Death will be the last enemy to be defeated

During his ministry, Billy Graham was quoted as saying, “Someday you will read or hear that Billy Graham is dead. Don’t you believe a word of it! I shall be more alive than I am now. I will have gone into the presence of God.” When Billy Graham passed from this life at the age of 99, his son, Franklin Graham, wrote in USA Today, “When Billy Graham went to sleep in his home in the beautiful mountains of North Carolina (21 February 2018), he woke up in the arms of Jesus.” Franklin Graham continued, “While many around the world mourn his physical death, he is now celebrating the ‘eternal life’ he spent over 70 years telling millions of people about.” During his ministry, Rev. Billy Graham preached to 215 million people and carried the gospel to 185 countries.

The concept of the life beyond has changed over the ages. During the time of the Old Testament patriarchs, the dead went to a subterranean abode called Sheol. When the original Hebrew Scriptures were translated into Greek, the word “Hades” (Greek underworld) was substituted for Sheol. Thus, Hades became the underworld of the dead in our New Testament. Now, we speak of heaven and hell.

Biblical incidents use both Sheol and Hades as the place of the dead. (1) In I Samuel 28, King Saul asked the Witch of Endor to summon the spirit of the prophet Samuel so Saul could learn from Samuel how to fight the Philistines. After the witch summoned the prophet, Samuel came up from the ground (then Sheol). (2) In the New Testament passages of Luke 16: 19-31, Jesus told the parable of the rich man being tormented in Hades. The rich man called out to Abraham who was in Paradise with the beggar, Lazarus. The rich man requested Abraham to warn his brothers not to come there. Abraham replied: “If they did not hear Moses and the prophets, neither would they hear me.”

Rev. Graham believed that he would live in the hereafter with Christ. He resolutely believed I Corinthians 15: 26, which stated that, “the last enemy to be destroyed was death.” He was comforted by Paul’s testimony in Philippians 1: 21, which states, “For me to live is Christ and to die is gain.” At the time, Paul was in prison awaiting trial and was uncertain if he would live or die. If he continued to live, he would be performing the work of Christ on earth. If he died, he would immediately enter into the presence of Christ in heaven. Back to Dr. Graham who trusted John’s testimony that both God and Christ would be in heaven, that every tear would be wiped from his eyes, and that heaven would be a place where death, sorrow, and crying did not exist (Revelation 21).

When God called Dr. Graham home, he left this life believing that he would be ushered into the presence of God. Cannot we believe likewise?

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