The Bright Side Of Death
Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright: for the end of that man is peace.
Psalm 37:37
We who have made our peace with God should be like the evangelist D. L. Moody. When he was aware that death was at hand, he said, “Earth recedes, heaven opens before me.” It appeared as though he was dreaming. Then he said, “No, this is no dream . . . it is beautiful, it is like a trance. If this is death, it is sweet. There is no valley here. God is calling me, and I must go.”
After having been given up for dead, Moody revived to indicate that God had permitted him to see beyond that thin veil separating the seen from the unseen world. He had been “within the gates, and beyond the portals,” and had caught a glimpse of familiar faces whom he had “loved long since and lost awhile.” Then he could remember when he had proclaimed so vociferously earlier in his ministry, “Some day you will read in the papers that D. L. Moody of East Northfield is dead. Don’t you believe a word of it. At that moment I shall be more alive than I am now. I shall have gone up higher, that is all—out of this old clay tenement into a house that is immortal; a body that death cannot touch, that sin cannot taint, a body fashioned like unto His glorious body. . . . That which is born of the flesh may die. That which is born of the Spirit will live forever” (The Life of Dwight L. Moody by W. R. Moody). If Moody were to witness to us now, he would surely tell us of the glowing experience that became his as the angelic hosts ushered him into the presence of the Lord.
Can you face death with such confidence? You can if you know and believe God’s promises about life after death, promises that caused Moody to rejoice rather than despair.
Our Father and our God, I long to be in Your presence. I dream of walking through the gates of heaven and finding myself at home with You. Help me to live purely, O Lord, full of praise, bathed in your holiness, until I find Your marvelous peace in my passing. Let me shout with joy as I come through the gates of heaven. Because of Jesus. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).