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Hope in the Valley of the Shadow of Death
Sermon 19
March 21st, 2010
It’s strange what childhood memories cling to the walls of our minds. One of my earliest memories was the death of my grandfather, Daddy Jim, when I was about five years old. I really didn’t comprehend what was going on. I do remember that everyone, particularly my Mom, was very sad and crying. I vividly remember seeing my grandfather that I’d only met a few times, now lying still in a casket.
The book of Genesis commences with “in the beginning” and concludes with “a coffin in Egypt.” What a picture of life’s journey! Life has beginning but life also has an end. Death is certain. No one can escape it.
This last section of Genesis records the deaths of Jacob and Joseph—each to be buried in the Promised Land, not in Egypt. Their deaths and the manner of their burials represent the belief that Egypt was not their home, that the future of God’s people lay elsewhere, and they knew it. The words “bury” or “burial” occur fifteen times and reflect the central interest in this portion of Scripture. It’s not the burial alone that’s the primary focus; it’s the place where they were to be buried.
Dying well…death with dignity are hot topics today. When a believer speaks of “dying well,” they’re usually not speaking of the medical or psychological aspects of death, but the more critical spiritual ones.
An ancient Roman emperor said that the greatest difference between Christians and pagans is that “Christians die well.” He should have known, because he put so many of them to death. What do people mean when they say that, “he died well”? Some simply mean that the individual lived a long, full life. More often, we probably mean that the person died with no unfinished business. Their life was in order, relationships with family and friends were all solid, and any forgiveness that needed to happen had been taken care of. But the most important thing we should be speaking of when we say that someone “died well,” is that the person was ready to meet God; that he or she knew the Savior personally and is now in heaven. In this last part of Genesis 49 and Genesis 50, we find two biblical examples of dying well–one even better than the other. We can learn much from them both.
It’s hard to believe that we’ve come to the end of our series on Joseph’s life. I hope it’s been as much of a blessing for you as it has been for me. What an experience it has been to walk with him from his privileged status as a teenager tending sheep to a frightening pit, to slavery in a foreign country, then on a roller-coaster of success and tragedy, culminating in becoming Prime Minister of the greatest nation in ancient history–all by the time he is 30 years old.
The story of how he was reunited with his family is one of the most amazing stories ever written. It powerfully relates how our providential God watches over His children and rewards those who are faithful.
Interestingly, the last 75 years of Joseph’s life are skipped over by the author of Genesis with just brief references to his father, Jacob’s death, at age 147 and then his own death about 50 years later at the age of 110. Why we aren’t told more about his career or his family? I don’t know but what we learn about how these two men died is profound. They give us great insight in how a believer is to die and how a believer is to respond to the death of a loved one. So what do these two heroes of the faith teach us about death and dying? Turn again to Genesis 49:29-50:1 (p. 39).
1. Its normal to grieve at the death of a loved one. More space is given to Jacob’s death than to any other person in Genesis and probably than any other person in the Bible, except for Jesus. Moses’ reason for this lengthy treatment seems to be to renew for his readers the covenant promises of God concerning the Promised Land. Although Jacob only possessed a small burial plot in Canaan, he wanted to be buried there rather than in Egypt because God had promised Canaan to Abraham and his descendents.
When Jacob died, his son Joseph grieved over his father, but he also had hope and faith in God’s promises, pictured here in Jacob’s burial in Canaan. From this account of Jacob’s death and funeral, we learn how as believers we can face the death of a loved one, particularly a believer.
Ours is a “death denying” culture. For example, the major product of the insurance industry is “life insurance” but it’s not life insurance, it’s “death insurance.” We use terms like the person “passed away” or they “expired” Does that mean that their warranty was up? We don’t call it a corpse; we call it “the remains’ or a “loved one.” And they’re placed in a “slumber room.” We avoid words like death or died or body or even corpse.
Though birth has become more and more of a family affair, often with the entire family present in the “birth suite” when the baby is born, it’s estimated that 80% of Americans die in cold, sterile hospitals, more than ever before. Only in recent years have we begun to see the hospice movement growing, where the dying loved one is allowed to spend their last days at home surrounded by those who love them, support them and encourage them in their final earthly journey.
