Death and angels

As most of you know, I have been a funeral director and embalmer pretty much since I graduated from high school.  You also know that I have been preaching since I was 14 and that I preach a number of funerals.  One thing that I have heard over and over again, all with good intention and meaning, when someone dies is "mom, dad, grandma, grandpa or whoever is now an angel watching over us."  Or, I've also heard that "God must have needed another angel", and while this does seem to bring some comfort, it's not scripturally correct.  There are a couple things about angels that we have to understand.  First, angels are created beings, they have never lived in an earthly body.  The number of angels never changes.  They were created when God commanded them to be created (Psalm 148:5).  The number that God created then is the number it still is today.  Again, they were created and not formed. 

When we die, the Bible tells us that we receive a new body.  We will have a body that is not corruptible, a body that is not mortal; meaning that we won't ever get sick again, we won't ever hurt again, we won't ever have a misunderstanding, we will never shed another tear.  We will have bodies that are perfect because all things in Heaven are just that, perfect.

Back to angels :)  I think it's such an honor and a blessing to think that God took the time to form and create mankind.  He didn't speak us into existance, the Bible says "And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground" (Genesis 2:7).  He took the time to form us, mold us, and create us in His image.  The angels were spoken and commanded into existance.  Genesis 2:7 continues on to say "and breathed the breath of life; and man became a living being."  He not only formed us in His image, but He breathed the breath of life into His creation.

When Adam and Eve chose to sin, the world and the perfection that God had created was now destroyed.  So many things changed and now there had to be sacrifices made to atone for sin.  Angels, good and bad, and yes, there are bad angels have never known what it was to have sin atoned because they have no soul.  Remember that satan was an angel who chose to go against God and he was cast out of Heaven along with those who decided to follow satan.  So, yes there are angels that are not good and we refer to them as demons.  Those demons can never ever be redeemed because they never had a soul, their final destination, along with satan is hell.   The ultimate sacrifice, and the only way to get to Heaven, was when Jesus died on the cross.  His blood was the final sacrifice for all mankind.  All the sin of humanity was placed upon Him and He died to give us life eternal. 

When we get to Heaven, though angles do praise God, our praise will be a type of praise that the angels can't understand, because they have never needed redemption.  When we sing the words to the song "Amazing Grace", we should really listen to those words and understand that the angels in Heaven can't sing that song because they don't know redeeming grace as we do. 

So, all of that to get to this.  Don't ever think that God doesn't love us, or doesn't care for us.  Look at how He formed and created us.  Look at how He sent the very best Heaven had, His only begotten Son, to die and atone for our sin.  Don't ever think that God isn't aware of what we're going through when we grieve becuase He knows the feeling of losing something so precious because He gave us His Son. 

Also remember that when we get to Heaven, we're going to know our loved ones, we're going to know everyone there for that matter.  We will never say goodbye again because death won't be there.  When you grieve, realize that we're grieving for us, not our loved one who has gone on to be with Jesus and other loved ones.  And keep in mind that if you trust in the Lord and what His blood did for us at Calvary and accept Him as Lord and Savior, you're going to see them again.  It doesn't mean that we aren't going to hurt or that we aren't going to cry and mourn; it just means that we know that these tears are a temporary thing and that one day soon, God Himself is going to wipe every tear from our eyes.