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Written by Tim Groves
The tragic death of a loved one is never easy to handle. Yet the Bible gives comfort and real hope during such times.
It’s now been 10 years since the 9/11 tragedy when nearly 3,000 lives were taken by terrorists. As I watched memorial services on television, I saw a lot of pain and emotional scars. I watched as surviving spouses told their heart-wrenching stories. I learned about a husband and wife who had to tell each other good-bye on their cell phones and a husband who asked a total stranger to tell his wife and children he loved them.
I saw fatherless and motherless children reading their parents’ names. I saw the tears of widows and widowers raining down like the waterfalls at the World Trade Center Memorial. Yes, I saw broken hearts that would not heal.
As I watched, the words of the apostle Paul came to my mind. “But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope” (1 Thessalonians 4:13). I saw some people who seemed to have no hope. Yet God offers real hope to all the victims of tragedies and their survivors.
The dead shall live again
God has a great master plan, and His plan is outlined in His annual holy days. It is during this autumn season that His last holy day pictures the time when the dead, including many who perished in tragedies, will be resurrected back to physical life. Every single person who has lived and has not really known God will come back to life in this resurrection.
Ezekiel records God’s description of this time: “O My people, I will open your graves and cause you to come up from your graves. … Then you shall know that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves” (Ezekiel 37:12-13).
Those in this physical resurrection will include those from Adam’s time to even those in our time. Jesus Christ said that the queen of Sheba (who lived in King Solomon’s time) would be in that resurrection along with those who were alive during His earthly ministry (Matthew 12:42).
So we can have real hope knowing that the thousands who died on 9/11 will be resurrected along with children who died of diseases, with siblings who were killed in car accidents and with parents who died of cancer. God says He will bring them all back to life.
Why will they be brought back to physical life?
All those in this resurrection never had the chance to really know God when they were alive.
God is fair and just, and He is “not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). So God is not going to let an untimely death prevent someone from being in His Kingdom. “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope” (Jeremiah 29:11).
A time of judgment
Because of the description in Revelation 20:11-12, we have come to call this resurrection the Great White Throne Judgment. But contrary to popular belief, those in this resurrection do not stand before Christ to be immediately sentenced to hell. Rather, it is during this time that they learn about God and the books of the Bible. Then they are judged according to how they live their lives during this allotted time of physical life.
At the end of this judgment period, those who repent, accept Christ’s sacrifice for their sins and live according to God’s ways will have their names entered into the Book of Life. Then they will be given eternal life in the Kingdom of God.
A time of incredible reunions
Without question, the survivors of victims of 9/11 and other tragedies have huge holes in their hearts. But the Bible offers real hope of the glorious future that God promises to all of mankind, which will lead to some incredible reunions.
The Bible describes a touching reunion that gives us a foretaste of the reunions to come. For some 20 years Jacob thought his son Joseph had been killed in a tragic accident. He never got to say good-bye. The Bible describes their emotional reunion. When Joseph saw Jacob, he “fell on his neck and wept on his neck a good while” (Genesis 46:29). To Jacob, his son was alive again. To Joseph, his dad was back.
So it will be for those of us who have lost loved ones. When the Great White Throne Judgment comes, there will be lots of tears—tears of joy as we see our loved ones again and tears of joy as these resurrected people learn of the unimaginable future God has in store for them (1 Corinthians 2:9; Hebrews 2:5-10).
And after the Great White Throne Judgment period is complete, no one will ever lose a loved one again: “God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away” (Revelation 21:4).
“Therefore comfort one another with these words” (1 Thessalonians 4:18).
Tim Groves is a member of the Church of God, a Worldwide Association. He and his wife, Teresa, along with their four children, live in South Carolina.
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