Most people have never seen anyone die. Is it any wonder then that so many in our culture somehow think of themselves as being immortal? The last place most people can ever envision themselves is lying in a coffin. While modern technology may postpone it and medical science may have tamed its violence – death is inevitable for us all! Hebrews 9:27 states, “man is destined to die.”
The deathbed scene in Genesis 49 is difficult for many of us to identify with. Let me share a few paragraphs by Joe Bayly to help us better appreciate the difference in the way death is dealt with in our culture. Bayly writes: “One of my early memories is of being led into my grandmother’s room in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, to give her a final kiss. She was dying, I had been told, ‘so be quiet and behave.’ That scene impresses me today with its Old Testament quality. Grandma, an imposing person, was conscious, slightly raised on a bolster, her white hair braided and carefully arranged on the quilt she had made as a young woman. The bed, a four-poster, was the one in which she had slept for fifty years, in which her four children had been conceived and born. The wide-boarded floor creaked its familiar creak, the kerosene lamp flickered on the massive bureau, a bouquet of sweet peas from Grandma’s garden made the room faintly fragrant. The old lady was surrounded by her children and grandchildren. In a few hours she died.
Forty years later my children were with their grandfather when he had his last heart attack. We gave him oxygen, called the doctor, and then the ambulance came. The men put Grandpa on a stretcher, carried him out of the house…and that was the last his grandchildren saw of him. Children are excluded from most hospitals. In the intensive care unit of the hospital, my wife and I were with him until the visiting hours were over. The mechanics of survival—tubes, needles, oxygen system, electronic pacemaker—were in him and on him and around him. Grandpa died alone, at night, after visiting hours. His grandsons had no chance to give him a final kiss, to feel the pressure of his hand on their heads.”
We are granted little dignity in death in our cultural and technological age. We have hospital rooms with personnel continuously coming and going, tubes, tests, monitors and life sustaining (or death-prolonging) machines which make it difficult to even tell when one is really gone.
Jacob died in bed, at home, surrounded by those he most loved, and by those who most loved him. While most of us would prefer to die like Jacob, too many of us may not have that choice. The need for very specialized treatment may force us to die in a hospital. Or, an unexpected death may snatch us from those we love without any warning or opportunity to say farewell.
Though the circumstances under which death comes may be beyond our control, our attitude toward death is something we can determine, even now. I would like to suggest that few decisions are as important as our response to death. As we see the detail with which Moses recorded the death of Jacob, we begin to appreciate the importance of his death. Let’s seek to gain a godly view of death and dying.
a) Grieving is biblical. Godly Joseph shows unrestrained, unapologetic sorrow. Our busy world rushes the grieving process. We suppress emotion, denying that we hurt. That’s unwise because grieving takes time, vs. 2-6. One of the dumbest things you’ll hear, almost immediately after a tragedy is “now we can get on with the healing process.” We need time first for the grieving process.
If today you held a formal grieving period for a loved one that lasted 70 days, people would say you were unbalanced. Even the church is mistaken about grief, “Don't cry, he/she is in heaven." That’s not Joseph. He wept. He sobs. God has equipped us to cry and tears are part of expressing grief.
b) We grieve because death is not natural. Death is our enemy. It’s not a natural part of life, as some would have us believe. Death entered the human race as God's curse against our sin. The history of the human race has been marked by the grim notice, he/she lived so many years, "and he died…and he died.” As the infidel playwright, George Bernard Shaw, pungently noted, “The statistics on death are quite impressive; one out of one people die.”
The Hebrew word “Atad” in verse 10 is used for the place of mourning. It means "thorn bush" and is a flashback to Genesis 3, where God declared that as a result of man's sin, the earth would now yield thorns. As Jacob’s funeral procession comes to this threshing floor of the thorn bush, it’s a reminder of death’s curse stemming from man's sin.
Though Christ conquered death, He didn’t abolish it. And while death ushers the believer into the presence of the Lord, it’s still our enemy. Christ’s victory over death will not be fully realized until He returns to give us resurrection bodies like His own. He abolished death, in the sense of breaking its ultimate victory over believers, but Scripture never teaches that He abolished death in the sense of making it nonexistent or non-painful. It wasn’t until after the Apostle John saw the new heavens and new earth that he stated, "and He shall wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there shall no longer be any death; there shall no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain" (Rev. 21:1, 4). Until then, death is a painful reminder of God's curse upon our sin. And we grieve because death is our enemy. With regard to death ushering us into the presence of Christ, it's true: "To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord" (2 Cor. 5:8, NASV). That's wonderful for the person who has died in the Lord, but it doesn't relieve all the pain for those who are left behind.
c) We grieve because death separates us from our loved ones. Joseph knew that he’d never be able to talk with his father again in this life. Joseph lived for another 54 years. I'm sure there were many times during those years that he longed to talk with his dad about something, but he wasn't there. It's that sense of loneliness, of missing the departed person that makes grief linger, often for years. We have to work through our grief to the point where we establish a new "normal," without the deceased person in our lives. That process takes time.
