Waiting anxiously in the small private counseling room, my wife and I valiantly tried to suppress the fears of what we were about to hear. Finally the door opened and the doctor, appearing calm and somewhat aloof of our anxiety, entered. As he began to discuss the results of the biopsy, I wondered how many patients he had had to console as he presented them with the hopeless prognosis of their condition.
Many have felt the fears and anguish of facing a crisis of impending death or of having a loved one being consumed by the pain and anxiety of a hopelessly terminal condition--whether it be due to illness, accident or malicious act of violence. For me it was an utterly helpless feeling that came when I realized there was nothing I could do to protect or free my wife from the cause of her pain and anxiety.
What can you do when your loving wife of 29 years is diagnosed with an advanced terminal condition with only a few months to live. How do you tell your children?
Remembering all the good years and the wonderful intimate moments together...I thought of our plans to finish remodeling the house. Would she live to enjoy it? And the looking forward together to the activities and many joys with our children and grandchildren--when they come, our first was four months away--sharing our lives together with them. What more can a husband and father look forward to than to rejoice with the wife of his youth and see his children's children (Proverbs 5:18; Psalm 128:6).
We all have some natural fear of suffering and death (Hebrews 2:15), but how does one plan for tragedy, or handle the emotional trauma when it comes? As we become caught up in our trials, it may seem as if the whole world is coming to an end, but that is not the end of all hope. There is a greater purpose in this life than most of us see--a hope that can help us overcome the pain and helplessness of the moment.
My wife was a thoughtful, gentle person, always busy serving her family and others, cooking, gardening, sewing, making clothes for the family, and all the other nice things that she did. She was very creative in providing activities for the children in our neighborhood. Not only did she take care of the needs of the family, she was also a great help to me in my work, frequently cooking for, serving and entertaining the many college students and others we had over when I was teaching and the many business associates we entertained when I went into business. Truly, He who finds a wife (like her) finds a good thing(Proverbs 18:22).
But as with most of us there are also tough times that test our mettle. When I developed a health problem, more of the burden of responsibility was shifted onto her. In addition to carrying out her responsibilities in the family and home, she went into a part time business with a good friend to help support the family.
Then, in the Fall of 1993, just as we were preparing to leave on a trip to southern California to visit our oldest daughter and son-in-law, she began to notice a mild abdominal pain in the area of the appendix. A visit to a physician indicated an intolerance to certain foods.
Despite occasional discomfort, my wife carried on with her part time house cleaning business with her same energy and enthusiasm. She enjoyed getting out on her own earning shopping money and working with her special clients--one, a retired doctor and his wife with their beautiful home in the heights above the Columbia River; another, a spry 90 year old lady who lived near us in a mobile home on several acres; and there were the offices of a small welding design and manufacturing company which our youngest daughter "helped" with on weekends, and several others--all who liked to do special things for her to show their appreciation for her friendly and faithful service.
But by late November, she began to tire more easily and began to notice some swelling of the abdomen. Another visit to a physician gave cause for some concern. This physician referred her to Oregon Health Sciences University medical center for more thorough diagnostic procedures.
My mother, 90 years old, had just died. Shortly after her funeral we went in for diagnostic tests. During the first visit, blood and other samples and x-rays were taken. No determinations could be made from those tests, so she was scheduled for a Catscan of the abdominal area. Results indicated a serious enlargement of the liver of undetermined cause -- possibly cancer. So a biopsy was taken. The lab reports came back two days later--showing the cause to be rapidly growing adenocarcinoma, probably metastasized (migrated) from the colon. The cancer specialist (oncologist) called us in to explain the outcome of the biopsy and the prognosis.
My wife, in her typical feisty manner, made it clear to the doctor before he spoke that she was not afraid to die--she just wanted to be at home with her family. I believe the doctor and nurse were more stunned by her spirit than she or I were by his hopeless prognosis. He explained the seriousness of the condition and the fact that there was nothing that they could do for this type of cancer--at best they may be able to prolong her life 3 or 4 months with chemotherapy, but that would be a great risk as well as painful and expensive.
I asked the doctor if he knew of any alternative not-toxic therapies and what kind of a nutrition program we should put her on that may be beneficial. As a specialist in chemotherapy, he said that he did not know of anything that would be helpful.
That was our last visit to the hospital. My dear wife did not want her last days to be confined to the cold, impersonal, intimidating surroundings of a strange hospital room being subjected to painful treatments with toxic chemicals to prolong a hopeless and miserable existence. Her faith was in God!
In all our years together she had never been in a hospital--our three children were born at home and she had never had any serious illness that needed medical care. She took good care of the family health. Now why was this happening to her? Why did God let her down?
