A few days ago we studied a subject that may be very new to you: “Where do we come from?” “How were we created?”
“How can we be happy and satisfied with life?”
“Where do we come from and what will be our destiny?” These subjects we have studied and we have also learned from the Bible that our life is in vain.
Let’s read Ecclesiastes 7:1.
“A good name is better than fine perfume, and the day of death better than the day of birth. It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting, for death is the destiny of every man; the living should take this to heart. Sorrow is better than laughter, because a sad face is good for the heart. The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of pleasure.” Ecclesiastes 7:1
Is this right? We want to sing and eat with the people at a feast, but not many want to be sad at the house of mourning. But the Bible says it is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting. Would you agree with this? And it says the day of death is better than the day of birth. Would you agree with this idea? We want to live long lives.
Ecclesiastes 7:1 says, a good name is better than fine perfume, and the day of death is better than the day of birth. The Bible says the day of death is better than the day of birth.
Why is that? We will be able to tell when we attend a funeral service. It will tell us, if we were to end like this why would we struggle so much? We will be more mature. In Buddhism we are thought to be like an autumn leaf that floats around the sea of this world. Why do we struggle, are stubborn, hate and cling to the things of this world so much? When we go to a funeral we learn many things there.
All the effort to make more money, get the high position or live a better life will vanish away! We must remember this as we live on earth. That is what we realize when we go to a funeral. No one will escape death. I met a North Korean in China while I was there. I saw him a lot so I could tell whether he was from North Korea or not. He was about 50 years old and his last name was Huh. He asked me for help and said he had graduated from music school and he composed songs and sang what he composed. He studied the Bible with me for a couple of months and said,
“Oh my, it is scary!”
so I asked him why he felt it was so scary. He said about 7 or 8 months ago he escaped from North Korea. After that he had to make some money so he went around to churches and pretended to attend there. As he learned more he was getting serious, but all he heard from these churches was to be honest and good. He had already heard those things from Premier Kim, Il-Sung.
After our study, he quit drinking and smoking and he did a singing ministry. However it was dangerous work in China. He talked about God as he sang and praised God. One winter he had a stroke and fell to the ground, but kept singing. The temperature on that day was 17.8 Celsius. When I got to where he was I saw a ringer bottle and a needle and other things that he had. The doctor asked me, “Are you a guardian?”
“No, I am not. I just met him on the street.”
“Then I’d better take all these things away.”
“Why?”
“The hospital bill will be a lot.” I was the only person who had known him previously. I am a believer, so I couldn’t tell him to take his things away and I just stood there embarrassed.
The doctor said, “He will become a vegetable if he survives.”
The people around him said his brain vessels had ruptured around 6 pm. “Please do not take me to the hospital. I am happy to die as is,” Mr. Huh said to the doctor. He was worried and concerned about the hospital expenses.
I was still puzzled as to how I should answer the doctor’s question. So I started to pray to God. I could not think of what to ask God. Should I ask Him to let him die or to let him live? About 4 to 5 hours had gone by. He passed away about 5am in the morning.
He did not have any personal information on him because he was an escapee from North Korea. As we searched through his pockets we found a copy of the false ID card. We used that card to report his death and took him to the morgue.
Before cremation I thought I should change him into clean clothes so I undressed him and changed him into clean clothes that I brought from my home. It was a cold winter but as I looked at him with his eyes closed he seemed to be so comfortable. So I knew that he had gone to a peaceful place. Whether it’s hot or cold, what does it matter to him now?
It really doesn’t matter to him and he is just comfortable. Right at that time I learned that hot or cold, love or hate, the price of oil goes up or down, the price of rice goes up or down, happy, sad, angry or pleasant, all these things are for people who are living on earth. But he went beyond this matter and was comfortable.
Ladies and gentlemen, if you do not have the hope of everlasting life, you may want to die to be comfortable. When we are asleep in our beds we feel very comfortable don’t we? My friend and I went to the crematorium to cremate him, then I went back home. I saw the North Korean’s funeral and wedding and all. He had to hide in order to avoid the police and died in a foreign country where there was no one he knew, and was cremated by a stranger. How pitiful was that? Our life is in vain.
If we do not have hope of eternity, we have nothing. I recommend that you think deeply and consider these subjects, which we studied for the last 10 days. These studies are not going
to help you get a better job of course, but I am talking about the basics of our life.
