Weekly Devotional 5-27-13 Death Does Not Bring Freedom
A few weeks ago a woman was found guilty of murdering her friend and said that she would prefer that her sentence would be death rather than life in prison and that she would prefer to die sooner than later because death would set her free. She went on to say “longevity runs in her family and I don’t want to spend the rest of my natural life in one place.” How sad this is, since death will not bring her freedom and she will spend eternity in one place. There will be no freedom for her unless she should come into a personal relationship with Jesus, God’s only propitiation for sin. She is not alone. Many there are that live life believing that death is the end of their existence, but that is just not so. There is life after death and every one of us will enter into that life, either in the presence of God or eternally separated from Him. This separation is filled with pain and sorrow. Jesus’ account of the rich man and Lazarus presents this truth very clearly. Consider,
“19There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day. 20But there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, full of sores, who was laid at his gate, 21desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. 22So it was that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died and was buried. 23And being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. 24Then he cried and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.’ 25But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted and you are tormented. 26And besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us’” (Luke 16:19-27 NKJV).
And He said in another sermon, “1When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. 32All the nations (the peoples of the nations) will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. 33And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. 34Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: 35for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; 36I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.’ 37Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? 38When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? 39Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ 40And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’
41Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels: 42for I was hungry and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink; 43I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.’ 44Then they also will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?’ 45Then He will answer them, saying, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ 46And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” Matthew 25:31-46 ( NKJV ).
In context, this speaks of the Lord’s judgment on the people of the world who are alive at that time (at the end of the tribulation period). The barometer of each person’s judgment will be in relation to how they treated God’s people during their lifetime (before and during) those days. The point is, they will either go on into the kingdom of Christ where there is freedom and rest, or they will not be allowed to enter. Instead they will enter into everlasting punishment where there is no freedom or rest. Such a judgment will also be rendered against all those who have died in unbelief throughout history. We read from Revelation 20:11-15, “11Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. 12And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books. 13The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works. 14Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. 15And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.”
There is therefore no freedom (or rest) for the woman mentioned at the beginning of this discourse, or for anyone else who has not surrendered to the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ. Only in Him is found true freedom and rest.
Sometime before His crucifixion, in conversation with Nicodemus, Jesus said, “14And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. 16For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. 18He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. 21But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”
I pray that this message of the Gospel gets to the woman mentioned and that she comes to understand its truth and that she turns to Jesus for salvation. This also is my prayer for every unbeliever who reads this offering.
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