Death, a Deliverance

(ed.note: this article was written in Juy of 1995)

As I was reading a series of bulletins from Bro. Tom Harding in Pikeville, Ky., I came upon the announcement of Bro. Hap Yeat's death last May. Let me share with you the opening line of that announcement: "...Hap Yeats, who graduated from the land of the dying to the land of the living last Sunday." How comforting to know that the death of a saint is not loss but gain. It is certainly loss to us left behind, but it is unimaginable gain to those who go on. We are dying creatures living in a dying world. As each birthday passes, the aches and pains increase, the faculties dim, and the diseases multiply, each one a testimony that our days here are numbered. But, the believer need not count such "numbering" a curse. Does the prisoner bemoan that each day passed is one less day left to be imprisoned? Neither should we be saddened or terrified by the prospect of our approaching death. Our Lord has gone on ahead to prepare a place for us; and we shall follow Him there to be received as returning sons. What a thought, we shall land in a place where we have never been...and feel that we have come home at last! There our Lord and all our brethren from every age await our arrival and the arrival of the countless multitude yet to come. There in the land of the living, ruled by The Living One...glorious prospect!