Body: | Facing Death with Hope!
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The life of the Apostle Paul was bound up so with Jesus that he could
announce "for me to live is Christ, and to die is gain" (Philippians 1:21).
This actually became his theme for living, as well as for dying. Since
living was Christ for Paul, Christ was the beginning of life for him. He
could recall the experience on the Damascus road as a time of great change.
Christ spoke directly to him, challenging him to be a witness of what he
had seen and heard, to be an apostle, and a missionary of light to the
Gentiles (Acts 26: 14-18). Paul had surrendered completely. Christ was the
continuance of that life. There had not been a day that he had not lived in
the presence of his Lord. A quote from Galatians 2:20, "I am crucified with
Christ. Nevertheless, I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me, and the
life that I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the son of God who
loved me and gave himself for me". The dynamic, motivating force in his
life was the Saviour. If Christ were taken out of his life there would have
been nothing left. Christ was also the end of life. In the Roman prison as
he was writing the letter to the Philippian Christians, he faced
realistically the prospect of death. He felt that he was moving toward the
goal that Christ had set for him, yet in life or in death, he was ready for
whatever the Lord willed. Paul explains this dilemma as he faces life and
death in Philippians 1: 23,24. He is caught between two desires. For him,
death would be gain; but his work of teaching was still needed. Roy Loren
expresses well Paul's feelings. Death for Paul was a certainty, not
uncertainty. It was conscious existence, not unconscious oblivion. It was
far better, not dreadful or tragic. It was a beginning, not an ending. It
was a commencement and not a ceasing to be. His greatest desire was to
depart and be with the Lord. This word depart can mean that as a tablet
dropped into the water dissolves, so in death life disappears, but is not
destroyed. The form of life changes. It can also refer to the lifting of an
anchor so that the ship can move out. We can watch the ship across the
horizon until out of sight. So, in death, we move out from one shore to
another. Alfred Lord Tennyson expressed this idea in a poem he requested be
placed at the end of his works:
Twilight and evening bell And after that, the dark ! And may there be no
sadness of farewell When I embark. For tho' from out our born of Time and
Place, The flood may bear me far, I hope to see my Pilot face to face When
I have crossed the bar. It can further be used for the striking of a tent,
loosening the pins and ropes in order to break camp. When our pilgrimage is
over here we will leave behind our earthly tents and move on to our
heavenly home. (II Corinthians 5: 1). In the spring of 1870 as Robert E.
Lee lay dying, the final words he uttered were typical of his long military
career. "Strike the tent". He realized the time to move on had come. With
this kind of thought the child of God does not fear death and can even look
forward to it. During World War II, the Royal Air force of England
sacrificed many pilots in the process of defending their country. Yet
instead of reporting that they were "killed in action", the notice always
read, "posted to another station". And this can be true of the Christian.
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