There is nothing morbid about preparing our funerals and preparing to die. For believers, such preparations are preparations for life’s greatest adventure.

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Come, Carry Me Away — Don Fortner
(Tune: #252 — Only Trust Him — CMD)

1. The sun of time is sinking fast;
My race is almost run.
All earthly woe will soon be past,
And triumph soon begun!
The God of Peace beneath my feet
Shall crush the serpent’s head,
When I with Christ in vict’ry sweet
This robe of flesh have shed.

2. I must be near the blessed ranks
Of those to God so dear. —
I feel the mists of Jordan’s banks, —
My crossing must be near!
Yes, soon I must be going home,
Where Christ, the Lamb, appears.
He’ll send His angels; and they’ll come
To take me where He is!

3. Oh, bear my longing soul to Him
Who lived and died for me,
Whose blood has put away my sin
And Heaven won for me!
Come angels, O sweet angels come,
And carry me away
To my immortal, heav’nly home; —
Come, carry me away!

The Scriptures declare that the death of God’s elect is precious to him (Psalm 116:15) and that God’s saints, dying in the Lord, are blessed forever. But, what is there about the death of the believer that makes death blessed?

Death will bring us into the presence of many friends. Yes, death takes a wife from her husband, a child from its mother and a father from his family. But we cheer ourselves with the prospect of a happy reunion in glory.

Above all else, we will see Christ and be with him. But it is also promised that we will sit down with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. When we die, we will leave some behind, but we are going up to “the general assembly and church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven.” And we shall know one another then, even better than we do now, even as the disciples knew Moses and Elijah on the mount.

When, at last, we come to die in Christ, our most earnest and constant prayers will all be answered. How often have we prayed to be free from our trials and temptations? When we close our eyes in death, we will leave this vale of tears behind. For the believer, death is the blessed funeral of all sorrows. Does your soul long to be free from all sin? It will be, when this body lies in the grave. Oh, how our hearts long to be more like Christ! And we shall be perfectly like him in glory, when we have put off this body of flesh. We pray for a brighter and clearer vision of Christ in his glory. After we are no longer hindered by the sight of things in this world, our eyes will be opened to see the Son of God as he is. We should never weep for those who have died in the Lord. We might well envy them; but do not weep for them.

The death of God’s saints is accompanied with many comforts. Death does not separate us from the love of Christ, but only reveals it more intimately and more fully. Our Savior goes with us through the dark valley; and as soon as we reach the other side of Jordan’s chilly river, oh, what full revelations of Christ’s love, grace, glory and greatness shall burst upon our souls! The Lord will make his people triumphant over the last enemy in that hour. In that hour, all our enemies will be as still as a stone (Exodus 15:16); “and the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet” (Romans 16:20).

Some of the ways by which our Lord Jesus delivers his elect from the fear of death is by giving us a foretaste of the glory that will follow it. It is written, “Eye hath not seen nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him” (1 Corinthians 2:9). Yet, he has given us his Spirit, which is “the earnest of our inheritance” (2 Corinthians 1:22; 5:5; Ephesians 1:14).

We cannot comprehend this glory, but we can think upon it. In Christ heaven is ours, the throne of Christ is ours, the glory of Christ is ours, the crown of life is ours and eternal joy is ours. God is ours. Christ is ours. Heaven is ours. If these things are so, and they most assuredly are, then death is not to be dreaded and feared, but joyfully anticipated!

One purpose of God in eternal election was to make his chosen a holy people in Christ, not more holy than others, not holier by degrees, but “holy and without blame — BEFORE HIM!” None but God himself can make sinners holy. Holiness is more than a moral reformation, purity of life, or even uprightness of heart. Holiness is nothing less than the complete restoration of manhood to the image and likeness of God. Holiness is the complete, not partial but complete, conformity of man to the image of God in Christ. This holiness is not something you can produce. It is something God gives. Not even faith in Christ produces holiness. Faith seeks, receives, embraces and loves holiness. But it cannot produce holiness. Holiness is the work of God alone.

The whole purpose of God in the scheme of redemption and grace is to make his people perfectly holy, for the glory of his own great name. Salvation is neither more nor less than God taking that which is common and unclean and making it perfectly holy (Ephesians 1:3-6; 5:25-27). The Triune God makes sinners holy by three distinct works of grace.

1. Justification — All God’s elect have been made holy positionally, holy before the law, by free justification. The righteousness of Christ has been imputed to all those for whom the Son of God lived and died. Just as our sin was imputed to Christ and he was made to be sin, though he never committed any sin, even so his righteousness has been imputed to us, so that we are made the righteousness of God in him, though we are incapable of doing that which is righteous (Romans 5:19; 2 Corinthians 5:21).

2. Sanctification — In the new birth, regeneration, God’s elect are given a new, holy nature. By the imparting of Christ’s nature to us, the Holy Spirit sets us apart from the rest of Adam’s fallen race; and we are sanctified (2 Peter 1:4; Hebrews 12:14). Our old nature of flesh does not become less sinful or more holy. The old nature is not changed at all. God has put a new nature, a new heart, a new spirit, a new will within us. And that new man, being born of God, is holy and cannot sin (1 John 3:9).

3. Glorification — When the Lord Jesus Christ comes the second time, all who were chosen to be holy, justified and sanctified by the grace of God shall be raised up from the grave and glorified. We shall, at last, be perfectly conformed to the image of Christ, body, soul and spirit. Our glorified nature shall be just like his glorified nature, HOLY! (Read 1 Corinthians 15:51-58, 1 John 3:1-2 and Romans 8:29). Then God’s purpose in predestination shall be fully accomplished. Then, we shall “be holy and without blame before him in love!”