THIS SICKNESS WILL NOT END IN DEATH

Copyright 1996 by Mike Cunningham

Requests for free additional copies can be sent to Pastor Mike’s Email .

No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.”1 NIV Jesus who spoke these words almost 2000 years ago also said to a grieving woman named Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die…”2 NIV

Our God will glorify His Son, through your last sickness. At a specific second in time, which He alone has decreed, 3, 4 Jesus with a loud voice heard by no other person except you will call you to Himself—just as He called Lazarus from death many years before.5 Your grateful spirit will immediately leave your body like a little bird escaping from its cage. You will experience an exhilarating feeling of weightlessness as you leave a lifetime of burden behind. Worry, anxiety, fear, pain and suffering will be in your immediate past.

You will have entered the spirit world; a world very much a part of our own, although it’s invisible until the moment of our death. You will recognize your guardian angel, accompanied by all the other holy angels assigned by God to minister to and protect you throughout your pilgrimage on earth.6 They will then whisk you away from your dead body. You won’t be saddened by the separation, because you know God will keep His promise to resurrect and transform it into a glorious Christ-like body; never to experience any sickness, suffering or death again.7,8

It will be with eager anticipation that you begin the unmistakable final leg of your journey to your real home.9,10 Left behind will be a world in which you were truly an alien,11 a world in which you will have finally completed every good work God had prepared in advance for you to do,12 and a world in which you will have left behind your loved ones, knowing that because of God’s unsurpassed love,13 one day at a specific second in time14,15 He will also call those loved ones home to Himself, and to you. You will look forward to that reunion, but for the moment, your mind will be preoccupied by your own journey.

The convoy of joyous spirits will soar with incredible speed thought the earth’s atmosphere. Piercing the darkness, they will swiftly pass God’s sun, moon, stars, meteors, comets, galaxies, black holes and all the planets, including some without names because we haven’t discovered them yet.

On and on you and the little band of happy spirits will continue until you finally reach your destination, the “City of Light”, a place where there is no need of the moon or sun to shine because the glory of God gives it light.16 Joyfully welcoming you home will be all your loved ones who have arrived there before you.

In the midst of this grand reunion the Angelic Choir will be joyously proclaiming “Glory to God in the highest. …”17 as they did to certain poor shepherds a couple of thousand years ago. While you are being led into the presence of the Lord, everyone, angels and love ones alike, will burst forth with a rousing refrain of “O come let us adore Him, O come let us adore Him, O come let us adore Him, Christ the Lord.”*

Jesus your Savior, whom you have served however imperfectly, will greet you saying: “Well done, My good and faithful servant!”18 And then He will personally wipe away every tear from your eyes and remind you that never again will you experience any suffering or crying or pain, because for you the old order of things will have passed away.19 Next He will show you what no eye has seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for them that love Him.20

Part II

Later while you are basking in the love, joy, peace and the rest of what the apostle Paul calls the fruits of the Spirit, 21 your thoughts will return to the loved ones you left behind. You know they are saddened and grieving. They will be tempted to overly focus on their loss and all that it might entail. They will be thinking about your dead body. A body which they have to bury and which will return to dust as God said it must.22 Vulture-like principalities and powers of darkness23 led by the one whom Jesus calls the father of lies; 24 who often poses as an angel of light25 will descend with a fury attempting to sow seeds of discouragement and depression into your loved ones open wounds of sorrow and grief. Hoping to reap a harvest of despair, they will do all in their power to convince your loved ones your death was a period rather than a comma in the story of your life. They want them to believe it’s only a matter of time before they will follow you to the grave. You will hope they won’t do a number on themselves and experience the feelings of dread and uneasiness that always comes by not trusting God.26,27

Oh, how you will wish it were possible to return to earth for just a few minutes. You would like to be able to take each of your loved ones aside and speak to them individually saying – “Imagine you are lying in a hospital bed. You are helpless and unable to take care of yourself. You are fed automatically. Unable to walk, talk, or see, you are nevertheless fairly comfortable. Pain is under control. State-of-the-art-technology monitors your vital signs. A team of highly skilled medical personnel is convinced you’re doing just fine. You’re going to make it. It should only take a little longer.”

