1 Peter 2:9, But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light…
	This morning, as we continue with our discussion of heaven, using Dr. Donnelly’s studies as our framework, we should consider one of two primary aspects of heaven on a very personal level. The first, this week, is our consideration of death. The second one, next week, Lord willing, is our personal time with Christ. These two elements comprise much of the manner in which we see and understand what God has done through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. It is as God calls us out of darkness into the light of heaven, Jesus Christ, that we can show forth His excellencies on this earth, today. As such, both of these areas must be dealt with in our hearts and minds in order for us to know the reality of what heaven means in a very personal manner in our daily lives. 
	First, then, our view of death reflects the certainty of our knowledge of heaven. A fear of death indicates an incomplete understanding of what heaven truly means and holds for us. Death is not something to fear. It is not something to cower before, as those who have no hope. 1 Thess 4:13, But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve, as do the rest who have no hope. 
	Quote, To understand that Christ is central in heaven is of great value for us here and now, for it makes the world to come more comprehensible and attractive. That we will be with Jesus is far and away the most important truth about our future destiny. End quote. As the Apostle Paul encourages us in 2 Cor 5:6-8, Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord — for we walk by faith, not by sight — we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord. 
	It is on the basis of our complete understanding of heaven, our being eternally with Jesus, that we can look death in the face and not flinch or waiver in our hope of salvation. While we do not seek death, since we are here to do the good work as God reveals it to us, nevertheless, we are to have no anxiety concerning our physical death. We are to stand in the truth that we are in God’s hands, eternally secure. In that truth, we look at death, as did the Apostle Paul in Phil 1:21, For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. 
Our physical death means that we are immediately in the direct presence of Jesus Christ, our Beloved Savior, Friend, and Brother. It is an end to the fleeting agonies of these earthly bodies, and the glorious reality of our physical and spiritual perfection in Him. 1 Cor 15:51-57 Behold, I tell you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality. But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, "Death is swallowed up in victory. "O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?" The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 
	The Psalmist had a good perspective of God’s faithfulness over death, as we read throughout the Psalms. Ps 33:18-22 Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him, On those who hope for His lovingkindness, To deliver their soul from death, And to keep them alive in famine. Our soul waits for the Lord; He is our help and our shield. For our heart rejoices in Him, Because we trust in His holy name. Let Thy lovingkindness, O Lord, be upon us, According as we have hoped in Thee. 
	And in Ps 56:9-13, Then my enemies will turn back in the day when I call; This I know, that God is for me. In God, whose word I praise, In the Lord, whose word I praise, In God I have put my trust, I shall not be afraid. What can man do to me? Thy vows are binding upon me, O God; I will render thank offerings to Thee. For Thou hast delivered my soul from death, Indeed my feet from stumbling, So that I may walk before God In the light of the living. 
	There is an assurance expressed that is to be the very core of every believer, as we read in Ps 68:19+20. Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears our burden, The God who is our salvation. Selah. God is to us a God of deliverances; And to God the Lord belong escapes from death. 
	In Ps 102:18-22, we see the victory of Jesus Christ over death foretold. This will be written for the generation to come; That a people yet to be created may praise the Lord. For He looked down from His holy height; From heaven the Lord gazed upon the earth, To hear the groaning of the prisoner; To set free those who were doomed to death; That men may tell of the name of the Lord in Zion, And His praise in Jerusalem; When the peoples are gathered together, And the kingdoms, to serve the Lord. 
	As well, we read the following in Ps 107:13-15 Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble; He saved them out of their distresses. He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, And broke their bands apart. Let them give thanks to the Lord for His lovingkindness, And for His wonders to the sons of men! 
	The Psalmist also shows us how we are to deal with the earthly terror of death, which can so easily beset us. This is at the center of our seeking after God to reveal His heart of glory in heaven unto and into us now, on this earth. Ps 116:3-9 The cords of death encompassed me, And the terrors of Sheol came upon me; I found distress and sorrow. Then I called upon the name of the Lord: "O Lord, I beseech Thee, save my life!" Gracious is the Lord, and righteous; Yes, our God is compassionate. The Lord preserves the simple; I was brought low, and He saved me. Return to your rest, O my soul, For the Lord has dealt bountifully with you. For Thou hast rescued my soul from death, My eyes from tears, My feet from stumbling. I shall walk before the Lord In the land of the living. 
