The Passageway to Eternity

Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment,
but has passed from death to life. John 5:24

D.L. MOODY
In my native village in New England, it used to be customary as a funeral procession left the church, for the bell to toll as many times as the deceased was years old. How anxiously I would count those strokes of the bell to see how long I might reckon on living! Sometimes there would be seventy or eighty tolls, and I would give a sigh of relief to think I had so many years to live. But at other times, there would be only a few years tolled, and then a horror would seize me as I thought that I too might soon be claimed as a victim by that dread monster, Death. Death and judgment were a constant source of fear to me till I realized the fact that neither shall ever have any hold on a child of God.

ERWIN LUTZER
Death for a believer, means we will finally be exempt from the pressures, the pulls, the heartaches, and the pains of this world. Death becomes the passageway into everlasting bliss. It is part of God’s total package of redemption for humanity.
Death for an unbeliever—one who has never personally put faith in Jesus Christ and transferred their trust to Him alone—will ultimately be judged in hell. That truth comes from the Son of God, who says, “I have the keys of Death and Hades” (Revelation 1:18). Only He is qualified to tell us what lies on the other side.

PRAYER
Father, I pray for my family and friends who do not know you. Open their hearts to receive your gospel.

REFLECTION QUESTIONS
What comes to your mind when you think of death?

Since believers do not need to fear death, how might you be able to live for God?