As you know, the prince Siddhartha was born in India as the son of a king. The queen died right after she delivered Siddhartha. The king was sad that his son was going to grow up without his mother, so he built a nice palace for him. He raised him with all kinds of luxuries. Only young people could go into his palace and not a single older person. Until he was 20 years old he saw only good things. His dad chose the most beautiful young lady for him to marry. But one day he was overcome with curiosity and he asked his charioteer to take him on a journey to the countryside.
“I would like to go outside.”
“No, you can’t.”
“I want to go out,” he insisted, so they took off with horses. It was a totally different world for him to see. On this journey he saw an old man by the street and it was the very first time he had seen an old man.
“What’s the matter with him?”
“He is an old man.”
“An old man? Am I going to be like that when I grow older?”
“Yes, you will.”
The sight of the aged man shocked him. Then he saw a sick man and then a corpse. As he went further he saw a beggar by the roadside and he noticed he was sick.
“Why can’t he move?”
“It happened to him when he got sick.” All you folks have come here because you’ve gotten unwanted illnesses, right?
The prince asked, “Will I get sick too?”
“Yes, you could.”
The realities of old age, disease and death seized and sickened the prince.
“Ah, I have a headache. Let’s hurry back.”
On the way back to the palace he heard a loud scream, from under a shaggy straw rug.
“Go and see what is happening.” After the servant came back, he told him,
“Ah, she is delivering a baby.”
“Having a baby is that difficult?”
He remembered his mother passed away right after he was delivered. So he wanted to go back in a hurry but he got stuck on the road.
“Go and check what is going on.”
“A man passed away so a funeral procession is passing through now.”
“Dead? What do you mean? Who could die?”
“Everyone could die someday.”
“Me too?”
“Yes, prince. You too.”
He returned to palace life, but he could no longer be content with the life of a prince. He couldn’t eat or sleep and he thought deeply about birth, aging, sickness and death.
That very night he called his servant and he left the palace. “I am leaving this palace,” he said. The servant knew why he was leaving and knew he wouldn’t come back until he solved the problems of birth, aging, sickness and death. Prince Siddhartha knew that without solving these problems nothing would be worthwhile.
Whether he was having a good life or higher education, what would be so meaningful to him if he died anyway?
He began his quest for enlightenment. Prince Siddhartha began by seeking renowned teachers. But after he learned all they had to teach him, his doubts and questions remained. So he left to find enlightenment by himself.
He attempted to relieve suffering, yet Siddhartha was still unsatisfied. He was fasting and deeply thought things through. Finally he thought he had an answer. What was the answer? Ah, the path of liberation was through discipline of the mind and to turn from our fondness of excess, he thought. Doesn’t this sound right?
If we throw away the excessive fondness that makes us want to be rich, and want to achieve to higher ground, then we will be comfortable. Even though our love ran away from us, we will stay firm. To explain this again, he knew that if we eliminate our lust for worldly things then we will feel good.
Ever after, Prince Siddhartha went around teaching that one needs to eliminate affection and lust, cut off your relationships and don’t be greedy, then you would feel good. So, the monks shave their hair and enter the temple. The monks are away from everyone, even their parents or children. They teach that this is the way to have deliverance from sadness and agony.
If someone dies in other countries, such as in Africa, why would I be sad for them? There is no relationship between us and we don’t feel sorry for that family. But when our parents pass away we feel sadness because of the bonding and the relationship.
For this reason they even cut off their family relationships. Deliverance from lust and greed will give you a sense of freedom, so get rid of your greed. That is what they are teaching us.
Look at the followers of Buddhism these days. If you visit the Pal-Gong Mountain you will see many followers who are worshipping and asking for material prosperity for themselves. They are filled with lust, greed and selfishness. For example, they will ask Buddha to help their children pass examinations, help them to be successful in their business, ask for good health, so on and so forth. If Buddha appeared in front of them and heard their requests, he would be very upset and say something like this,
“How dare you ask for those!”
He would scold them, “When did I ever teach you to make images, collect money and bow down to them? I would rather see you stop doing these things.”
When religion gets corrupted these things happen. The Christian churches are the same. The Bible said the day of death is better than the day of birth. I told you earlier that this earth is like a prison where the sinners are locked in. If you are in prison and you are successful or promoted, what is the big deal about that? Soon we will have to leave this place. So God is telling you to seek hope in the everlasting world.
During the past 10 days, we have learned these truths, and we have learned many valuable things. We don’t get wiser just because we get older. Yesterday a gentleman came to me and said, “I am going to count my age as one year old from today, because I feel that I am wiser and smarter ever since I attended these meetings.”
