. Long funeral processions from the church to the cemetery were common. When my best friend died suddenly during a high school soccer game, the line of cars from the church stretched what seemed...
At the editors’ request, Mr. Mike Langeland, member of our Georgetown PRC in Hudsonville, MI, and fifth-generation funeral director, wrote a few thoughts to us for the readers of the Standard Bearer. From the brother’s note to us: “Families suffering from loss must walk through the journey of a death, but they need not walk alone. Being supported and loved by God, family, and God’s people carries them through that journey….When I carry the body of my loved one to the grave, place a flower on their casket, engage my emotions while seeing the deceased body of my loved one,...
Daniel’s Death It was the late morning of November 2, 2004. We will never forget that day. We had just voted in the presidential election and had returned to the parsonage of Southwest Protestant Reformed Church. Out of the kitchen window we saw a police cruiser coming up our driveway. We went out to meet the policeman and find out the reason for his stop. He asked us who we were. And then he told us, “Your son has been in a serious car accident.” Those words changed our lives from that moment on. As we rushed to the hospital,...
On behalf of many other godly pastors, I make a plea: Help us! We need your help in ministering to the grieving. Our prayers with the bereaved, our words at the funeral, and our care at the grave need to be complemented by your ministry. Our human limitations and inexcusable weaknesses even as we seek to comfort the brokenhearted necessitate your ministry. Your membership in the church, united to sorrowing members of Christ’s body, demands your ministry. “Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do” (I Thess. 5:11). But how do we go about doing...
We live in a modern society that disdains God’s gift of life. Of course, it is generally not the case that human beings have such contempt for life that they have no desire whatsoever to live. Most people want to remain alive and healthy, and would extend their lives if they were able (so long as life goes according to certain criteria). Nevertheless, society at large has contempt for life as a gift from God. That is because, as soon as one admits that God has given him life, he would also have to admit that such a God must...
A loved one has died. The spouse left behind is overwhelmed with grief. Parents who have lost a child or children who have lost a parent are crushed beneath the heavy burden of their loss. Death has left them dazed, disconcerted, and numb. It is all like a bad dream. But death does not allow them time to remain inactive in their grief. The body must be buried. A funeral service must be planned. Unless the family has had opportunity to plan the funeral before their loved one dies, the family can be so overwhelmed it is hard even to...
For in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die. Genesis 2:17 For the wages of sin is death….Romans 6:23 Since by man came death…. As in Adam all die….I Corinthians 15:21, 22 And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and the name that sat on him was death, and Hell followed with him….Revelation 6:8 The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. I Corinthians 15:26 Death, death, death. It marches through Scripture like a seemingly invincible army and down through history invades life like a monster with an insatiable appetite. Once it fixes its gaze...