In his booklet, Grief Dr. Haddon Robinson states that there are three stages of grief through which we normally must pass.
* The Crisis Stage. First, there is the crisis stage which lasts up through the funeral. During this stage a person first feels shock and numbness. Crying is a healthy sign of emotional release during this time. To help a person during these difficult hours, your presence is the most important thing. You don’t have to say a thing. It’s not the time to give out familiar Bible verses with the implication, "If you’d just trust God, you wouldn't feel this way."
A funeral is a helpful part of the grieving process for family and friends. It gives a sense of closure to the person's death. Unfortunately, we can be so detailed about our vacation plans or a holiday, but give little thought to our funeral. Jacob was very specific. Friend, make your wishes known. In fact, as you leave today, you’ll find forms on the back table to help you prepare for your own funeral. Prayerfully and wisely think it through. It’s your last testimony. Call it a funeral; call it a memorial service but taking time to observe one's life and death is helpful to those left behind. While we talk about paying our respects to the deceased person, funerals are for the living, not for the dead.
This huge funeral procession up to Canaan, with all of Pharaoh's court officials, wasn't for Jacob; it was for Joseph and his brothers. The Egyptians were showing their respect for Joseph by joining him in his grief. The 70 days of mourning were just two short of the time of mourning for a Pharaoh, which shows how highly Joseph was regarded. Joseph had his father embalmed in accordance with the Egyptian custom, partly so that he could transport his body to Canaan, as Jacob had made him swear.
The Bible does not prescribe a method of burial, although the most common practice was to place the corpse in a cave or hewn out tomb. Visiting the gravesite of godly family members can help us to recall their example and spur us on to follow in their way of life.
Regarding the cost of the funeral, let me urge moderation. For a family member of someone of Joseph's rank, it was obviously a huge affair. That's not improper. A family should do what they feel proper within their means as stewards of the Lord's resources. They should think about what they want the funeral to say to friends and relatives. Frequently though, people spend needless thousands for caskets and flowers. Often the motive for such extravagance is either pride or guilt. Why not give testimony to the person's values by having a simple service with limited flowers and by then giving a donation to either a church or some group that they supported? There’s freedom in the Lord on these matters, but a family should think it through in light of the biblical principles of stewardship and witness.
* The Crucible Stage. The second stage of grieving is the crucible stage. This lasts 12 weeks or more and is most intense during the first six weeks. The extended family and friends go back to their normal routines and the grieving one is left alone. During this time they must work through the fact that the dead person will no longer be a part of their life again. They must deal with emotional ties from the past and with expectations for the future which were bound up with the one who died.
It's not uncommon for a person to have periodic bouts of depression and crying for two or three years after an "expected" death, let alone after a sudden, unexpected loss. As a friend, being there and listening is again the most helpful thing you can do. You won't open wounds to mention the person who has died. The grieving person probably feels a need to talk.
* The Construction Stage. The final stage is the construction stage, when the grieving person creates new patterns for living that are not tied to the past. This is implied in verse 14, which reports that Joseph and his brothers returned to Egypt, where they had left their children and jobs (50:8). At this stage, the person accepts reality and is ready to move on with what God has given him to do with his life. As believers, it’s proper to grieve at the death of a loved one, yet as Paul says, “we do not grieve as those who have no hope” (1 Thess. 4:13)
2. While we grieve, we have hope because of God’s promises. Where Jacob is buried should catch our attention. If a modern story-teller were inventing this final scene of Jacob’s life, he would have had Jacob ask to be buried by his wife, Rachel, on the road to Ephrath, and not in the gloomy, family tomb at Machpelah. It would be touching, even romantic. But Jacob wants to be buried in the family tomb. Why? Though he loved Rachel, he wanted to be buried in the tomb of his fathers as a testimony to the fact that his faith was the same as theirs and that meaning in this life is to be found, not in this life alone but in eternity.