	We are reassured by Our Lord Jesus Christ, in John 8:51, that death no longer has mastery over us.  "Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word he shall never see death." 
	The Apostle Paul has very much to say about the fact that death no longer is to be feared because of the tremendous and glorious work of Jesus Christ, unto Whom we are brought at the instant of our earthly passing. It is because of His death and resurrection that death is no longer our master or enemy. It is because of Christ’s perfect work that death has no power over us and is no longer to be feared. Rom 5:8-11+18, But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only this, but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation….So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men. 
	And he continues in Rom 6:3-11. Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, that our body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin, once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. 
	It is on the basis of the assurance of Rom 8:1+2, that the sting of death is no longer ours to bear. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. This leads so wonderfully to the end of our absolute fear of death in verse 11. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who indwells you. 
	Our complete confidence rests in the life of Jesus Christ. It is because of Him that we can so fully look at death, no longer as a curse, but as merely the release from that curse over these earthly bodies. Death is not the end of life, but the transition into the full reality of the life that is already at work in these mortal bodies through Jesus Christ. Rom 8:36-39 Just as it is written, "For Thy sake we are being put to death all day long; We were considered as sheep to be slaughtered." But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. 
And 1 Cor 15:20-22, But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep. For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all shall be made alive. 
	As our lives on this earth are to be the living witness of the testimony of Jesus Christ, so also is our earthly death the witness of the power of God wrought in His Only Begotten Son. To be so means that we face the end of this earthly time with a joy and an assurance in the power of God. 2 Cor 4:7-14, But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the surpassing greatness of the power may be of God and not from ourselves; we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus' sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death works in us, but life in you. But having the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, " I believed, therefore I spoke, "we also believe, therefore also we speak; knowing that He who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and will present us with you. 
	In the Book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ, the Apostle John records several encouragements for us. As we read in Rev 1:17+18, as John saw Christ, And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as a dead man. And He laid His right hand upon me, saying, "Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last, and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades. Jesus holds the keys of death and of Hades. He is the Omnipotent One and, since we are in Him, He will hold us and protect us from harm. It is in Him that we base our assurance against the power of death. 
	And in Rev 2:10+11, 'Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to cast some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and you will have tribulation ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life. 'He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death.' 
	And, in Rev 21:3-5, we hear of the faithfulness of the power of God toward us who believe, And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He shall dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be among them, and He shall wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there shall no longer be any death; there shall no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away." And He who sits on the throne said, "Behold, I am making all things new." And He said, "Write, for these words are faithful and true." 
	Once again, it is the Apostle Paul, who writes so encouragingly to us in 1 Thess 4:13-18. He gives great detail to what will happen when the Lord returns for His own, you and me and all those who have gone before and will come after us. But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve, as do the rest who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, and remain until the coming of the Lord, shall not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words. 
There is great detail in this passage with the shout, the voice of the archangel, the trumpet of God, the rising of the dead in Christ, and meeting the Lord in the air. Then the Apostle concludes with the very simple, yet all encompassing finale …and thus we shall always be with the Lord. We expect some great detail about heaven, yet nothing more is needed. We have it all in the fact that when we die, we will always be with the Lord. It is that reality of heaven which takes away the fear of death and in which we comfort ourselves. So be it!
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light… Amen. 

This morning’s benediction reading is Ps 149:1-4. Praise the Lord! Sing to the Lord a new song, And His praise in the congregation of the godly ones. Let Israel be glad in his Maker; Let the sons of Zion rejoice in their King. Let them praise His name with dancing; Let them sing praises to Him with timbrel and lyre. For the Lord takes pleasure in His people; He will beautify the afflicted ones with salvation. Amen.