Dying Grace

Dying Grace
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Grace Defined

Ask any Christian to define grace and their response is usually “unmerited favor.” This is a good definition, but like so many of our Christian ideas, it is totally based on our own perspective. We are so accustomed to looking at everything through our own eyes, it is often difficult to see things through God’s eyes.

Here is a definition I believe looks at grace through the eyes of the One Who created grace, God Himself: Grace is everything God is free to do for us based on the work of the Cross. In His death, Jesus supplied our every need. God is limited only by our choice. If we will accept God’s gift, grace is unlimited in our lives.

Types of Grace

Grace begins in the life of a Christian when he or she first hears the Gospel and continues throughout eternity.

Four types of grace can be found in God’s Word:

1. Convicting Grace

Titus defines this as the “grace that bringeth salvation.” (Titus 2:11) This is the convicting ministry of the Holy Spirit, the grace that draws the unbeliever to accept the Lord Jesus. (John 6:44)

2. Quickening Grace

This is the life-giving ministry of the Holy Spirit. (John 6:63) This is the spark of life that hits the spirit of man when he says “yes” to the convicting ministry of grace. (Ephesians 2:5,8)

3. Living Grace

This grace is with us each day of our lives. It guarantees salvation is not the end of grace but only the beginning. God, Who delivered His own Son up for us all, will with Him also freely give us all things. (Romans 8:32)

4. Dying Grace

This grace is a bridge that takes us from earth into the presence of God, from time into eternity. (Philippians 1:21-24) It leads us to the highest level a believer can attain: face to face with God.

Grace and the Holy Spirit

All grace is ministered by the Holy Spirit. He is the third member of the Godhead, the One Who brings the Gospel to the ears of the unbeliever. It is He Who convicts sinners of rejection of Jesus Christ (John 16:8,11) and draws them to a decision.

The Holy Spirit is also the One Who administers eternal life when a person accepts the saving work of Jesus. We were “quickened by the Holy Spirit.” (1 Peter 3:18)

The Holy Spirit does not stop with the new birth. In fact, He has only begun. He is our constant companion throughout life, ministering to our needs and imparting God’s grace to us. For “God is able to make all grace abound to you.” (2 Corinthians 9:8)

Finally, the Holy Spirit is the One Who carries us through the shadow of death (Psalm
23:4) and turns it into the morning. (Amos 5:8) It is He Who carries our spirit into the presence of God.

The Privileges of a Christian

Although convicting grace, the grace of God which delivers the Gospel, is available to everyone. All other types of grace are a monopoly for the believer only. This is especially true with dying grace.

God has designed the death of the believer to be something fantastic. Every believer receives the “royal treatment” when they walk across the bridge from time into eternity. Consequently, a believer should have no fear of physical death. One of the reasons Jesus went to the cross and died for us was to redeem us from the fear of death is “that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death that is, the devil; and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.”
(Hebrews 2:14,15)

A believer can shout for joy when he faces physical death. He has been redeemed from any power death had over him and he is now going into eternity to be with God. He can say with the Apostle Paul, “O death,where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?”
(1 Corinthians 15:55)

The Blessings of Dying Grace

Imagine two shores bordering a large body of water. A bridge connects the two shores and the only way across the water is over the bridge. Picture a believer about to cross this bridge as he prepares to leave one group of people and to join another group on the opposite shore.

Let’s go one step further. Imagine a few members of the group from the opposite shore crossing over the bridge to greet the believer. They then escort him to meet the rest of their group on the new shore.

This is dying grace. The dying believer can see both shores and both groups of people at the same time.

As a Christian, you are no more alone in death than you were in life. Just as you have friends in life who must, for now, remain on this side and cannot go over with you into heaven, you also have friends in death who cannot remain on this side with you but will be there as you cross the divide into eternity. In death, you leave one group of people behind to join another.

For one brief moment you stand in the presence of both groups. Those in this natural life cannot see those in the spirit world, but the dying believer can see both groups.

As a pastor, I have been at the bedside of many dying Christians. I have seen unusual and blessed events verifying this unique gift of dying grace. It is a great testimony to Psalm 116:15: “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.”

Believers who were dying have told me of the presence of angels at the edge of their bed or in the corners of the room. Although these angels were unseen by the rest of us, the one dying saw them as clearly as he saw us.

