They shall neither hunger any more, nor shall they thirst any more; the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat; for the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and He lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.

— Revelation 7:16-17

For believers, death is only a transition, a glorious step into His world and our eternal home. However, millions who do not know Christ are afraid of death. Woody Allen once made light of it by remarking, “I’m not afraid of death. I just don’t want to be there when it happens.”

We see death symbolized as the caped skeleton with his bony finger beckoning us to go where we don’t want to go. This is captured dramatically in Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol when Scrooge is visited by the Ghost of Christmas Future, who shows him his own grave.

To many, death is indeed the King of Terrors. But the Christian need not be afraid of death. Afraid of death? Afraid to see the Savior’s face? Ah, my friends, there is no tragedy, no pain, no suffering, no depression or disconsolation that Christ cannot heal. One of my favorite hymns states it this way:

Come, ye disconsolate, where’er ye languish,

Come to the mercy seat, fervently kneel.

Here bring your wounded hearts, here tell your anguish.

Earth has no sorrow that heaven cannot heal.

This is what we have to look forward to—the healing of all our hurts, emotionally, physically, and spiritually. Total healing and perfection: that is what Jesus Christ wants for us and that is what He has in store for us.

Question to ponder:
What major hurt in your life has Jesus healed?

… and those whom He justified, He also glorified.

— Romans 8:30

The final part of our salvation is glorification. This will take place when we are finally home in heaven and made perfect through Jesus Christ.

I have always known that in glorification we would be perfect. I knew that we would have perfect bodies; we would never be sick; we would never be weary; we would never tire nor need sleep. All of that, of course, is true but I never thought about the face being perfect. I thought that if we were perfect we would all look the same. Of course, that is not really so. Each one of us is a certain type that God has made. We are unique like snowflakes, but each one of us also is marred: a little twist to the nose, or bulge to the ears, or a crook to the teeth, or whatever it might be. Just think, however, what would happen if all those imperfections were corrected: perfection, paradise, a perfect body in a perfect environment—forever. All compliments of Jesus Christ!

That is just the physical part of our glorification. Our darkened mind will be sharp and perfectly able to function at top capacity. Our will shall finally be free from all evil influences and unable to rebel again. Our emotions will be healed of all hurt and pain. Most of all, our souls will be sinless and sin-free forever.

Question to ponder:
Think of your own glorification. What do you look forward to most?

The last enemy that will be destroyed is death.

— 1 Corinthians 15:26

Death is something that causes the human mind to recoil. We do not like to think about it. The great English poet and dramatist Ben Johnson said that man spends all of his life in one effort after another trying to avoid the thought of his own mortality.

The great English preacher Charles Spurgeon, however, would call us to look upon it. He said that the time comes, erelong, when these shining orbs by which I look out upon you and through which you look into my very soul, will become a “carnival for worms.” This body of mine will be inhabited by loathsome things, the brother of corruption—the sister of decay. These cheeks now flushed with life will soon be sunken in death. Beneath the skin there will be going on such activity that, could we look upon it, we would recoil in horror. This same death of the body is the condition of our soul as we come into this world.

Ultimately, the Christian need not have the same fear of death that the non-Christian has. Because Jesus conquered the grave, we have new hope in the face of death.

Question to ponder:
Is death still our enemy?

For the good that I desire to do, I do not do, but the evil I do not want is what I do.

— Romans 7:19

One of the tragic things about sin is that it is addictive. It doesn’t matter what kind of sin a person gets into—not just alcohol or drugs—all sin is addictive. The more we do a particular sin, the stronger becomes our addiction and the more its chains hold us, and the greater our desire for that sin. Some of you know exactly what I am talking about; you have been there or you are in bondage right now. The good news is that every shackle is broken at Calvary.

There on the Cross, Christ having been affixed, hand and foot, for us, broke the chains that bind the captive to sin—and He can set you free. You can go to that fountain, which has been opened at Calvary’s Mount, and you can be washed and cleansed. You can be clothed in the perfect righteousness of His white robes of purity and become whiter than snow. You can be in-filled with the power of the Holy Spirit and delivered from the bondage and addiction of sin. Only at the Cross is there hope for a sinful world.

I invite you in His name to come to the Cross to find forgiveness, to find a new life, to find the purity and freedom you desire. Come and find the truth and the love of Christ, and the life abundant and everlasting.

Question to ponder:
Have you surrendered your life fully to God? How does it make you feel to know you are cleansed and forgiven?

For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus …

— Romans 3:23-24

Grace means looking away from yourself unto the cross. It means being accepted because of what God is, not because of what we are. It means being accepted, not based on what we have done, but in spite of everything we have done. It is the free gift of eternal life.

If you have never received that grace, I urge you to receive it now. You don’t have to plead your virtues; you don’ have to plead your great accomplishments. You see, there’s only one thing you can add to your salvation—your sin—for which Christ died. By God’s grace, He changes our hearts. By His grace, He brings us to repentance and faith.

God’s grace is really all we need. It is all-sufficient.

Grace is the most important concept in the world. It is the most important concept in the Bible. Some of you are saying, “Did not the Apostle Paul say that the greatest concept was love?” No, he didn’t. What he actually said was: “So now abide faith, hope, and love, these three. But the greatest of these is love” (1 Corinthians 13:13). What a glorious concept this is. If grace had entered into the list, love would have had to step into the shadows, for grace is greater than love.

