More Ready To Leave

Fear not the figure shimmering in white,
Seen by those who return from death's first throe;
It is God's angel, sent to hold you tight
On the flight to heaven, where saved ones go!
Why dread the dawning of your life's last day?
It brings the reward you have so long sought!
God has gone ahead, to prepare the way,
And awaits the one which His blood has bought.
Not so with those born only of water;
To whom truth was proclaimed, but did not see;
To whom death means just a final slaughter;
The end of hope; the start of nullity!
Let life offer whatever pull it may;
Be even more ready to leave than stay!

"For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain." (Philippians 1:21)

To Paul, all living was only the opportunity to serve Christ for better or worse, but his longed-for life after death was infinitely better. So should it be with us who love and follow Jesus; looking forward to death and its happy afterlife is our goal; living in this world should merely be for serving Him.

Many people have had near-death experiences that are very similar, and, after being brought back, have told what happened. It goes like this: The dying one is in a hospital bed, surrounded by family and doctors, when he feels himself leaving his body, rising above the bed, and looking down on the scene. He hears what is being said. Suddenly a brilliant light shines down a long tunnel, at the end of which is a figure dressed in white. He feels himself being drawn down the tunnel to the figure; his hospital room recedes. Just before he reaches the white "angel", he is drawn back into the room; he doesn't want to go back, but invariably returns to his body. He awakens and finds that he is not dead after all.

I believe that is what really happens when a Christian dies. The Bible tells us that 'to be absent from the body is to be with the Lord'. I believe the figure in white is Jesus come to snuggle His follower on the trip to heaven.