One Minute After You Die - Part 3
By Erwin W. Lutzer
Perhaps you think that you have sinned too much to receive such a gift. Well, I want you to know that God is able to save great sinners – criminals, in fact. The amount of our sin is not a barrier; it is our unbelief that cuts us off from God's mercy and pardon.
When we receive Christ's righteousness, another miracle happens to us at the same time. God gives us a new nature; He changes us from the inside out. Christ said to Nicodemus, Jewish religious leader, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God." John 3:3. Obviously, we cannot cause ourselves to be born again. That is something that God must do for us.
What must we do to receive the gift of righteousness and a new nature within? The answer is to admit our helplessness, to acknowledge that we are dependent on God's mercy and ask Him to forgive our sins. Then we must transfer all of our trust to Christ as our sin-bearer; we must believe in Him as the One who did all that we will ever need to stand in God's holy presence. To believe in Christ means that as best we know, we trust him for all that we need in this life and in the life to come.
How sure can we be that we will spend eternity with God? We can be so sure that death need not terrify us. Yes, there is mystery; yes, we all are apprehensive of taking leave of the body to wake up in the world to come. But when we have trusted Christ, we know that He walks with us through the parted curtain.
What is Christ's attitude toward our homecoming? Repeatedly in the New Testament, Christ is spoken of as sitting "at the right hand of God". But there is one reference to His leaving His seat and standing; He is welcoming His servants home. As Stephen was being stoned, we read that "being full of the Holy Spirit, he gazed intently into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God" Acts 7:55.
Thus the seated Son of God stood to welcome one of His own into the heavenly realm. A believer's death may be unnoticed on earth, but it is front-page news in heaven. The Son of God takes note. He will be there to welcome us!
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