Jacob states that he is about "to be gathered to his people" (49:29). Some argue that this is just a Hebrew euphemism for death or for burial in the ancestral burial plot, I think it implies more. Jacob wasn't reunited with his ancestors when his body was carried into the cave of Machpelah, where their bodies lay. His soul was gathered to the souls of his ancestors in heaven the moment he expired. So the expression is an early statement of the hope of life after death. Let me suggest two thoughts about our hope:
a) Our hope is in God’s promises. The author of Hebrews makes the point that the greats of the faith died without receiving the promises (Heb. 11:39). God had promised Jacob the land of Canaan, but here he was, dying in Egypt, with no claim on Canaan except a burial plot. God had promised to make him a great nation, but he was only a company of 70 strong when he entered Egypt. But by faith, he blessed his sons and predicted their future as the 12 tribes of the nation Israel. By faith he made Joseph promise to take his corpse back to Canaan. He could have been buried in the finest of Egyptian tombs, but he chose to make a statement in his death about his resolute trust in what God had promised. So he said, "Bury me in the cave…in the land of Canaan" (49:30). Jacob's faith gave him hope in God's promises, hope that sustained him as he faced death.
How do we know that our hope in God's promise of eternal life is not just wishful thinking? What if we die and there’s nothing else? How do we know that our loved ones who have died in Christ are in heaven and that we will be with them someday?
The Apostle Paul deals with all these questions. In 1 Corinthians 15 he argues that the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is the basis for our future resurrection. He shows that Christ's resurrection has solid evidence supporting it and argues that if Christ hasn't been raised, then our faith is worthless. In 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, Paul argues that the resurrection of Christ is the basis for our hope of being reunited with our loved ones who have died in Christ. Even though we have that solid evidence, we must exercise faith in God's promises when we are faced with death, simply because we haven't gone beyond the grave and returned. But Jesus has, and we can take Him at His word. When we do, He gives us genuine hope in the face of our greatest enemy.
b) Our hope is a testimony to the lost and hopeless. Both the Canaanites (vs. 11) and the Egyptians observed Joseph during his grief. No doubt the Egyptians wondered why Jacob wanted to be buried in some cave in Canaan, when he could have had a beautiful tomb in Egypt. If Joseph hadn’t expressed grief over the loss of his father, the Egyptians would have just concluded that he hadn’t cared for him or perhaps he was even glad to have the old man out of the way. If he’d expressed nothing but grief, the Egyptians might have concluded that the hope of an afterlife by the Children of Israel was no better than their own uncertainty and may even have been inferior to theirs. Joseph undoubtedly used the occasion of the funeral and the trip back to Canaan to tell his Egyptian friends about his hope in the living God. The time of death and funerals can be a great opportunity for witness to those who otherwise put death and eternity out of their minds. We should always be sensitive, but also we must be bold in telling others of the hope we have in the Gospel at such times.
3. Death often resurrects old wounds. Look at Gen. 50:15-21, “When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, 'What if Joseph holds a grudge against us and pays us back for all the wrongs we did to him?' So they sent word to Joseph, saying, 'Your father left these instructions before he died: "This is what you are to say to Joseph: I ask you to forgive your brothers the sins and the wrongs they committed in treating you so badly." Now please forgive the sins of the servants of the God of your father.'
When their message came to him, Joseph wept. His brothers then came and threw themselves down before him. 'We are your slaves,' they said. But Joseph said to them, 'Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God? You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. So then, don’t be afraid. I will provide for you and your children.' And he reassured them and spoke kindly to them."
Joseph's brothers committed a brutal act against him forty years earlier when they’d sold him as a slave. Unfortunately, they believed Joseph's restraint in retaliating was because of Jacob's influence. With Jacob dead Joseph could now get even. Joseph has no desire for revenge. His life is a classic lesson on how to overcome bitterness and learn to forgive. He’d been repeatedly hurt, but he didn't develop a trace of bitterness
So what kept Joseph from revenge? Joseph had a Biblical worldview and a firm grip on theology. He believed in the sovereignty of God. Life can seem tangled and meaningless but God promises to work all for our good. While his brothers were morally responsible for their crime, God over-ruled. Old wounds can be dredged up in times of intense sorrow. And we must use these times to demonstrate Christ-like forgiveness and kindness.