That sounds pretty significant. Without the hope of eternity our life on earth will be insignificant. That is the reason why the Bible said, “The day of death is better than the day of birth.”
Why is death better? What is death? Let’s read from the book of Ecclesiastes 9:5.
“For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing; they have no further reward, and even the memory of them is forgotten. Their love, their hate and their jealousy have long since vanished; never again will they have a part in anything that happens under the sun.” Ecclesiastes 9:5
The dead do not know anything such as, Heaven, hell, happiness or sadness so what would it matter to the dead? Love and hate will all cease.
But these days the movies are made in such a way that if we have enmity toward someone, we will return as a ghost at night to scare them. That is absolutely not true. The dead will cease to function just like a TV or computer turned off. Death means sleep, as if an individual sleeping knows nothing of what is taking place in the mortal world.
How could the dead go to Heaven or hell and become a ghost? Can the dead watch their children whether they offer the ancestral memorial service? Can we get reincarnated into another person or animal? They say this because they do not understand the human structure. Let’s read Psalms 146:3.
“Do not put your trust in princes, in mortal men, who cannot save. When their spirit departs, they return to the ground; on that very day their plans come to nothing.” Psalms 146:3
At the very moment we die, everything ceases to function, just as the computer switch was turned to the off position. Let’s read one more verse. Psalms 115:17.
“It is not the dead who praise the LORD, those who go down to silence.” Psalms 115:17
It is not the dead who will sing in front of God, but they stay unconscious in their tomb. If we understand the state of the dead we won’t be scared so much. Let’s read Job 14:10.
“But man dies and is laid low; he breathes his last and is no more. As water disappears from the sea or a riverbed becomes parched and dry so man lies down and does not rise; till the Heavens are no more, men will not awake or be roused from their sleep.” Job 14:10-12
Till when? Till the Heavens are no more. Then when will this blue sky disappear? Let’s read 2 Peter 3:10.
“But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The Heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare.” 2 Peter 3:10
When will the Heavens disappear with a roar? It is when Jesus returns to earth. “Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people do you want to be? You want to live a godly life as you look forward to the day of God coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the Heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. But in keeping with His promise we are looking forward to a new Heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness.” 2 Peter 3:11-13
In the time of Noah the flood destroyed the earth. But next time it will be by fire. At that time the layer of space, which is structured by nitrogen and oxygen will be burnt away. The space will burn away when Jesus returns and that is the time the dead will be resurrected.
We’ve heard many times that, “When we die our body dies but the spirit goes to Heaven or hell.” Some churches teach that purgatory is for the one who is not bad enough to be sent to hell, and not good enough to go to Heaven. These people in purgatory will have to be educated, and if the children or someone makes a big offering and attends church then they will be released from purgatory and will be sent to Heaven. Let’s read Genesis 2:17.
“But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eat thereof thou shalt surely die.” Genesis 2:17
Whose word is this? Let’s see what the devil tells us. “And the serpent said unto the woman, ‘Ye shall not surely die.’” Genesis 3:4
What does the serpent say? He always contradicts God by telling us the opposite of what God says. In these days not only the Buddhists but also the Christians worship their ancestors. Who are they listening to? The serpent.
As you listen to the Buddhists, they tell us that after we die we could be reincarnated into different animals, such as a serpent or a cow. To feed your ancestors you ought to have a memorial service offering to the dead. These teachings are from the deceptive serpent. Whether we worship the devil or not they have something to do with whose word we choose to trust more.
The Bible says if we die in everlasting hope, we will sleep without knowing anything. And it says the day of death is better than birth. Will the soul die? Let’s read Ezekiel 18:4.
“Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die.” Ezekiel 18:4
Let’s read one more verse.
“The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.” Ezekiel 18:20
Why do the Buddhists and some of the Christians trust the devil’s word more than God’s word? When the believers die, the resurrection is waiting for us.
Have you heard of anyone who has seen the devil? Yes, some claim this. Then what could this be? How could you understand the dead appearing in front of them and talking? Revelation 12:7 has the answer.
“And there was war in Heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, and prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in Heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.” Revelation 12:7
There was a war in Heaven and Satan fought against God and Satan was defeated. The devil, the dragon or Satan and his servants were driven out to where? They were cast down to the earth.
