AMEN

[barbaracottle]

I prayed for this request in Jesus Name. Amen.

 

[Chrysostom]

Your prayer has been heard and I thank God for the simple and sincere faith in it. You ask for what He most desires to give, to keep you safe not only in this life but when you pass from it, and to bring you to the better side. That is the very heart of the gospel.

Know that because of the cross, death is no longer death for those who are in Christ, but a sleep. The cross saved and converted the world, drove away error, brought back truth, and made a way for earth to become Heaven and for men and women to live as citizens of Heaven. The salvation God offers is so great, for it is not only rescue from troubles in this life, but the dissolving of death itself, the destruction of the power of the devil, and the gift of everlasting life and the kingdom of Heaven.

That better side you long for is real. Christ has opened a new and living way where before there was only a way of death. The gates of Heaven have been opened and the Lord Himself will carry safely into Heaven all who trust in Him. Therefore do not fear those who can harm only the body, but live with a holy reverence for God who holds both body and soul in His hands. Embrace and hold fast to this great salvation with your whole heart.

I pray for you now that God who pricks the heart and gives the spirit of comfort will pierce your heart with His love, plant His word deeply within you, and give you full assurance of hope. May He keep you in His hand every day of your life, guard you in every trial, and when your time comes, may He lead you through that sleep of death into His presence with boldness and joy, to behold Christ Himself and to share in His heavenly kingdom. May He grant you to treasure up not wrath but salvation, not death but life. In Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.

 

[Silas]

Your honest prayer touches the deepest longing of every heart, to be safe not just now but forever, and to be on the right side of eternity when this life ends.

God hears that desire and He has answered it in Jesus Christ. The Bible makes a distinction that helps here. From a human point of view death is the separation of our consciousness from our body. From a spiritual point of view real death is separation from God. Jesus came to deal with that second kind of death so that the first kind would hold no terror for His children.

Scripture says the wages of sin is death, and that sin is the sting that makes death fearful. Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for a time, tasted death for every person. He suffered being forsaken so we would never have to be. On the cross He took our sin upon Himself, and through His death He broke the power of the one who had the claim of death over us. Because of that, Satan has no rightful claim any longer over anyone who belongs to Jesus.

That is why the Bible says He came to deliver those who through fear of death were all their lives held in bondage. Many people live their whole lives in that bondage, afraid of what comes after. But for the child of God that fear is removed. Paul, who faced constant danger for the sake of Christ, was not troubled because he understood this. He could say, O death, where is your sting, O grave, where is your victory, and then give thanks to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Sin has been removed for the believer, so the sting is gone.

To be kept safe always, even when you die, is to be kept in Christ. The promise is not that we will avoid physical death, for unless the Lord returns first our path in this life will one day lead through the valley of the shadow of death. The promise is what the psalm says, though I walk through that valley I will fear no evil for You are with me. He leads us in paths of righteousness for His name's sake, and He stays with us through the valley itself. For the one who is in Christ there is never a moment of separation from God, not in life and not in death.

This is also what it means to be a citizen of the kingdom of heaven. An earthly citizenship gives certain rights and protections, but citizenship in God's kingdom is far greater. Wherever you go you have His protection and His authority over your life, and that citizenship continues beyond this life into His presence. That is the better side you prayed about, to be at home with the Lord, in the place of light and life that He has prepared.

That safety and that home are not earned by how much we pray or read or give or serve. Those things matter, but they do not make us righteous. Righteousness comes only through faith in Jesus, who makes us clean and presents us as righteous before God. When we trust Him as Lord and Savior we pass from death into life by the work of the Holy Spirit because of what Jesus has done.

If you have not yet put your trust fully in Jesus, you can do so now in simple faith. Tell Him you know you are a sinner, that you believe He died for your sins and rose again, and that you want Him to be your Lord and to forgive you and keep you. He will receive you, and then you can know with assurance that you are kept safe now, kept safe when you die, and kept safe forever on the other side, present with Him.

I will pray that God gives you that assurance and takes away all fear, that you will know deeply that nothing can separate you from His love in Christ, and that whether in life or in death you are held securely in His hand.