The death of His saints
"Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints.” (Psalms 116:15)
Last Saturday (November 19, 2016), after giving a death service to God at 12 pm, my church member Dok-Il An fell asleep in the presence of his family. His daughter Jinkyung sent me a text message via KakaoTalk at 3:14 pm: ‘My father has passed away. Rest in peace with God … Thank you.’ So I replied to her: ‘Let us thank God for his peaceful sleeping in the arms of God.’ After hearing the news, I shared the news of his death in our church KakaoTalk room. Then, about 10 minutes later, our church retired pastor in the mission field left a message in the church KakaoTalk room as was thinking about the late Dok-Il An: ‘A funeral song (Korean) Hymn 480, an elegy Psalms 116:15. May God give his family members much comfort (1 Thess. 4:13-18).’ So, I decided today's sermon passage to be Psalms 116:14 for the late Dok-Il An's viewing service, Hymn 480 (“I Will Meet You in the Morning”) for the hymn after the sermon, and 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 for the graveyard service sermon passage. The reason I did this is because the retired pastor loved brothers in Christ Dok-Il An more than I did and was praying more earnestly for him from afar. Two days ago, his wife sister in Christ Kyung-Ja An and their daughter Jinkyung came to church after they visited a Korean mortuary in order to prepare for the funeral. At that time, through Mrs. An, I became more aware of when and how they started coming to our church. At that time, in our church, our retired pastor, who was a senior pastor, was running a seminary, and both Mr. and Mrs. An attended that seminary. It was an opportunity for them to start attending our church, and it has been 22 years already. That is why our church called the deceased An “Evangelist An” (in Korean, An Jun-do-sa-nim). My heart was touched when I thought of the word that Evangelist An had said while he was conscious through his wife Mrs. An while he was thinking about our church, which he loved.
Today, as we are having the viewing service for the late Dok-Il An, I give my thanks to the bereaved family members whom Mr. An loves, our church family, and you mourners, under the title “The death of His saints” based on the word of Psalms 116:15. I would like to receive the lessons God gives us by considering the three things to keep in mind.
First, we must all remember that one day we will all die.
Look at Ecclesiastes 7:2 – “It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting, for death is the destiny of every man; the living should take this to heart.” This truth is already known to all of us. We know that death is the end of all people on this earth. Nevertheless, it seems that we don’t take our own death to heart. It maybe because we are busy living. Maybe we even have a tendency to take death a bit lightly. We must live with the death perspective. In order to do that, perhaps we need to feel the danger of death, and “the anguish of the grave” while living on this earth (Ps. 116:3). As King Solomon said in Ecclesiastes 7:2, the best way is to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting. That is, it is better to go to a funeral rather than a wedding. Personally, when I attend funerals, I often think of myself inside the coffin during the viewing service and being buried in the grave at the graveyard service. May you should try the same. At the same time, we have to think about how we should live the rest of our lives on this earth before God with the death perspective. At that time, the conclusion we need to draw is like the psalmist, “that I may walk before the LORD in the land of the living” (v. 9).
Second, we must keep in mind that the death of His saints is precious in His sight.
Look at Psalms 116:15 – “Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints.” Why does God regard the death of His saints as precious? The reason is because we, the believers, are precious and honored in God’s sight (Isa. 43:4). How did we become precious and honored in the sight of God? This is because God loved us even by sacrificing His precious Son Jesus Christ on the cross in order to save us, forgiving us all our sins and justifying us. Therefore, we, who are precious and honored in the sight of God, should know that the grace of salvation that God bestows in Christ is too great. Then, like the psalmist, we should serve the Lord faithfully as His servants (v. 16), pondering, “How can I repay the Lord for all his goodness to me?” (v. 12) And we must worship God with thanksgiving and offer ourselves to the Lord (v. 17) and live according to His will (v. 9).
Third and last, we must remember that there will be no more death.
Look at Revelation 21:4 – “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.” Evangelist An suffered from an illness since 1994, about 22 years ago. From then on, he started dialysis and had a kidney transplant about 11 years ago. But he was ill and suffered from the disease for a long time. So I delivered a message of hope to him through the word of Revelation 21:4 when he was conscious at lunchtime last Friday. I told him that he will be held in the arms of the Lord, and there will be no more pain and he will enjoy freedom from pain. After he passed away, his daughter Jinkyung told me that he was peaceful. I was very grateful. Deacon Victor Kim, who is a missionary in Egypt, wrote in the church KakaoTalk room: ‘Victory Presbyterian Church are all respectable people, but Evangelist An wasn’t afraid of sickness and death and showed the hope of heaven through his words and actions.’ The late Evangelist Dok-Il An is at rest in the arms of the Lord as the psalmists said to himself, “Be at rest once more, O my soul, for the LORD has been good to you” (v. 7).
We who believe in Jesus are His saints. The death of His saints is precious in the sight of God. In order to face such a precious death, we must worship God while remembering and giving thanks for all the grace God has bestowed us in Jesus. And we must live according to God's will and face a beautiful death. After that, I hope and pray that you and I will all meet together in heaven.
- I will meet you in the morning Just inside the Eastern Gate;
Then be ready, faithful pilgrim, Lest with you it be too late.
- Keep your lamps all trimmed and burning, For the Bridegroom watch and wait;
He'll be with us at the meeting Just inside the Eastern Gate.
- Oh, the joys of that glad meeting With the saints who for us wait!
What a blessed happy meeting, Just inside the Eastern Gate.
[Chorus]
I will meet you, I will meet you, Just inside the Eastern Gate over there;
I will meet you, I will meet you, I will meet you in the morning over there.
(Korean Hymn, “I Will Meet You in the Morning”)
As I want to face the death of a saint who is precious in the sight of God,
James Kim