And what was his character? He will deceive the whole world. Yes, he is the master deceiver. Those who deceived Adam and Eve are trying to also deceive us. Satan disguises himself to be a dead loved one and deceives us as a ghost.
The doctrine of immortality of the soul is made by Satan to deceive us. If we believe that the dead will go to hell as soon as they are dead, then the Bible wouldn’t mention that the day of death is better than the day of birth. The state of death is like a comfortable sleep. Death is not that sad if we have the true hope of everlasting life. What kind of hope do we have? We have the hope of the resurrection.
What does that mean? Let me explain the principle of the resurrection. We have cells in our body; and in the cells there is a nucleus. What is inside of the nucleus? There is a long film of
DNA in there. In the DNA all our thoughts, experiences, actions and our emotions are kept like a video tape. Do you understand this?
All the people in this world keep this video in them even though they are dead. The electricity is gone, our breath has gone and we return to dust yet our elements are in there as we sleep in this state where everything has stopped.
We plant corn in our garden. The corn takes its own video of the surroundings, the temperature, and condition of the soil. In the autumn all these records are stored. When we plant corn again the film opens up slowly and it becomes corn.
Salvation is where we search for our self to know if Jesus is recorded in us or not. Because of this record we can’t say, “I don’t remember that. I never have done that.” God can see the perfect view of our video. Jesus will see our record as to whether we kept our faith since He died for our sin.
We can say, “Yes, I believe in you.” We should agree in God not only by our lips but also
with all of our heart and emotions. Not just pretending to believe in Him but as a true believer. We can’t deceive our God. Our God and His angels are watching and waiting for us. Some of our record doesn’t show that we loved him, even after 50, or 60 years and then our Heavenly hosts are getting upset.
“Is this individual really going to perish for good? There is no record about him yet.” But when this individual reaches 70 years of age and then the record shows that he has converted, then our Heavenly hosts will raise their hands in joy and welcome this individual.
“Oh! He is alive.” The most important matter is that each one of us has this critical record in our life. Jesus told us this in Matthew 8:19.
“And a certain scribe came, and said unto him, Master, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest. And Jesus saith unto him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.” Matthew 8:19-20
Who is this scribe mentioned in the Bible? That must be Judas. He is the scribe who held a pretty high position among the disciples of Jesus. The rest of them were ignorant fishers of men.
One day a man asked to be a disciple of Jesus. Peter and John looked at him, and agreed that he looked like a smart individual. They looked around at the disciples and noticed they had an amazing teacher but none among them were well educated. So they thought, finally a well educated person is joining the disciples. But the response of Jesus was unexpectedly different.
Jesus doesn’t even answer yes or no, but He said, “The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.”
What does that mean? He read Judas’ mind and He knew Judas’ intention. When Judas saw Jesus he thought that this man is not an ordinary man. Someday He will be king. If so I may be able to get a good position. That was the intention why he wanted to follow Him. So Jesus was telling him that if you come to see me with that kind of mind set, “The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head,” so you had better not follow me. But then Judas did not understand Jesus’ comment and he pursued on following Jesus. Later on he realized this was not what he had in mind, and what did he do? He betrayed Him and sold Him away.
Ladies and gentlemen, we shouldn’t follow Jesus to get some barley loaves and fishes for the stomach, just like Judas had done. Let’s read Matthew 8:21-22.
“And another of his disciples said unto him, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. But Jesus said unto him, Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead.” Matthew 8:21-22
One disciple asked Him, “My father passed away so I will have to go and bury him.” If Jesus told him, “Sure, why don’t you go and bury him first?” That would have sounded friendly. But how did Jesus respond to his question? “Let the dead people bury their dead and you follow me and work for eternity with me.” What does that mean? How can the dead bury their dead? Jesus looks at us in two different ways, whether we are alive or dead? When we look at people we want to know whether he is short or tall, a college graduate or not, has money or not, is he gentle or not.
But the way Jesus sees us is different. Are we alive or dead? Suppose here are two eggs. One is from the supermarket and the other is from the hen with rooster. If we keep both eggs at the right temperature for 20 days, which one will hatch to become a chick? The egg from the supermarket will be rotten, but the egg from the hen will hatch.
Human beings are the same way. The faithful ones are the ones who have the seed of everlasting life. Whether he is scholarly, rich or driving a luxury car don’t matter. Anyone who doesn’t have the seed of life is dead.
