新視域的力量
鐵一般的事實！
經文
提摩太後書四1-8
1我在神面前，並在將來審判活人死人的基督耶穌面前，憑著他的顯現和他的國度囑咐你：
2務要傳道，無論得時不得時，總要專心；並用百般的忍耐，各樣的教訓，責備人、警戒人、勸勉人。
3因為時候要到，人必厭煩純正的道理，耳朵發癢，就隨從自己的情慾，增添好些師傅，
4並且掩耳不聽真道，偏向荒渺的言語。
5你卻要凡事謹慎，忍受苦難，作傳道的工夫，盡你的職分。
6我現在被澆奠，我離世的時候到了。
7那美好的仗我已經打過了，當跑的路我已經跑盡了，所信的道我已經守住了。
8從此以後，有公義的冠冕為我存留，就是按著公義審判的主到了那日要賜給我的；不但賜給我，也賜給凡愛慕他顯現的人。
信息分享
聖經說不敬虔的人的死亡是可怕的，不過，聖經對義人的描寫卻十分不同。即使好像巴蘭這樣的一位壞先知，也看到敬虔人的死是有所不同的。且聽聽他在民數記二十三章10節所說的話：「我願如義人之死而死，我願如義人之終而終。」箴言也表達了同樣的一個思想：「但義人的路好像黎明的光，越照越明，直到日午」（四18）。
我聽過一位講員說，他所見過的一位最快樂婦人是一位垂死的婦人，在死亡來到的那一霎那她躺在床上拍手。很多人來看她那臨終明亮的表情，她說：「他們說這是死亡，但這不是死亡，這是生命。」結果許多人在她床邊決志信主，包括她的兒子在內。
有一位名叫貝爾（W Cosley Bell）的神學家，當他感到自己快要離開世界的時候，把以下的話轉達他任教大學的職員，他說：「請告訴那些年輕人，我一生所度過的每一年肯定了我對神更深入的信仰，我從來沒有比現在更加確信。為甚麼能夠這樣呢？只因為那是事實，鐵一般的事實。我很高興我沒有絲毫的退縮或猶豫；我一生都在傳講和教導這些真理，而我確實很興奮能夠找到我們一直所相信以及所盼望的。」那就是死亡為甚麼不可怕。約翰．衛斯理（John Wesley）為早期循道會的人作出最自豪的宣告說：「我們的人死得好。」
「我們的人死得好」
進深研究
提後一1-12；林前十五45-58
1. 保羅的見證是甚麼？
2. 為甚麼信徒對死亡沒有懼怕？
祈禱
天父，耶穌的空墳墓粉碎了我們的恐懼，並把我們的盼望變成真理。那空墳墓的的確確是永恆的出生地。因為耶穌活著，我也會活著。我要永遠感謝您。阿們。
The Power of a New Perspective
"It's a dead certainty!"
Bible reading:
2 Timothy 4:1-8
1 In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge:
2 Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction.
3 For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.
4 They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.
5 But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.
6 For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time for my departure is near.
7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
8 Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.
Message
There can be no doubt that the Bible presents the death of the ungodly as being terrible. How differently, however, does it portray the death of the righteous. Even a hireling prophet like Balaam, bad as he was, recognised that there was something different about the death of the godly. Listen to his words in Numbers 23:10: "Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my end be like his" (NKJ). The book of Proverbs puts the same thought in this way: "The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, shining ever brighter till the full light of day" (4:18).
I heard one preacher say that the happiest woman he had ever seen was a dying woman. She lay on her bed and clapped her hands at the approach of death. Very many people came to look at her bright countenance. "They tell me this is death," she said. "It's not death at all - it's life." People were converted by her bedside, including her son.
A theologian by the name of W. Cosley Bell, when he sensed that he was about to leave this world, sent these words to the staff of the college where he was employed: "Tell the young men that I've grown surer of God every year of my life, and I've never been so sure as I am right now. Why it's all so! It's a fact - a dead certainty. I'm so glad I haven't the least shadow of shrinking or uncertainty. I've been preaching and teaching these things all my life and I'm so interested to find that all we've been believing and hoping is so." That is the way to die. One of John Wesley's proudest claims for the early Methodists was this: "Our people die well."
"Our people die well' "
Prayer
Father, the empty tomb of Jesus makes all our fears lies, and all our hopes truths. That empty tomb is the birthplace of eternal certainty. Because He lives I shall live also. I am eternally grateful. Amen.
Further study
2 Timothy 1:1-12
1 Corinthians 15:45-58
1. What was Paul's testimony?
2. Why is there no fear in death for the believer?
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