Death Is a Doorway

1 Thessalonians 4:13 – Death Is A Doorway

"I would not have you ignorant," Paul says, "concerning those who die." Would you bear with me for one more day? You see, there are lots of wrong ideas about what happens after death. Some believe that when you die, you die – that there is nothing. That leads to such hopelessness that many cannot bear the thought, so they spend their days afraid of death. Some believe in purgatory – a place you go to pay penance until you have worked off your sin debt, or someone has prayed enough, that you can go to heaven. Some believe that our heaven is here on earth. Some believe in soul sleep – that when you die, you are in a state of limbo until the final resurrection. None of these beliefs is biblical, and none of them provides true hope.

This is what the Bible says: “absent from the body; present with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:6-8). I believe that at the moment we die, we find ourselves in the presence of Jesus. Often, when I am preaching the funeral of a Christian, I use John 14:1-3. This is the passage where Jesus tells His disciples, “I go to prepare a place for you; and if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again to receive you to myself….” Many believe He is talking about the rapture of the church – the very thing Paul refers to in this passage. And I agree that this is true. But I also believe that it is the experience of Christians when they die. The psalmist said, “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints” (Psalm 116:15). God loves His people so much that His eyes are on us all of the time. But the death of His people is precious to Him, and I believe that it is so precious that Jesus comes into the room and escorts us home. Our new home. Eternity. In Heaven. With God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

You see, death is a doorway. For the child of God, it is a doorway to our eternal reward. For those who do not accept Jesus as Lord and Savior of their lives, it is a doorway to eternal damnation. But remember this: it’s your choice. Please make the right one. Chose to enter the doorway to life.