Do You Know the Man With the Keys?
Yesterday morning at 4:45 a.m. in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina my mother-in-law went home to be with the Lord. Watching their mother depart her stroke-stricken body for celestial shores brought both tears of sorrow and joy to my wife and sister-in-law’s eyes. There were tears of sorrow for our loss and tears of joy for Heaven’s gain. It was the Apostle Paul who said, “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21). Truly, as Paul pointed out, the only thing better than living for Christ in this world is living with Him in the next. Thus, it was with both joy and sorrow that my wife and her sister watched their mother slip out of their arms and into God’s everlasting embrace.
Jesus’ words to Martha in John 11:25-26 have proven a puzzlement to many. Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.” My mother-in-law was a faithful believer in Jesus Christ; yet, she died. How then do I explain this seemingly inexplicable contradiction? I do so by simply viewing death from God’s perspective. Although “precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints” (Psalm 116:15), the Lord sees the saint’s death as inconsequential.
Before Christ’s death, burial and resurrection, the devil held “the power of death” (Hebrews 2:14-15). However, on that first Easter Sunday morning Christ kicked the back door out of death and rose from the grave with the devil’s keys—the keys to death and the grave—swinging on His hip (Revelation 1:17-18). Having conquered death and the grave, Christ has freed all who believe in Him from the “fear of death.” Why should we fear death when Christ has removed its sting, turned the tomb into triumph, and opened up the grave as a passageway into the presence of God, where there are joys forevermore (1 Corinthians 15:55; Psalm 16:11)?
Years ago I use to minister in a correctional facility. Every time I went I was locked up in a room with the inmates. Despite this fact, I was never afraid, since I knew the man with the keys would be back to let me out. Christians should never be afraid of death, since we know the Man with the keys. As soon as we enter death’s door, Christ will let us right back out again. When He does, we will find ourselves in the paradise of God; that is, a place unseen by human eyes, unheard by human ears, and unimaginable to the human heart (1 Corinthians 2:9).
Don Walton
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