One of the evidences that we know God is that we know how to forgive. Lost people know little of forgiveness. They keep track of each offense. I wonder if the reason that the brothers thought that Joseph would take his revenge is that’s what they would have done if the roles had been reversed.
Yet, Joseph cries when he gets their message. He realized that they had never truly believed him or accepted his forgiveness. The reality of it broke Joseph’s heart. A lesser man would have been irritated and thrown up his arms in frustration. Joseph models for us a theology of forgiveness.
a) To forgive others, we must take our proper place before God. Joseph reassures his brothers and asked: "Am I in the place of God?" Though Joseph was the second most powerful man on the face of the earth, a man who could have given the command and had his brothers imprisoned or executed with no questions asked, Joseph didn't forget that he was not in God's place. He assumed his proper place under God. Joseph's question is a good one to ask yourself when you're tempted to withhold forgiveness or to seek vengeance against someone who has wronged you: Am I in God's place? Though Joseph was powerful in the world's eyes, he knew he was never big enough to take God's place.
Most of us want God's justice for the guy who wronged us, but God's mercy for ourselves. To love our neighbor as ourselves means that we will want God's mercy for him, just as we want it for ourselves.
b) To forgive others, we must believe that God is good in all His ways. “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good” That's the Old Testament equivalent of Romans 8:28.
When someone wrongs us, we must be on guard. Satan tempted Eve by getting her to doubt the goodness of God. He implied that God was withholding something good by keeping the forbidden fruit from her. The devil will tempt you by whispering, "If God really cared for you, He wouldn't have let this happen." No doubt Joseph often had to resist that temptation over the years. But in each case, Joseph affirmed by faith, "They meant it for evil, but God meant it for good."
c) To forgive others, we must believe in God’s sovereignty. Joseph not only knew that God was sovereign over the evil his brothers had done; he realized that God is sovereign over even insignificant things that we tend to shrug off as “chance.” You’ll recall the story of when his father sent him to check on his brothers, and he didn’t find them at the place where they were supposed to be. A man found Joseph wandering in a field and told him that his brothers had moved the flocks to Dothan. So Joseph went to Dothan and found them. They threw him into the pit, planning to kill him after lunch. But it was precisely at that moment that the trading caravan “happened” by and they sold him into slavery. As that caravan made its way south, Joseph had plenty of time to think, “What rotten luck! Why did I happen to run into that man in the field who happened to know where my brothers were? Why did that caravan have to come along just then, when Reuben had indicated that he was going to try to get me out of the pit and back to my dad? Where was God in all this?”
But Joseph didn’t believe in luck or happenstance. He believed in a sovereign God who sent him down to Egypt for reasons that, at the time, Joseph did not know. Thus, it’s important to affirm God’s sovereignty not only over the major things that happen, but also over the little daily mundane details of life. Car problems, traffic jams, interruptions, clogged drains, sick kids, and a million other frustrations in life, as well as the bad things that evil people do to you, are under God’s sovereignty. Nothing and no one can thwart God’s sovereign, loving purpose toward you in Christ. He will work all things together for good to those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. We need that mindset to endure trials.
4. Believers should die in hope and demonstrate faith to the living and remaining, vss. 22-26 “Joseph stayed in Egypt, along with all his father’s family. He lived a hundred and ten years and saw the third generation of Ephraim’s children. Also the children of Makir son of Manasseh were placed at birth on Joseph’s knees. Then Joseph said to his brothers, 'I am about to die. But God will surely come to your aid and take you up out of this land to the land he promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.' And Joseph made the sons of Israel swear an oath and said, 'God will surely come to your aid, and then you must carry my bones up from this place.' So Joseph died at the age of a hundred and ten. And after they embalmed him, he was placed in a coffin in Egypt.”
There are twelve chapters that deal with the first fifty-seven years of Joseph's life, yet only five verses cover the last fifty-three. As Joseph faced the certainty of his own death, he demonstrates a confident hope and is a testimony to those around him.
