Safe in the arms of Jesus, safe on His gentle breast; there by His love o’ershaded, sweetly my soul shall rest. Hark! ’tis the voice of angels, borne in a song to me, over the fields of glory, over the jasper sea.
This song has been on my mind for the last few weeks as I mourn the loss of a beloved friend and colleague. I have known this person for many years and I can confidently say that he was a godly man who truly cared for people and reflected Jesus through his character. Family, friends and colleagues are grieving his demise, but at the same time, are comforted that he is safe and at peace with his Lord Jesus. I am sure he is echoing these words from heaven – Safe in the arms of Jesus, safe from corroding care, safe from the world’s temptations, sin cannot harm me here. Free from the blight of sorrow, free from my doubts and fears; no more trials, no more tears. I’m safe in the arms of Jesus!
Dear friends, in Jesus Christ we have a hope, in fact, it is much more than a hope, it is an assurance which we can have that after we die we will be safe in the arms of our Lord Jesus. By his death on the cross and his resurrection, Jesus has secured our place in heaven. That every person who believes in him will not perish, but have eternal life (John 3:16). Isn’t that comforting? Which other worldview can give this kind of assurance while we are still alive? An assurance of eternity with Jesus!
You see friends, though this is a great assurance, being safe in the arms of Jesus after we die is not the finality of being a Christian. Here is where it gets even better. The Bible tells us that one day Jesus will resurrect us back to life in full bodily form, not the previous natural, weak and perishable body but as a new spiritual, glorified and imperishable body. The whole chapter of 1 Corinthians 15 is dedicated to this subject. The resurrection of Christ gives us the hope that one day we shall also be raised up bodily just as Christ was bodily raised from the dead. Sigmund Freud once said, ‘And finally there is the painful riddle of death, for which there is no remedy at all has yet been found, nor probably ever will be’. Every person who trusts in Jesus has victory in death and over death because our Lord Jesus Christ through his resurrection defeated and conquered death. How wonderful are those words of Jesus when he said ‘Because I live, you also will live’ (John 14:19).
Let me close with these words, 1 Peter 1:3-4 says ‘Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade– kept in heaven for you.’ Oh, what an assurance!
