Vision of Death

By Michael K. Farrar, O.D.

© God’s Breath Publications

 

“Since the children have flesh and blood, He too shared in their humanity so that by his death He might destroy him who holds the power of death that is, the devil and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.”

Hebrews 2:14 15

 

The realities of life and death hit hard when as one of the pastors of my church, John Morrill, passed away from cancer. The death of a loved one or a friend always traumatizes our emotions and is never easy to accept. While we know that death is inevitable for all of us, we always seem to push it to the distant pastures of our thoughts hoping we can avoid its inevitability.

 

The death of a Christian is dramatically different from the death of someone failing to live with Christ as his or her Savior. Death for a believer in Christ is a release from the bondage of the flesh and into the presence of their Lord. It means both the struggles of this life and the testings of their faith have come to an end. Their hope of eternal life is finally realized as their loving Savior receives them. Death for those individuals failing to live with Christ as Lord of their lives is a passing from this life into a position of judgment before their Creator.

 

While myself and other believers cling to the doctrines of scripture describing our hope of heaven, it takes faith to make them alive in our daily life. Anyone can claim to belief in God, and to have accepted Christ as his or her Savior. Someone recognized by God, as a “true” Christian is someone whose heart desires fellowship with God, whose mind is being transformed by the Holy Spirit and whose actions and deeds reflect ruler-ship over their lives by Jesus Christ. Sometimes even those of us who believe in Jesus as our Savior can waver at times with our emotions and commitment as we battle the world, the flesh and the devil and attempt to deal with the issue of death.

 

The other night I had one of those dreams that I have on occasion, which might be classified by some as a vision. I share it with you, as well as my interpretation of it, as an encouragement:

 

An encouragement to my fellow Christians to remain steadfast in your faith in Christ as your Savior and the conqueror of death who will one day greet you at the gates of heaven.

 

An encouragement to those of you who have never accepted Christ as your Savior to consider what the future holds for you with no personal Savior as an advocate at the last judgment.

 

An encouragement to those individuals who claim to accept Christ as their Master but have failed to live accordingly and to consider where you stand if your belief is without proof.

Vision of Death

 

When my dream took form I seemed to know that I was surrounded by total blackness. Appearing before me in the center of my view was a yellowish white shroud that seemed to be draped over a body. I could see nothing of this prone individual or being and could see nothing surrounding it that would give it support. All of a sudden an edge of the shroud began to lift as if the individual that it covered was raising its arm. The covered appendage seemed to point in my direction with an ominous indication of something lethal and wicked. I seemed to sense in my thoughts that what was before me was death itself. I perceived that the appendage, which was pointing like a dagger in my direction, meant that sometime, somewhere I was marked as a target. I felt a fear begin to rise up within me. No sooner had this fear appeared in my heart, but something rather miraculous occurred. An intense bright light began to shine down on the shrouded figure. The intensity of the light grew brighter and brighter making the shroud almost impossible to view. Just before I was forced by the pure white light to turn my head, I noticed that the shroud, the arm, the accusing pointing appendage were totally erased by the piercing brightness of the light which was manifesting itself. I then awoke, somewhat confused at first, and then I realized that very likely God had spoken to me.

 

My interpretation of my dream, my vision is this: Death itself was symbolized in the horrible shroud covered body that singled me out. The light, the beautiful, brilliant bright light symbolized the power and majesty of God’s love that wipes out the power and sting of death. Death is a reality, but it need not be something we fear. Death and the devil were defeated at the cross of Christ. I believe my dream showed me that we all have a tendency to fear the unknown, and death embodies the ultimate unknown. If we can allow the Spirit of God to manifest the faith of God within us, the reality of death is overpowered by the reality of eternal life provided by Christ through His death and resurrection.

 

Several scriptures attest to the fact that when we accept Christ as our Savior and live according to the direction of the Holy Spirit within us that we are given a new life that is eternal. When we face death as a servant of Christ, it is simply a doorway, which allows us to pass from this earthly life into the eternal heavenly life we are granted as a child of God. John 5:24 25 says, “I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.”

 

Numerous verses attest to our Savior’s victory over death. We should read these scriptures and praise our Lord who did away, once and for all, with the penalty that we were all under due to our sin. These words of God give us the proof for our faith that we can have eternal life and that death has no victory. Death is not the end for those who call Christ their Lord.

 

Acts 2:24 25

“But God raised Him from the dead, freeing Him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on Him.”

 

Romans 4:25

 “He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.”

 

Romans 6:5 7

“If we have been united with Him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with Him in His resurrection. For we know that our old self was crucified with Him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.”

 

1 Corinthians 15:26

“The last enemy to be destroyed is death.”

 

2 Timothy 1:9 10

“This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.”

 

One last scripture that can overwhelm us with the hope it offers is that of Revelation 1:12 18 where John experiences his vision of the end times. Here, John meets our Savior and gives us an account of his conversation with our Christ. Here we see our Savior Jesus who holds absolute power over heaven and earth, death and life.

 

“I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned I saw seven golden lamp-stands, and among the lamp-stands was someone “like a son of man,” dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest. His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, and out of his mouth came a sharp double edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance. When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.”

 

Yes, death will always have the potential of causing fear to grow within us. It will always traumatize our emotions as loved ones and friends depart from us. But, death does not have the last word. Death is not the end. It has no power or hold on those who trust, believe and worship the First and the Last, the Living One, Jesus Christ, our Lord.