“Suddenly, without warning an unknown force is pushing you. You’re frightened. You don’t know what’s happening. In all your life you have never experienced anything like this. You resist with what little strength you have, but it’s useless. You are absolutely certain you’re powerless to prevent the inevitable. You know it’s the end. It will soon be all over for you.”

“Next, someone is pulling on you, trying to get you out of that bed, like a speared fish being plucked out of the water. You feebly hang on. At the moment you finally give up, a total stranger gives you a hard slap. You open your terror-filled eyes and are blinded by a brilliant light. You break down and cry uncontrollably. You have just experienced birth. The most traumatic experience of your life is now behind you. What do you remember of it?” you ask your loved one.

You go on to say, “Our God who is infinite in wisdom28 and perfect in love, 29 for reasons He has chosen not to reveal to us30 has decreed you must leave the womb of earth, 31 and experience all the physical and emotional turmoil associated with it, if you are to be born into a new life of eternal happiness and joy. While on earth the degree of joy and happiness experienced at a time of reunion is in direct proportion to the amount of sorrow endured during the separation. Enduring our earthly trials in a Christ-honoring manner will increase our capacity to experience indescribable joy and happiness in heaven.”

Random passages of scripture which you had hidden in your heart,32 like an orchestra’s warm up of simultaneously sounded tones, now come together to burst forth and flow from your lips, like a majestic symphony of words. “Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out! Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been His counselor?..… For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever!”33 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways”, says the Lord, 34 “For as heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways.”35 “Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Praise Him all creatures here below. Praise Him above the heavenly host. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.”**

Continuing on you will say softly to your loved one, “My sickness did not end in death. No. It was for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.”36 “Jesus is the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Him will live, even though he dies, and whoever lives and believes in Him will never die.”37NIV “He alone is the giver of life.38 All who believe have already crossed over from death to life.”39 You hope your loved ones will choose Him and not doom themselves to an existence of being an eternal stillbirth. And you hope they will use their God-given faith to accept all the comfort, encouragement and hope He has provided through the Scriptures.40

You will eagerly look forward to being among those welcoming your loved ones into God’s heaven. You can hardly wait to see all their struggles, sorrow, pain and suffering turn into the wonderful joy, peace, and happiness you now enjoy. But, you remind yourself to be patient. You know it will be in His time, because He makes all things beautiful in His time.41

Scripture References – All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise marked, are taken from the HOLY BIBLE: KING JAMES VERSION. Quotations marked NIV are Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright (1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. Used by permission.

1. John 11:4 (NIV) 2. John 11:25 (NIV) 3. Job 14:5 4. Psalms 31:15 5. John 11:43 6. Psalms 91:11; Daniel 3:28, 6:22, Hebrews 1:14 7. Philippians 3:21 8. Revelation 21:4 9. Matthew 5:12 10. John 14:2; Peter 1:4 11. Philippians 3:20; I Peter 2:11 12. Ephesians 2:10 13. John 3:16 14. Job 14:5 15. Psalms 31:15 16. Revelation 21:23 17. Luke 2:14 18. Matthew 25:21 19. Revelation 21:4 20. I Corinthians 2:9 21. Galatians 5:22-23 22. Genesis 3:19 23 Ephesians 6:12 24. John 8:44 25. 2 Corinthians 11:14 26. Matthew 6:25 27. Philippians 4:6 28. Romans 11:33, 34, 36 29. I John 4:8 30. Deuteronomy 29:29 31. Hebrews 9:27 — 32. Job 22:22, [23:12] 33. Romans 11:33, 34, 36 34. Isaiah 55:8 35. Isaiah 55:9 36. John 11:4 37. John 11:25 (NIV) 38. John 5:21 39. John 5:24-25 40. Romans 15:4 41. Ecclesiastics 3:11 * O Come All Ye Faithful, John F. Wade ** Thomas Kent