At home, she struggled to remain active, insisting on getting up and preparing breakfast for our youngest daughter before school every day, up until the last couple of weeks when her legs began to swell. She spent more time in Bible study. I brought her sermon tapes, which she would listen to, sometimes many times. In her illness, she expressed her joy of having lived a very fulfilling life with her family, for having many friends and for the many opportunities we had to travel. As she began to focus more on God, her faith and love grew stronger and she grew closer to God. Her mind stayed clear to the very end. She bravely accepted her trial and was greatly encouraged by the many prayers, cards, helps and concerns of everyone. Her fear had turned to love--God's love in her. God had finished his perfect work in her.
We mourned our loss and miss her friendly, caring, giving, and serving love and kindness'. Now we take comfort in the hope of the resurrection, when we will be together again.
She knew and understood God's promise of the resurrections. That is what gave her the faith, hope and confidence to face death without fear.
It was about 9:50 PM, the last Sunday in January, as I sat at her side holding her hand, that she had fallen asleep--just a whisper of her former self. Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was, And the spirit shall return unto God who gave it... Because man goes to his long home [place of concealment], and the mourners go about the streets (Ecclesiastes 12:7,5).
Is she now in heaven looking down on us? Although this is a comforting thought, taught by most of traditional "Christianity," and is the theme of many emotionally uplifting movies, it is not biblical. God's inspired Word (2 Timothy 3:16) clearly reveals that man does not have an immortal soul that departs from the body at death which goes either to heaven to live forever in eternal bliss or to hell in eternal torture. No one has [gone to heaven], but He who came down from heaven, that is the Son of Man (Jesus Christ) who is in heaven (John 3:13). David, a man after God's own heart, "did not ascend into the heavens" (Acts 13:22; 2:34). What grief it would be for a mother to be in heaven and see a loved one consigned to torture in an ever burning hell.
This false belief is not from our loving God.
The Holy Bible teaches that man is made of the dust and at death returns to the dust (Genesis 2:7; 3:19; Ecclesiastes 3:19-21). It is the Spirit that gives life (2 Corinthians 3:6), but at death the Spirit returns to God who gave it (Eccl. 8:7-8; 12:7).The living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing, and they have no more reward, for the memory of them is forgotten. Also their love, their hatred, and their envy have now perished Eccl. 9:5-6). The lie that man is an immortal soul began with Satan, the father of lies (Gen. 3:3-4; John 8:44).
But if a lie gives a false comfort to some, the truth gives real hope and comfort to all who understand the truth (John 8:32 17:17). In the beginning, God instructed our first parents in the way to eternal life and He gave them free access to the tree of life, symbolic of His Holy Spirit -- the promised guarantee of eternal life--which He gives to those who obey Him (Genesis 2:9,16; Acts 5:32; Ephesians 1:13-14). God also warned them of the results of deciding for themselves what was good and evil--taking of the tree of good and evil (Genesis 2:17). But when they were tempted by Satan, they chose to believe Satan's lies rather than God and were cut off from access to the tree of life (Genesis 3:6,22-24).
As a result of their choice, sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned (Romans 5:12). Sin is the breaking of God's holy and righteous law (I John 3:4; Romans 7:12). The penalty of sin is death (Romans 6:23; Ezekiel 18:4,20). Our sins cut us off from God (Isaiah 59:1-2) -- God does not hear sinners (John 9:31; Psalm 66:18).
But that is not the end of the story. God revealed to mankind that a Savior would come to deliver man from the bondage of sin and death. Jesus Christ is that Savior! For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life (John 3:16). God demonstrates His love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us... For...when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son... (Romans 5:8,10).
But why does God allow those like my wife and especially innocent little children to suffer and die before their time?
Consider God's mercy as explained by the prophet Isaiah: The righteous perishes, And no one takes it to heart; Merciful men are taken away, While no one considers that the righteous is taken away from evil. He shall enter into peace; They shall rest in their beds... (Isaiah 57:1-2). And as the apostle John wrote, Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord...that they may rest from their labors (Revelation 14:13).
Clearly, we all suffer from the effects of sin--broken physical and spiritual laws causing pollution, degeneration, disease, stress, mental anxiety, hate, murder, etc. -- from our own as well as from the cumulative sins of the world since Adam's time.
God's purpose in allowing our suffering is that we should come to understand the effects of sin and learn to love and obey His truth and righteous laws (Deuteronomy 5:29).
Job was a blameless and upright man, one who feared God and shunned evil (Job 1:1). But God allowed Satan to afflict and test him. Job understood God's plan of salvation. In his trial he reflected on his situation: If a man die, shall he live again? he asked. He answered himself, All the days of my [appointed time] will I wait, till my change come. You shall call, and I will answer You; You shall desire the work of Your hands... My transgression is sealed up in a bag, And You cover my iniquity (Job 14:14-15,17). Job is still in his grave even as are David and all the prophets and patriarchs of old.
