For a Christian, to Die is Gain.
Here are some verses that show dying is indeed gain for the child of God:
Revelation 21:3-7 3 And I
heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now
among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God
himself will be with them and be their God. 4 ‘He will wipe every tear from
their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the
old order of things has passed away.”
5 He
who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said,
“Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”6 He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life. 7 Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children.
1 Corinthians 15:35-58 35 But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?” 36 How foolish! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. 37 When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else. 38 But God gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body. 39 Not all flesh is the same: People have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds another and fish another. 40 There are also heavenly bodies and there are earthly bodies; but the splendor of the heavenly bodies is one kind, and the splendor of the earthly bodies is another. 41 The sun has one kind of splendor, the moon another and the stars another; and star differs from star in splendor.
42 So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; 43 it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; 44 it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.
If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. 45 So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. 46 The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. 47 The first man was of the dust of the earth; the second man is of heaven. 48 As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the heavenly man, so also are those who are of heaven. 49 And just as we have borne the image of the earthly man, so shall we bear the image of the heavenly man.
50 I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the
55
“Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?”
56 The
sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But
thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 58 Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters,
stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of
the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.Where, O death, is your sting?”
2 Corinthians 5:1-9 For we know that if
the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an
eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. 2 Meanwhile
we groan, longing to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, 3 because when we are clothed, we will not be
found naked. 4 For while we are in
this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed
but to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal
may be swallowed up by life. 5 Now
the one who has fashioned us for this very purpose is God, who has given us the
Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.
6 Therefore
we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we
are away from the Lord. 7 For we live by faith, not by sight. 8 We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be
away from the body and at home with the Lord. 9
So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body
or away from it.
Philippians 3:20-21 But our citizenship is in heaven. And we
eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who,
by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will
transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.
All of these promises gave Paul an incredible longing for heaven and all
that is waiting there. Paul was certain that Jesus would work in him and
through him, making a difference in people’s lives, because his heart was set
on heaven.
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