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About Jesus Steve Sweetman The Death of the
Saints - "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His Saints." -Psa. 116:15 Some people may find this verse in Psalms strange, but if you think of it, it is not strange at all. Look at what Paul said in Philippians. 1:21, "for me to live is Christ, and to die is gain". Paul went on to tell the Philippians that the reason why he wanted to stay on earth was to help them in their lives as Christians. Other than that, Paul would have preferred to be in Heaven with the Lord, and that meant death. Paul knew that it is far better for us to be with Jesus than stay here on earth. There's no comparison between Heaven with Jesus and life on earth. In light of these Scriptures I would like to share
two incidences with you. The first was when Dianne's brother Bill passed away.
Dianne is my wife. He was in the
hospital in With this in mind I told Bill that we had to go home. He no longer could respond back to me but I was convinced that he could hear me, even if it was a faint voice in the distance. I told him that he should tell the Lord that he was ready to go. I told Bill that we would see him in Heaven some day. Then we laid hands on him and prayed a short prayer that the Lord would take him. It was just a five second prayer. Within a minute Bill had one tear fall from his eye and run down his face. Within two minutes his breathing slowed down immensely. Within five minutes he had passed away. This was a new experience for me. I had never been in the presence of someone who died. I found myself with mixed feelings. I was sad to see him go, but also felt comforted that our Lord answered our prayer. It was a miracle. We prayed and the Lord answered right away. I mean, right away. We helped someone pass from this earthly life into eternity with the Lord. What a feeling that was. The same thing happened again with my father. It was Thursday evening about eight PM. Dianne and I were by the side of his hospital bed. His neighbour was visiting as well. I asked the neighbour if my dad had ever told him the story of how he became a Christian. I grew up hearing this story over and over again because my dad was saved through a miracle. I was sick with diabetes, near to death myself. The Lord performed a miracle and I was healed. That was more than 50 years ago. As I explained this to dad's neighbour, one tear fell from dad's eye, just like the experience with Bill. At this point my dad could not respond to us, although once again, I knew he could hear us. At 8:45 PM I was ready to go. Inside of me I wondered if I should pray the same prayer that I prayed with Bill. I vacillated in my thinking. I thought, if I pray that prayer, and it was answered, then my sister who was not at the hospital at the moment would not get to see him alive again. I decided to pray anyway. Both Dianne and I laid our hands on dad. After praying that the Lord would take him, I told him that we needed to go and get proper sleep so we could do the things we needed to do the next day. I said my last good-byes, and told him that I loved him and that if he did not make it through the night, I would see him in Heaven. Dianne said her last good-byes as well and we left. About five minutes after we got home the hospital called us. The nurse told us that within a couple of minutes after we left, dad died. Once again our Lord answered our prayer within minutes. I just knew that this was the way dad wanted it. He did not want to die with anyone by his side. He waited until we left. He told me before hand that he wanted a closed casket. He did not want anyone looking at him or making a fuss over him. I called my sister and we went back up to the hospital. She did get to see him, but not alive. Just remember, "precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints". Bill went to see Jesus, and so did my dad. What a miracle.
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