But Jesus proclaimed, ...the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth--those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of [judgment] (John 5:28-29). Here He reveals two resurrections--one to eternal life, the other to judgment. "Most assuredly, I say unto you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has eternal life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life" (verse 24).
First Corinthians chapter 15 is called the "resurrection chapter." "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive."(verse 22). Paul explains how we shall all be changed. It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body... And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man (Christ). ...flesh and blood cannot enter the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed... For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed... So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: 'Death is swallowed up in victory' ...The sting of death is sin... But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ (verses 44,49-57).
Jesus Christ made it clear, No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him (John 6:44,65). Now is not the only time of salvation as some suppose. A mistranslation of 2 Corinthians 6:2, which is quoted from Isaiah 49:8, has caused this misunderstanding. This verse should read: In an acceptable time have I heard you, And in [a] day of salvation have I helped you Paul continues, Behold, now is [an] accepted time; behold, now is [a] day of salvation. He had already explained that all shall be made alive. But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ's at His coming (1 Corinthians 15:22-23). Those who are Christ's are those who are called, chosen, and faithful (Revelation 17:14). Revelation calls this resurrection at Christ's return, the "first resurrection" (Revelation 20:4-5).
Those in the first resurrection are called the firstfruits of salvation (James 1:18; Revelation 14:4). They are depicted as the first harvest by God's Feast of Firstfruits -- Pentecost (Leviticus 23:15-22; Acts 2:1-4). They will be resurrected at Christ's return as portrayed by the Feast of Trumpets (Leviticus 23:23-25; Revelation 11:15).
Paul comforts true believers who follow Christ: For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first (1 Thessalonians 4:16). At the time of the seventh trumpet--when Christ returns in power and glory, God will reward His saints (Revelation 11:15,18). Marlys followed Christ and put the kingdom of God and His righteousness first in her life (Matthew 6:33). She allowed God to change her, to purify and perfect her. Yes, even through trial and suffering, she learned obedience even as Jesus Christ learned obedience by the things which He suffered as a result of our sins (Hebrews 5:8).
Those who are in the first resurrection shall live and reign with Christ for a thousand years (the millennium), but the rest of the dead [do] not live again until the thousand years [are] finished. Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection, Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years (verse 6). Those who live on into the millennium, who are not converted before Christ's return, will then live under the Government of God -- taught and ruled by the resurrected saints made immortal (Revelation 5:10).
Many, even some professing "Christians," have been deceived and blinded by the god of this world (2 Corinthians 4:3-4). As Satan deceived Eve by his craftiness, he has deceived the whole world (Revelation 12:9). How? Through superstition, false religious beliefs, vain philosophies and pseudo-science! Paul warned of those who would preach "another Jesus and promote a "different spirit," For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ...ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works (2 Corinthians 11:3-4,13,15). He told Timothy to avoid profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called: Which some professing have erred concerning the faith (1 Timothy 6:20-21). He wrote to the Colossians: Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments (elements) of the world, and not after Christ (Colossians 2:8).
Jesus warned, Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. He said, Not everyone who says to Me 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness! (Matthew 7:15,21-23).
God calls all sinners to repent (Matthew 9:13; Mark 1:14). If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us (1 John 1:8-10).
Yes! I will see my mother and father again! As much as I loved them, God loves them more! God is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9).
Those who were deceived and blinded in this lifetime are the "rest of the dead." Because Jesus Christ gave His life as a sacrifice for all who sinned (John 3:16-17; Romans 5:6,12,14-19), they will be in the second resurrection at the end of the thousand years. John was given a vision of this resurrection, The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades (the grave) delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each according to his works (Revelation 20:13). This is the resurrection of judgment. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books (verse 12).
Those raised up in the second resurrection will be raised again as mortal flesh and blood humans (Ezekiel 37). A prophecy of Isaiah indicates that this will be a period of 100 years. No more shall an infant from there live but a few days, Nor an old man who has not fulfilled his days; For the child shall die one hundred years old, But the sinner being one hundred years old shall be accursed (Isaiah 65:20). At this time they will be taught the truth of God and given the opportunity to accept Christ's sacrifice for their sins and to take freely of the tree of life, the Spirit of God, to renew their minds -- giving them power to become the sons of God just as those in the first resurrection had done before them (John 1:12).
At the end of the Last Great Day, the one hundred year period of the Great White Throne Judgment: Then comes the end, when He (Christ) delivers the kingdom to God the Father (1 Corinthians 15:24). At this time the first heaven and the first earth passes away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat, both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up (2 Peter 3:10; Revelation 21:1).
The apostle Peter admonished, Since all these things will be dissolved (all physical, corruptible, mortal life will cease to exist), what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless, and account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation (2 Peter 3:10-15).
This is the hope of the resurrection!
Copyright 1995 Allen L. Stout - Serf Publishing, Inc.