The Holy Bible addresses many sensitive subjects like the death of our loved ones, and we should no longer rely upon society to teach us their traditions.
Psalms 90:10:“The days of our years are threescore years and ten(70) ; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years (80), yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.”
So the average lifespan is approximately 70-80 years of age.
Many people fear death because it is the great mystery. Civilizations come and go; each one having an opinion about death, but the Lord only shows his understanding to Israel.
Amos 3:7: “Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.”
The Prophets of Israel were given the understanding of many things including death and the scribes recorded it for us today.
Romans 15:4: “For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.”
Ecclesiasticus 14:18: “As of the green leaves on a thick tree, some fall, and some grow; so is the generation of flesh and blood, one cometh to an end, and another is born.”
Ecclesiasticus 41:3: “Fear not the sentence of death, remember them that have been before thee, and that come after; for this is the sentence of the Lord over all flesh.”
Ecclesiasticus 41:4: “And why art thou against the pleasure of the most High? there is no inquisition in the grave, whether thou have lived ten, or an hundred, or a thousand years.”
So we are commanded not to fear the sentence of death. You are not punished when you’re dead. No inquisition. Death is according to God’s pleasure. Like the trees; one dies, and another is born. So it is with mankind.
The scriptures teach us that sickness is sometimes the result of sin but healing only comes from the Most High at the hands of a physician.
Ecclesiasticus 38:9: “My son, in thy sickness be not negligent: but pray unto the Lord, and he will make thee whole.”
Ecclesiasticus 38:10: “Leave off from sin, and order thine hands aright, and cleanse thy heart from all wickedness.”
To cleanse your heart from all wickedness means to repent by keeping the Lord’s commandments. Psalms 119:9: “Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed thereto according to thy word.” Psalms 119:10: “With my whole heart have I sought thee: O let me not wander from thy commandments“
Ecclesiasticus 38:11: “Give a sweet savour, and a memorial of fine flour; and make a fat offering, as not being. [our offering today under Christ is praise and the giving of thanks according to Hebrews 13:15]
Ecclesiasticus 38:12: “Then give place to the physician, for the Lord hath created him: let him not go from thee, for thou hast need of him.”
Ecclesiasticus 38:13: “There is a time when in their hands there is good success.”
Ecclesiasticus 38:14: “For they shall also pray unto the Lord, that he would prosper that, which they give for ease and remedy to prolong life.”
Ecclesiasticus 38:15: ” He that sinneth before his Maker, let him fall into the hand of the physician. “
Ecclesiasticus 30:17: “Death is better than a bitter life or continual sickness.”
Job 3:11: “Why died I not from the womb? Why did I not give up the ghost when I came out of the belly?“
Job 3:12: “why did the knees prevent me? Or why the breasts that I should suck?“
Job 3:13: “for now should I have lain still and been quiet, I should have slept: then had I been at rest,”
Job 3:14: “with kings and counsellors of the earth, which built desolate places for
themselves;”
Job 3:15: “or with princes that had gold, who filled their houses with silver:”
Job 3:16: “or as an hidden untimely birth I had not been; as infants which never saw light.”
Please pay close attention to what Job says next about death-
Job 3:17: “There the wicked cease from troubling; and there the weary be at rest.”
Job 3:18: “there the prisoners rest together; they hear not the voice of the oppressor.”
Job 3:19: “the small and great are there; and the servant is free from his master.”
Ecclesiasticus 14:17: “All flesh waxeth old as a garment: for the covenant from the beginning is, Thou shalt die the death.”
Ecclesiasticus 22:11: “Weep for the dead, for he hath lost the light: and weep for the fool, for he wanteth understanding: make little weeping for the dead, for he is at rest: but the life of the fool is worse than death.”
Ecclesiasticus 38:16: “My son, let tears fall down over the dead, and begin to lament, as if thou hadst suffered great harm thyself; and then cover his body according to the custom, and neglect not his burial.”
Ecclesiasticus 38:17: “Weep bitterly, and make great moan, and use lamentation, as he is worthy, and that a day or two, lest thou be evil spoken of: and then comfort thyself for thy heaviness.”
