Psalm 116:15 states Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints.
Now there are several meanings here; the general concept is that anyone who is a believer is highly valued; and is escourted to heaven immediately upon death as Paul also states "to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord" ( 2 Cor. 5:8).
This of course would encompass those who die from natural causes; those martyred or otherwise perish before they would otherwise due to human cruelty; accident; etc. We also see how some in the church of Corinth itself died because they weren't taking communion worthily ( 1 Cor. 11:30-32). Annias and Sapphira also met an early death due to sin ( Acts 5:1-11).
We also see some carrying the ark of the covenant wrong who were smitten in 2 Samuel 6:6-7 6 And when they came to Nachon's threshingfloor, Uzzah put forth his hand to the ark of God, and took hold of it; for the oxen shook it.
7 And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Uzzah; and God smote him there for his error; and there he died by the ark of God.
I sense the Lord would want me to elaborate here. My point here is that sometimes death; particularly a sudden one can be tied into God "taking us out" as it were but that doesn't mean someone isn't going to make it to heaven. God wants us to die to selves; and many times He is patient with us taking time for us to bear fruit. Again; this is only some who are truly His I am mentioning here but sometimes they may be taken out for their own good. There are clearly times when such as with the Ark someone steps out of line inadvertantly. The fear of the Lord here is a good thing; and only a blood bought believer can understand the difference between being taken out this way and a nonbeliever having a similar fate. If we can look at God in this light we can compare this concept to the Rapture where we are suddenly transformed and the dead raised. Thus His glory wipes out our old self
Psalm 116:15 states Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints.
Now there are several meanings here; the general concept is that anyone who is a believer is highly valued; and is escourted to heaven immediately upon death as Paul also states "to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord" ( 2 Cor. 5:8).
This of course would encompass those who die from natural causes; those martyred or otherwise perish before they would otherwise due to human cruelty; accident; etc. We also see how some in the church of Corinth itself died because they weren't taking communion worthily ( 1 Cor. 11:30-32). Annias and Sapphira also met an early death due to sin ( Acts 5:1-11).
We also see some carrying the ark of the covenant wrong who were smitten in 2 Samuel 6:6-7 6 And when they came to Nachon's threshingfloor, Uzzah put forth his hand to the ark of God, and took hold of it; for the oxen shook it.
7 And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Uzzah; and God smote him there for his error; and there he died by the ark of God.
I sense the Lord would want me to elaborate here. My point here is that sometimes death; particularly a sudden one can be tied into God "taking us out" as it were but that doesn't mean someone isn't going to make it to heaven. God wants us to die to selves; and many times He is patient with us taking time for us to bear fruit. Again; this is only some who are truly His I am mentioning here but sometimes they may be taken out for their own good. There are clearly times when such as with the Ark someone steps out of line inadvertantly. The fear of the Lord here is a good thing; and only a blood bought believer can understand the difference between being taken out this way and a nonbeliever having a similar fate. If we can look at God in this light we can compare this concept to the Rapture where we are suddenly transformed and the dead raised. Thus His glory wipes out our old self
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