Temporary or Eternal

The death of your child was no surprise to God. At the time of your child’s death, Jesus had the power to revive the child. But He didn’t. Why? Because calling him back to life would have been a demotion!For all those who have taken Jesus into their hearts, after death there is the real life we have all been created for. Can you imagine living in the best Disney World for the rest of forever? That’s sort of what it’s like now in heaven with Jesus. It is beautiful. It is peaceful. There are no fights, criminals, or evil. There is no pain, sickness or hospitals. There is no lying, so everyone is who they seem to be. The Bible says “absent from the body, present with the Lord” (Revelation 21:4, Philippians 1:21-24, II Corinthians 5:8).

But if you insisted that he come back here to this world - the fallen world where the nightly news is filled with wars and rumors of war, starvation, political upheaval, murder, accidents and man’s inhumanity to man – would the child rejoice to be out of that world and back in this one? Considering how great is the world to come and how broken the world right here is, I’d guess he would NOT prefer this one. Calling him from heaven to earth is really coming from Life to death. To bring your child back to you, is not better for him than being there with Jesus in the home He has prepared specifically for your child.

Parents have said they are not sad for where the child is now. They are sad for where the child is not – he is not here where the parents can see and touch him. Certainly, that absence is a huge source of the sorrow that is grief. But all the moms and dads who also have Christ in their lives will go to where the child is when it’s their time. The child knows this and is content waiting till you come to him.

So Jesus has power over life and death, and decided to let the child stay in the heavenly world that you’ll go to later too. Heaven is the presence of Christ. Heaven is also the company of His people, so it is a great reunion for us with the ones we loved but from whom we have been temporarily separated. Let us press on toward that reunion. Your grief and separation now are a temporary circumstance on your way to eternity.