Weep according as a person is worthy. For example when Lazarus died Martha and Mary wept for four days because Lazarus was a man that kept God’s commandments-John 11:17-19. We are not instructed to weep for the murderer or drug dealer or local whore that dies even if they are our family because he or she is not worthy.
Ecclesiasticus 38:18 For of heaviness cometh death, and the heaviness of the heart breaketh strength.
Ecclesiasticus 38:19 In affliction also sorrow remaineth: and the life of the poor is the curse of the heart.
Ecclesiasticus 38:20 Take no heaviness to heart: drive it away, and remember the last end.
Ecclesiasticus 38:21 Forget it not, for there is no turning again: thou shalt not do him good, but hurt thyself.
Ecclesiasticus 38:22 “Remember my judgement: for thine also shall be so; yesterday for me, and today for thee.
Ecclesiasticus 38:23 “When the dead is at rest; and be comforted for him, when his spirit is departed from him.”
Ecclesiasticus 30:23: Love thine own soul, and comfort thy heart, remove sorrow far from thee: for sorrow hath killed many, and there is no profit therein.
Psalms 68:20 He that is our God is the God of salvation; and unto God the Lord belong the issues from death.
John 11:43 And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth.
John 11:44 And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go.
John 19:38 And after this Joseph of Arimathaea, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews,
besought Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus: and Pilate gave him leave. He came therefore, and took the body of Jesus.
Note: Burial was performed within twenty four (24) hours. That is why Joseph of Arimathea pleaded with Pilate for the body of Jesus. Deuteronomy 21:23 “His body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but thou shalt in any wise bury him that day; (for
he that is hanged is accursed of God;) that thy land be not defiled, which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.
Our custom was never to have a “Wake-viewing of the body” which lasts a day or two.
John 19:39 “And there came also Nicodemus, which at the first came to Jesus by night, and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about an hundred pound weight.”
John 19:40 “Then took they the body of Jesus, and wound it in linen clothes with the spices, as the manner of the Jews is to bury.”
John 20:5 “And he stooping down, and looking in, saw the linen clothes lying; yet went he not in.”
John 20:6 “Then cometh Simon Peter following him, and went into the sepulchre, and seeth the linen clothes lie,”
John 20:7 “And the napkin, that was about his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself.”
Tobit 4:3 “And when he had called him, he said, My son, when I am dead, bury me; and despise not thy mother, but honour her all the days of thy life, and do that which shall please her, and grieve her not.”
Tobit 4:4 “Remember, my son, that she saw many dangers for thee, when thou wast in her womb: and when she is dead, bury her by me in one grave.”
A Will is testament for the distribution of your blessings to your heirs just as Christ gave gifts unto us like the pouring out of the Holy Ghost Ephesians 4:8 but most of all -Salvation.
Hebrews 9:16 “For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator.”
Hebrews 9:17 “For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth.”
Ecclesiasticus 33:23 “At the time when thou shalt end thy days, and finish thy life, distribute thine inheritance.”
Judith 16:23 But she increased more and more in honour, and waxed old in her husband’s house, being an hundred and five years old, and made her maid free; so she died in Bethulia: and they buried her in the cave of her husband Manasses.
Judith 16:24 And the house of Israel lamented her seven days: and before she died, she did distribute her goods to all them that were nearest of kindred to Manasses her husband, and to them that were the nearest of her kindred.
Notice before Judith died she distributed her goods [left an inheritance]. This is what the Apostle Paul made reference to regarding his care for the believers and what the parents are to do for their children.
2 Corinthians 12:14 Behold, the third time I am ready to come to you; and I will not be burdensome to you: for I seek not yours, but you: for the children ought not to lay up for the parents, but the parents for the children.”
Ecclesiasticus 33:23 “At the time when thou shalt end thy days, and finish thy life, distribute thine inheritance.”
Finally let none of us be confused regarding the second coming of Christ. No one knows the day or the hour of his return, no not even Christ himself. Mark 13:32 “But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father.” Our people tend to become negligent of their duties and responsibilities always relying on Christ returning today, remember no one knows.
So get yourself and your responsibilities in order. Revelation chapter 7 explains that before our deliverance a remnant of our people must be sealed with the understanding of who they are, Christ and the keeping of the commandments. And then shall the end come.
1 Thessalonians 4:16 “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
1 Thessalonians 4:17 ” Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.”