Question to ponder:
Explain in your own words: What is grace?

God, who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not by our works, but by His own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began …

— 2 Timothy 1:8-9

The meaning of grace is totally unmerited favor to those who deserve disfavor. To the undeserving, to the ill-deserving, to the Hell-deserving, God offers eternal life, but not because of anything that we have done.

If Bible passages could be likened unto mountains, Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works, so that no one should boast,” would be the Himalayas. One text stands out above them all, rising high into the sky, snow-clad, surrounded with clouds of mystery. It is, I think, the very pinnacle of biblical revelation, and it shares with us that great truth, that one central truth, that God wants us to know: “By grace you have been saved.”

Question to ponder:
How is the grace of God manifest in your life?

Have the gates of death been opened to you? Or have you seen the doors of the shadow of death?

— Job 38:17

A distinguished professor of psychology told his class of a rather striking case of somnambulism (sleepwalking). A man got out of his bed, went down the stairs, opened his front door, and walked across the lawn and out into the street. He walked right out of town and on through the fields and meadows. He never woke up until his bare feet stepped into the cold water of a stream that crossed his path. Then, suddenly, he awakened and looked around terrified at the strange surroundings. He wasn’t in his bedroom. He was standing in the midst of a stream.

There are many people like that. The “walking dead,” asleep while supposedly awake, they walk through life oblivious of where they really are in the eternal scheme of things. They never wake up until suddenly they find their feet in the cold stream of death. Then they awaken—startled by strange surroundings—to find themselves in the midst of death and judgment and condemnation.

Death is a wake-up call. When we are confronted by our own mortality or the death of a loved one, it puts life into perspective.

Question to ponder:
How does the thought of death wake us up?

Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.

— Psalm 51:2

There is an inevitable sadness connected with sin. Theologian Clarence McCartney reminds us of David, a man after God’s own heart and the beautiful Psalm-singer of Israel. But who is this that we see lying prostrate on the ground in the dust, weeping out his penitential tears and crying to God for mercy: “Do not cast me away from Your presence, and do not take away Your Holy Spirit from me” (Psalm 51:11); “… all my bones are out of joint; … My strength is dried up like a potsherd” (Psalm 22:14, 15).

Is that you, David? You, the man after God’s own heart? Can it be? Is that you—the one who watched over your father’s flocks as a young shepherd and so courageously killed the lion and the bear? Is that you, David, who with your sling destroyed that blasphemer, Goliath? Is that you, David, who with your lyre drove out the evil spirit from King Saul?

Alas, it is you, O, David. What sorrowful sight is this that the one who was the man after God’s own heart should thus be brought low, covered with sadness and impurity. Let us mourn over him: this adulterer, this murderer; this one who has cast himself in shame; this one who has been told that because of his sin the sword shall never depart from his household; this one who weeps because he knows that his own sin has plunged the knife into the body of his infant child.

In the end, David discovered mercy and forgiveness from the Lord, while the consequences of his sins remained.

Question to ponder:
Can you think of a sin in your life that God forgave you for, but you still had to live with the consequences?

The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, and have done abhorrent injustice; there is none who does good.

— Psalms 53:1

One of the fruits of evolution has been the proliferation of atheists. Do you realize that before Darwin, an atheist was as scarce as a hen’s tooth? Oh, there were a few around, but very, very few. Do you know why? Because if you said you were an atheist, all I had to say to you was, “Look around, buddy. Where did all of this come from?” And the atheist said, “Ah … but … uh … I don’t know.”

Then came Charles Darwin, who, as one evolutionist said, “… made atheism respectable.” I would not want to be Charles Darwin on Judgment Day. Think of all the people whom he has led astray. It is true that some were led astray quite willingly, but he is responsible for a lot of unbelief, ungodliness, and misery.

To say that tiny changes in all organisms (micro-evolution, if you will) prove gigantic changes from one species to another species (macro-evolution) is a gigantic leap of blind faith. The missing links were missing in his day. They are still missing in our day.

We believe in God, the Creator of heaven and earth. We should do all we can to counteract the false teaching that has been so readily accepted at every level of our society.

Question to ponder:
How did you come in your journey of faith to believe in God the Creator?

… I was sick and you visited Me …

— Matthew 25:36

A famous atheist was quoted as saying: “An atheist wants a heaven on earth, a hospital instead of a church. He wants disease conquered, poverty vanquished, and war eliminated.” Now, that expresses a very noble sentiment.

But what say the facts? This person says atheists want heaven on earth. To bring it about they want a hospital instead of a church. Isn’t that an amazing thing? As far as I know, there is not a single hospital anywhere on the face of this globe that has ever been voluntarily built by atheists.

That is not to say that some government, committed to atheism, may not confiscate by taxation some of the wealth of the people and build a hospital. But atheists voluntarily banding together and contributing their own money freely to build a hospital? There is not one that I know of on the face of the earth.

Christians, however, have built tens of thousands of hospitals all over the world, even in the most remote parts of the farthest jungles on the earth; hospitals that minister to the sick and to the lepers and to the blind and to the deaf and to the crippled and the maimed of every sort.

We can thank the Lord for the love of Christ, which has motivated Christians to care for the sick and advance modern medicine so that His love and mercy may be demonstrated all around the world.

Question to ponder:
Would you be alive today if it were not for modern medicine?