Prologue to Book

This guy’s walking down the street when he falls in a hole. The walls are so steep he can’t get out. A doctor passes by and the guy shouts up: “Hey, you! Can you help me out?” The doctor writes a prescription, throws it down in the hole and moves on.

Then a priest comes along and the guy shouts up: “Father, I’m down in the hole. Can you help me out?” The priest writes out a prayer, throws it down in the hole and moves on.

Then a friend walks by: “Hey Joe, it’s me. Can you help me out?” And the friend jumps in the hole. Our guy says, “Are you stupid? Now we’re both down here.”

The friend says: “Yeah, but I’ve been down here before and I know the way out.”

This is a clever little story, but also undeniably true. Once we fall into grief, when we don't know how to get out of the hole of sorrow and despair over the loss of a loved one, we need a friend to show us the path to life again. In this book you and I will journey through the Scriptures together, seeking a way out of our present darkness into the light of God's eternal gift of Heaven.  Together we will see that the only lasting and satisfying solution to our grief is to fix our eyes upon God as He demonstrates His care for us through His Word.

The Grand Finale

We have come to the last stop on this journey through the Scriptures. My goal in writing this book was to comfort you in your grief by the reality of Heaven. With Revelation 21 we have arrived at the most famous of all afterlife passages. I’m guessing that probably half of the sympathy cards I received after my son’s death quoted at least some of the following verses:

“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.’ ” (Revelation 21:1-4)

Having grown up in Massachusetts and then residing in Southern New Hampshire for many years I became accustomed to the phrase: “Reverse the Curse.” Any baseball fan would recognize this as the attempt of the Red Sox to overcome an 87-year drought of winning the World Series. That finally happened in 2004.

When I become a Christian in early adulthood, the phrase “Reverse the Curse” took on an entirely different meaning for me, which is epitomized by this portion of Scripture. On the cross, through Christ’s death and resurrection, the curse of our sin is eliminated. His work repaired the breach between man and God, allowing us access into Heavenly realms. The ultimate thrill will be when death is no more; when death is dead, there will be “...no more mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore.” The curse will be completely reversed. Isn’t that what we long for now?

Long ago Adam and Eve were privileged to walk with God in the Garden of Eden, and one day we will be granted that same delight. Our loved ones are experiencing this wonderful reality right now; they are in complete fellowship with the Lord of Lords and King of Kings. “... and God Himself will be with them as their God.”

God has already wiped every tear from our loved one’s eyes; shouldn’t that image help wipe away ours as well?

Endurance

It has been said that Revelation, the final book of the Bible, is one of the most difficult books of Scripture to understand. That is a well-deserved reputation, which should make us cautious in interpreting it. Nonetheless, Revelation contains some of the clearest passages on Heavenly realities found in the Bible. For instance:

“Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus. And I heard a voice from heaven saying, ‘Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.’ ‘Blessed indeed,’ says the Spirit, ‘that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them!’” (Revelation 14:12-13)

Anyone who has experienced the loss of a loved one knows about endurance. Every daily action calls for deliberate endurance: getting out of bed in the morning, showing up at work, answering phone calls, making dinner. The most routine tasks seem insurmountable when we are weighed down with grief.

But endurance in the faith is even more of a battle. We are so disappointed in God’s providence, so anxious about others, so fearful that someone else will be taken from us. Our minds are too confused to study the Bible and too distracted to focus on Sunday morning worship. Our hearts break with sorrow and our bodies hurt with various pains. And prayer? When we try, we can barely eke out a “Help me, God!”

How can we endure? By focusing our attention on the second of these verses. God is telling us to persevere because we have great treasures stored up in Heaven. Those of us who keep the commandments of God and our faith, weak though it may be, will eventually have rest from all our labors. God is telling us here that we are blessed; in fact, He says that twice in this passage. We should believe that we are blessed, and that we will be blessed, if we endure until the end.

What we do here on earth is mysteriously carried over into the next life. We only have glimpses as to how this will be manifested - but everything in the Bible is true.  Our deeds will follow us. There is some level of continuity between our lives here on earth and our lives in Heaven. Our loved ones understand this now, while we can only imagine. So we read and believe what God has promised, and so we let our souls be encouraged. A voice from Heaven has spoken to us, and we look forward to the rest from our labors that awaits us.

Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow.

Have Mercy

Throughout this entire book we have been assuming that one day we will see our loved ones in Heaven. But what if you aren't convinced that your daughter or mother or sister really accepted the gospel as presented in the Bible? What if you are unsure as to the eternal salvation of the one you are mourning? We’ve all been taught that as Christians we should not take or give false hope to those who are left behind with just ambiguous or confusing evidence of the faith of a departed loved one. What are we to do?

There is a very small verse in the book of Jude which might help. Very simply, it states:

“And have mercy on those who doubt...” (Verse 22)

Short of having a reliable ‘born-again-o-meter,’ we might not have perfect assurance that our loved one is in Heaven. This verse, though, gives hope to those who wonder. God is commanding us to have mercy on those who have doubts about matters of the faith. This verse certainly implies that God Himself is compassionate toward those who are plagued with skepticism or weakness or confusion. Why wouldn’t we follow His good example?

After all, wasn’t God merciful to us as we were coming to faith? God was certainly patient toward us when we were on our path toward belief. How do we know how far along our loved one might have been?

“The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9)

Let us be merciful as God is merciful.