A good name is better than precious ointment; and the day of death than the day of one's birth. --Ecclesiastes 7:1
I have been thinking about the second part of this verse a lot over the past two days. Kinda morbid, I know... I am, however, glad I did. I loved the truth of the perspective it brought me. Most of us have family who rejoiced over our birth and will have friends and family who will grieve when we leave this world. From a worldy perspective then, funerals are sad and "birth" days are to be celebrated.
Through the lens of belief, however, things look quite different. In reality the day of our birth brings us into a world filled with sin, trouble, futility, and uncertainty; while the day of our death brings a permanent end to all our struggles in the flesh and an eternity with Christ. No longer do we strive against sin but can now rest eternally in the arms of our heavenly Father. Through death we enter into His presence...into the joy of our Lord. A believer in Jesus dies with assurance and certainty of his destination. Absent from the body is present with the Lord. We awake in His likeness. Truly our exit from this world then is a greater kindness than our entering it...the day of our death is preferable to the day of our birth.
As for me, I will see Your face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied when I awake in Your likeness.--Psalm 17:5
For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.--2 Corinthians 5:1
So we are always confident, 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 confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.--2 Corinthians 5:6-8
For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. But if I live on in the flesh, this will mean fruit from my labor; yet what I shall choose I cannot tell. For I am hard-pressed between the two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better.--Philippians 1:21-23
Then I heard a voice from heaven saying to me, “Write: ‘Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.’”
“Yes,” says the Spirit, “that they may rest from their labors, and their works follow them.”--Revelation 14:13
