This past July the Lord took home to Himself my beloved mother, nearly 95 years old. When going to make the necessary memorial arrangements, I was struck by the funeral home sign, which proclaimed, “Funeral & After Life Services.”
After Life?!
My! what a hopeless expression—life and then nothing but an end of existence! What darkness to be without Christ—“having no hope, and without God in the world” (Eph. 2:12). What comfort can the most elegant memorial service with the grandest flowers, the most magnificent casket, the most moving music and crowds of mourners provide for those whose loved one is in a condition of after life?
Thankfully that expression is not really meaningful for a believer in Jesus. Having received the gift of eternal life (Rom. 6:23) from God, through Jesus Christ, there will never be an after to the believer’s life (John 6:51). A Christian’s life may come to a close here (but even that is not a certainty; 1 Thess. 4:13-17), but death is no longer a robber or an enemy to be feared (1 Cor. 15:55). It is but a servant ushering the believer from this world into that bright glory with Christ which is far better. “Whether . . . life, or death . . . all are yours” (1 Cor. 3:22).
No doubt the funeral home was seeking to convey to the public their caring and quality service for families after the life of a loved one has ended, for the world would hardly consider it acceptable if a mortuary advertised “Services for the Dead.” The words “After Life” are less gloomy, more acceptable.
But still, this expression is rooted in the fear man by nature rightly has of death. He tries to hide and disguise the melancholy reality of the king of terrors. The funeral hearse at one time was black—now many are white. The morbid finality of death is cloaked in many other ways because people without hope after life don’t like to talk or think about its gloomy certainty—a reality each must eventually face. To the lost, death is sure and unwelcome—a reality to be shunned until its unwanted presence can no longer be evaded.
Afterlife!
The reality of what this means for a believer gives joy and peace in the presence of death. It will never be a question with the child of God of after life, for this life is but the beginning of unending peace and bliss in the presence of the Lord Jesus—eternal life.
Our afterlife is all light—uninterrupted joy—consciously in the presence of our precious Lord Jesus Christ in heaven. The believer who has fallen asleep is “absent from the body . . . present with the Lord” (2 Cor. 5:8). He has assured us that “because I live, ye shall live also” (John 14:19). How blessed and comforting—what joyful expectation!
We may not enter that glorious scene through death (1 Thess. 4:13-18). We are encouraged to be watching and waiting the sure return of our Saviour and Lord who has promised, “Surely I come quickly. Amen.” Let us with joy answer, “Even so, come, Lord Jesus” (Rev. 22:20).
Ed.