Dr. Jim Dobson tells of how he’d worked hard with his basketball team in college to win a trophy. Every year that he returned to his school, he’d lovingly gaze at the legacy he had left at his college. His trophy hung in the halls of history with his name on it. However, one year before school, he was walking through the halls and his picture was no longer there. He made some inquiries and found out that the school had just thrown out some old trophies. Luckily, he was able to get it out of the garbage before they destroyed it. But it made him think, “How quickly our glory fades!”
This really bothers people. We want to have an impact on the future. And in an arrogant way, we think that we have more control over it than we do. We sit and wonder what will happen to our offspring or spouses when we die. We think that we’re providing for them by giving them million dollar policies. We fear that we’ll be forgotten and not make a “difference” in this world, yet that was not a concern for Joseph. In his last days he doesn’t have the Egyptians build a big pyramid in memory of him so that he would be remembered. He didn’t make sure that the historians had his name written in the annals so that his legacy would continue on. His own eulogy was a literal Y-O-U logy. Again, instead of being concerned about his future legacy and how people would remember him, he was thinking about others, his brothers and the promises of God.
Why was this so important? Because God had promised to give His people an inheritance and a land. As a reflection of his hope, Joseph made them promise to take his bones out of his Egyptian coffin on the way up to Israel. Later on, when the Israelites left Egypt, they did just that. Instead of facing the future with tears and uncertainty, Joseph looked forward to the future when his descendants would claim their inheritance. This is what he wanted to convey to his children – Hope for the future!
Conclusion: Someone wisely said, “If you want to plan your life, think about your eulogy, and then go backwards.” What would you want people to say about you at your death? What do you want people to remember about you at your funeral? Here’s something different - instead of talking about you, how about talking about how God used your life in theirs? How about that God loved you and that Jesus died for you? Wouldn’t this be the greatest eulogy you could have?
Jacob and Joseph died well. They shouldn’t be exceptions; they should be the rule for the believer. Many of us will finish our earthly sojourn during the next decade. I’m not just talking about those in their elderly years either. Some of the rest of us, perhaps even some young people, will end our lives prematurely. (I don’t believe there actually are any premature deaths in God’s reckoning but there surely are some in ours). When God calls your name, will it be said that you “died well”? As we conclude the life of Joseph, let me suggest four things that we can do that will make it much more likely that friends and family will say that about us.
1. Trust in God, not in circumstances. If there’s any lesson we must learn from the life of Joseph, this is it. Some of the circumstances of his life were downright tragic, but Joseph never seemed to wallow in circumstances. Instead he saw through the evil circumstances to the good that God was intending. He constantly put his trust in the Lord.
2. Keep short accounts with God and people. There’s nothing like bitterness to shorten your life, or at least make you (or those close to you) wish it were shorter. Joseph teaches us that forgiveness is possible–even forgiveness of those who treat us horribly.
3. Make sure you have no unfinished business. Do you owe unsecured debts? Then, you have unfinished business and you are not ready to die well. Do you have unforgiven family members? Then, you have unfinished business and are not ready to die well. Do you have unconfessed sin in your life? Then, you have unfinished business and are not ready to die well.
4. Be sure you’re ready for the journey to the Promised Land. Jacob and Joseph were ready for the trip, one immediately, the other long-delayed, because they were embalmed and mummified just like the ancient Pharaohs. You have no idea whether your trip will be soon or delayed long into the future, but I can tell you that your readiness has nothing to do with the state of your body and everything to do with the state of your soul.
Friend, are you ready? Do you know for sure that if you died tonight you would spend eternity with God? Suppose you did die tonight and God asked you, “Why should I let you into my heaven with me?”, what would you tell Him? Don’t even think about telling him how good you are, because He knows better. Don’t appeal to your church membership or your baptism or your confirmation because there are countless thousands who have all those assets and are going to spend eternity in hell. There’s only one thing that you can plead that will avail you anything, and that’s the blood of Jesus shed for you.
An Indiana cemetery has a tombstone, over 100 years old, which bears the words, “Pause, Stranger, when you pass me by, as you are now, so once was I. As I am now, so you will be, so prepare for death and follow me.”
Some unknown passerby scratched this reply: “To follow you, I’m not content, until I know which way you went.”
Our Lord plainly taught that there are two ways to go. He spoke often of both heaven and hell. The Bible says, “It is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment” (Heb. 9:27). It also promises that if you will repent of your sin and trust in Jesus as your Savior, you will not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16). That’s the only solid hope in the face of death! Joseph had that…do you?
