My dear readers,

O death, where is thy sting?

(Dr SH Tow, Reformation Banner July 1975)

The supreme anguish and pain of parting drives man to the extreme in his desperate quest for reunion with the departed. One of the latest innovation is the deep-freeze capsule, an American brainwave reported in the Daily Express of London on 21 June 1975. Cooled to 327 degrees below zero, deep-freezed bodies lie in arctic solitude, awaiting the day when science will have discovered a way of bringing the dead back to life — and reunion with the living. Man ignores the fact that death had been conquered some 2000 years ago and that eternal life can be his as a free gift.

ANN DE BLASIO was a beautiful woman in love with life when, at the age of 35, she developed cancer and, as the medical profession would say, "died."

Her husband and a refrigeration engineer called Curtis Anderson, plus the growing numbers of the New York Cryonics Society, however, believe that she merely "stopped living." Her body, deep-frozen and preserved at a cost of US$50,000, now awaits scientists of the 21st century to bring it back to life. Meantime, De Blasio visits his beloved daily in her icy mausoleum while Anderson offers the prospect of everlasting life at S$113,500 per taker. If this novel method of disposing of the dead should catch on, refrigeration engineers will soon be in short supply.

Whatever one might think of Anderson, he is, at least, honest in his claims. He says, "We definitely don’t promise to bring people back to life. All we promise is the eventual possibility ... It could be in the year 2000 or even later. I must admit that so far no one has gone not deep-freeze and been brought back to life." Anderson is an avowed atheist.

Death is man’s mortal enemy, which he has yet to conquer. Man has conquered the barriers of sound and space, the secrets of microbes and atoms, the mysteries of health and disease. But he has no answer to the enemy he must face one day, and from whom he has no escape.

We are familiar with that great Oratorio "The Messiah" composed by Handel in 1742, and which has been performed perennially throughout the world ever since. This piece of immortal music gives an account of God’s prescribed remedy to man’s fatal malady. Music-lovers delight to listen to "The Messiah" whenever it is performed. Many go merely for the sake of the music and miss the message — words of hope and everlasting life, words taken from the great Book of Life, the Bible.

Read again those words from Handel’s Messiah:

For now is Christ risen from the dead, the first-fruits of them that sleep. Since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.

Behold, I tell you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. The trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption and this mortal must put on immortality.

Then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: Death is swallowed up in victory!

O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Listen again to the words of Jesus Christ: "I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?" (Jn 11:25, 26).

These are no empty words, but are backed up by the historical records of the life of Christ. During His three-year ministry, His works belonged to the realm of the supra-human, or if you like, the miraculous. He healed the sick, raised the dead, walked on the sea, changed water into wine, fed thousands with five loaves and two fishes. His ultimate manifestation of divine power: He rose from the dead and in the space of forty days showed Himself alive by many infallible proofs, to hundreds of eye-witnesses. The same power of God which raised Jesus from the dead will raise those who believe in Him.

Therefore, in Christ we have the sure promise of joyous reunion with departed believers. "And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away." (Rev 21:4)

Dear Readers, have you settled the problem of death? If not, I urge you, do it now. This life is certain. If you die in sin, you find yourself in hell and will be tormented for eternity. If you believe in Christ who died for your sin, you will have all your sins forgiven and you will find yourself in heaven. Life is very brief and transient. Like the morning mist on the hills, it is there one moment, and gone the next. God’s offer of eternal life is free for the asking. You receive it the moment you believe in Jesus. I did that more than forty years ago and never looked back. In Christ there is safety and certainty. There is a day of reunion, never to part again. Why then trust in the deep-freeze capsule of icy uncertainty? Or any other way? Isn’t this foolishness?

God bless you dear readers.

Yours faithfully in the Saviour’s Service,

Dr SH Tow, Sr Pastor