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Many speak and carry themselves as if they are immortal. They insult everyone including God as if they are alpha and omega. They forget that no human being lives in this world forever. All are but mortal beings.
The rich and the poor, the lettered and the unlettered, and the so-called white man and the so-called black man suffer the same fate. Everyone is susceptible to death.
Just as there is a time to be born there is also a time to die (Ecclesiastes 3:2). Unbelievers reject the belief that there is life after death. So the Merriam Webster dictionary defines death as “the end of life.”
However, a disciple of Christ Jesus holds a contrary view about death. He sees death as a comma, not a full stop. In other words, a Christian believes that there is life after death.
Children of God are convinced that when they die on earth their souls will live in heaven where God is. Thus, Christians consider death in this world as sleep. Jesus Christ revealed it to His disciples.
“After saying these things, he said to them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to awaken him.” The disciples said to him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover.”
Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that he meant taking rest in sleep. Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus has died, and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him” (John 11:11-15).
To Christians, a person who has died is a person who fallen asleep. This gives an assurance that those who die in Christ Jesus will be awaken on the last day to live forevermore. The death, burial and resurrection of Christ Jesus is a testimony to this hope.
It is for this reason that the early Christians held a different understanding and belief about cemetery and catacomb.
The Merriam Webster Dictionary defines a catacomb as “an underground place where people are buried.” It also defines a cemetery as “a place where dead people are buried.”
However, the early disciples of Christ, according to Roland H. Bainton’s book, “The Church of Our Fathers” understood the word “catacomb” to mean “a place of sleeping underground” and the word “cemetery” as “a sleeping place.”
This means that a dead Christian who is buried at a cemetery is befittingly deposited in a sleeping place, awaiting resurrection or reawakening.
This is something very necessary for today’s Christians to know so as to be strengthened in their faith. There is hope of eternal salvation for them in Christ.
Though they die, they shall rise again by the power of God to enjoy life of immortality and receive heavenly rewards for their faith, perseverance and stewardship (1 Peter 5:4, James 1:12).
By James Quansah