Not only do angels cross this bridge to receive a new resident into heaven, Jesus Himself also crosses. It is marvelous to see a Christian about to leave this life conversing with Jesus as he would with someone physically present.

Let’s Look at the Word

Of course, all of this is found in Scripture. Let's look at the story Jesus told of the rich man and Lazarus:

“And it came to pass, that the beggar died and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried.” (Luke 16:22)

The rich man was given a burial and it was probably something to behold. He probably had the finest of coffins, the costliest of funerals, and the most beautiful spot in the cemetery. In contrast, we are not even told that Lazarus was buried, only that he died. History tells us when a beggar died, his body was usually taken outside of town and thrown on a burning trash heap.

The two deaths, the funeral, and the trash heap were all that could be seen with man’s limited vision. Only the Holy Spirit could give us an account of the stories of these two men after their physical deaths. The rich man, an unbeliever, went into hell. Lazarus went into the presence of the Lord.

Notice when Lazarus died, he was carried into Abraham’s bosom by angels. When Jacob had a vision of the ladder joining heaven and earth, he saw angels “ascending and descending.” (Genesis 28:12) Angels are God’s messengers between our world and His.

The Word of God also verifies that Jesus meets the believer in death. When Stephen was stoned and about to die, he saw Jesus standing at the right hand of the Father.(Acts 7:5556) Stephen saw clearly into both worlds, and Jesus was as clear to his eyes as those who were bringing about his death.

What a blessed privilege we have as believers! In death, we are escorted from time into eternity by the Lord Jesus and a company of angels.

Something Strange and Wonderful

But something else has happened again and again when I am at the bedside of a dying believer. Many also see Christian relatives and friends who have been dead for many years. This has happened on so many occasions it simply could not just be a coincidence.

I am firmly convinced a person sees and thinks clearly in the moments just before their physical death. Even a person who has mental disorders or has been in a coma is very clear just before they die. That person is turning loose of the physical body which has held them captive for so long and is living and speaking from their spirit man. For a few moments before they slip over into eternity, they can communicate clearly with those remaining.

Often when a dying believer says he or she see a departed spouse, relative, or friend, those present explain it away as senility. They explain those the dying believer is speaking to and speaking of have been dead for many years. Senility is the first answer our natural mind can find to explain what is happening. However, I believe the Word of God gives another explanation.

When Abraham died, the Scriptures tell us he was “gathered to his people.” (Genesis 25:8) I would have expected it to say he was gathered to the Lord or to a company of angels. Instead, Abraham was met by a group of people he knew.

When David died, the Holy Spirit tells us he “slept with his fathers.” (1 Kings 2:10) David joined a group of believers who were spiritual heroes before his time. As David slipped over into the realm of eternity, he was met by those he revered, whose lives he had studied.

The Witness of the Rapture

However, the greatest verification of these truths is found in a passage addressed to us, the living. I personally believe we are living in the generation which will see the rapture of the Church. The rapture generation is the one generation out of all history that will bypass death to enter into God’s domain, the realm of eternity. We will instantly receive a resurrection body and be with Jesus forever. Let’s read about that blessed event and see what emerges from the Scriptures.

“Them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him (Jesus)...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: Then we which are alive and remain, shall be caught up together with them.” (1 Thessalonians 4:14,16,17)

We who are alive on the earth at the time of the Rapture will be caught up together with them. Them who? Jesus Christ, the archangel, and the dead in Christ. The three who meet the living Body of Christ at the rapture of the Church are the same ones who meet the believer who dies physically. No wonder verse 18 tells us “Wherefore, comfort one another with these words.”

Any Christian who is about to lose a loved one in the Lord should be filled with comfort, peace, and joy. Oh yes, in the natural they will be missed, but they are about to embark on a journey like they have never witnessed before. They are about to enjoy graduation day, about to receive dying grace.

Don’t weep for them, weep for yourself. You are the one who will need the special comfort and strength of the Holy Spirit, not the one who is dying. Only those on this side of the bridge need prayer. The one about to cross over is going to a place where John saw blessings he could hardly describe:

“And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth; Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.” (Revelation 14:13)

Bob Yandian

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