Someone pointed out that every birth certificate comes with a death certificate attached. We can’t avoid the fact that an equal number of birth certificates and death certificates are issued in the world where we live. But there is good news! Through Christ Jesus, we are entitled to a “born-again” certificate that has no correspondent equivalent in the world of death. Be patient for a little while longer. One day death will be defeated forever! Isaiah tells us that God “will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples…he will swallow up death forever. The sovereign LORD will wipe away the tears from all faces…The LORD has spoken”(Isaiah25:7-8).

We expect too much from this life here on earth. We act as if we can settle down and make our home here forever. Three times in the Bible, however, God’s people are called “aliens and strangers”- and yet most of us live like we expect this present world to go on indefinitely. We expect this broken world to hold the answers to peace and happiness. No matter where you go in the world, death brings heart-wrenching pain. It’s been the same ever since life began on earth. But how marvelous it will be when there is no more death! God will swallow up death forever! I like that word picture. Never again will death take those we love, for death itself will be no more.

During our lifetimes, our hearts are wrenched with pain when we have to say good-bye to our loved ones. Farewells are so hard, especially when you’re saying them to someone you love dearly who is about to leave this world and enter the eternal world. We want to stay together! But we can’t. For that reason, Paul wanted us to understand what happens to those who die who have put their faith in Christ.”Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep or to grieve like the rest men, who have no hope,” he wrote (1Thessalonians4:13).

God has a great family reunion planned for us! We’re going to be together again-this time with the Lord forever.” Yes, together-forever. “Therefore, says Paul, “encourage each other with these words” (1 Thessalonians 4: 17-18). The greatest family reunion is ever coming, though. That’s exactly what God has planned for us. On that day when there will be no tears, God will not merely say, “Don’t cry”. Like a loving parent who takes a weeping child in his lap, He will wipe away all of our tears, they will be gone forever. What a day that will be!

Paul explained how it works when Jesus returns: We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him” (1 Thessalonians 4:14). One day, Paul says, the Lord Himself will come down from heaven with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first” (1 Thessalonians 4:16) .When Jesus returns, those who died and put their faith in Christ will literally rise from their graves, their renewed bodies without the ravages of aging and diseases, joined once more with their souls. Those of us who are still alive when Jesus comes back “will be caught in the air (1 Thessalonians 4:17).

Heaven is our Real Home, and perfection won’t be achieved until we get there. God made us to spend eternity with, and although we get a foretaste here of His presence, someday, we will see Him face to face. Where will you be on that day? Where will you spend eternity? Invite Jesus into your life NOW; make Him your Savior, Lord and Master. Now that will be life at its best!