Look at this. I picked up a leaf. This leaf looks alive but actually it is dead. Sooner or later it will wither away. We are like this leaf. The moment we ate the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil our life was ended. But how come we still look alive? It is because just like this picked leaf, it will sustain for a little while then it withers away. When the fan is running in full force, what happens if we unplug the cord? The fan will slow down and eventually come to an halt. Our earthly life is not the life He originally blew into our nostrils. It is still running by the law of inertia even though it is cut off from the real source of life. We are cut off from God.
God calls that condition dead.
“Your father’s fate is already decided so it will be alright for them to take care of the deceased among themselves. But you and I have to spread the seed of life in a hurry.” That is what He is telling us to do. When we were buried under the ground with the seed of everlasting life, God considers us as though we are sleeping. Someday he will call us back to life.
The most important matter is not money making, building a house, getting married or sending our children to a good school. We must have the assurance that we have the everlasting seed in us. If we go into the tomb without this seed our soul is gone forever.
Let me show you something. Here is a corn seed. If we just leave it alone, will it grow? No, it won’t. It needs moisture and the right temperature. Then, what about the seed of life? Will it grow if we water it and have the right temperature? No. When Jesus comes He will open our record and find out who will be the one to be resurrected. We won’t have to be afraid if we have the word of God in us. That is the reason why the Bible said the day of death is better than
the day of birth.
Ladies and gentlemen, some people think if we call Him Lord, Lord then we are saved. But we need to read it very carefully. The Bible is our manual. He gave it to us after He created Heaven, earth and man.
Whenever we buy a television or a refrigerator, the manual comes with it. If we follow the manual we will find that the appliance operates more efficiently and it will last longer without breaking. But if we do not follow the instruction manual and connect it to a 100 volt line for appliances that needed 220 volts, or use diesel in a gasoline car, then we are set for problems.
Our body is very well made by God, but if we misuse it by eating junk food it will be OK for a while.
But if it was a TV or car it would be broken down rather quickly. God has given us the life manual. It tells us how to keep a healthy body, how to keep good relationships with our neighbors, or take good care of our green environment. When we do not follow these laws, then pollution, health problems, or family problems will follow. Even some Christians are not reading their Bible. Some Christians believe that if they listen to the preacher’s sermon once a week that would be sufficient. If so, then why did God give us the Bible?
Just believe in Him without any hassle to know what it is. Is that it? Two thousand years ago the Jews had that same mentality and they were destroyed.
If the pastors teach us right, it would be nice. But some of them just read one Bible verse, and end their sermon with a story of their own experiences and opinions. That kind of church can be misleading and the congregation can be easily deceived by the devil. The problem for Christians in this era is that members do not spend time reading the Bible.
I will consider this meeting to be a success if you return home and make a commitment to yourself to read the Bible. We should study the Bible diligently for ourselves. I won’t let anyone else have my legal seal. You cannot entrust your health matters totally to someone else. It is a surprise to see so many people leave their eternal matters to someone else’s hand and not be concerned about them. People are so reluctant and lazy to study the Bible. They just listen to the sermon of the Catholic priest or pastor. But we must check whether what we hear is in
the right path or not.
Two thousand years ago the devil deceived the Jewish leaders. The Bible said, “The devil, Satan, which deceiveth the whole world.” He deceived Adam and Eve successfully. And he deceived the Jewish people, who were the smartest in the whole world. To the devil, deceiving all of the Jewish people was a piece of cake!
All people of North Korea have been deceived. They are worshiping a human as a god. These are smart people, some are nuclear physicists and scientists who made the atomic bomb. If I were to ask them about their leader, Premier Kim, Il-Sung, they would never curse him.
“He is our great leader but the underlings are responsible for all ….” is what they say. A whole race or a entire nation can be totally deceived. If we do not open our Bible we will be deceived by the devil.
What I am telling you today, if we have the confidence of having the seed of everlasting life in our heart, we shouldn’t be afraid of death. So we can say the day of death is better than the day of birth.
When I was in China a friend of mine did not come to church one Sabbath. So I asked around why he was not there. I was told that he was dead. He was about to go to Japan to study. For a Chinese to go to Japan is not easy. But after successfully going through these many hurdles, he was all ready to leave for Japan. He needed some school supplies. On the way back from the market he was hit by a speeding taxi and died. We never know what will happen tomorrow. If this happened to you then it would be too late to change your fate because it has been determined. The most immediate thing to do is to accept Jesus Christ as your personal Savior. I wish that you accept Him and keep this seed in you. Live with it, and sleep with this blessed hope in your heart.
