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Dear brothers and sisters, I was not sure whether I should write publicly about my latest experiences with God at all. But since I shared my “suffering-with-Christ-years” extensively on this site for almost ten years, why should I withhold from you that the power of His resurrection does exist? Isn’t it the inmost desire of every human being God has created that the sting of death is removed so that they can truly LIVE without fearing death any longer?

A few days ago a simple question arose in my mind when I thought, “What is death, anyway?” ….. Isn’t it, simply put, the absence of a life as we have known it, a lack of security, and a loss of past things and experiences that were once precious to us?

My musings were immediately drawn to what Jesus has accomplished in His cross. We know that He has conquered death for ALL of us who put our faith in Him. We call it salvation, yes, but does that mean that we will enjoy eternal life after our own physical death only? No. In fact, we can experience this life even now since ALL things are ours – IN Christ. We read,

“So don’t boast about following a particular human leader. For everything belongs to you— whether Paul or Apollos or Peter, or the world, or life and death, or the present and the future. Everything belongs to you, and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.” (1 Cor 3:21-23 NLT – emphasis added)

Actually, I never saw that so clearly before that death, like life, belongs to us. Jesus Christ has enabled us to live a life in Him that is truly beyond death. Just for illustrating my statements, here are my recent experiences.

As far as I remember, I feared losing my loved ones since my early childhood. Not that I feared my own death anymore after an overwhelming out-of-body experience with Christ in 1998 (if you want to check it out, it is part of my testimony here). Yet this sting of death made it impossible for me to ever enjoy this earthly life without apprehension. Something could go wrong… maybe, soon… you never know when… this thought and similar worries were haunting me forever and a day. But there came another day. It was November 16th, 2023.

At that time my dad had been in hospital on the brink of death, just like my mom, though she was in a nursing home in the same town. Living about 170 kilometers (roughly 105 miles) away from them, it was not easy for me to care for them when they needed immediate help as I was their only child. On that Thursday in November I called the nursing home, knowing that my mom could not talk with me any longer. I was told her breath was getting slower and her face looked more and more pointed. Therefore, I promised I would come and see her soon.

Still pretty nervous, I booked a room in a hotel there, packed my bags, and informed all people concerned. Afterwards I had an important appointment at the registry office in Fürth as my former ID card had been invalid for some strange reason. And I knew I would need a valid ID card when my parents have died.

I felt God’s leading to go to the office and to wait there for a short time. Although I was still unsure whether I would make it to my former hometown before my mom’s death, His peace had begun to comfort me already. Leaving the office, I saw it was 15:15 (which is 3:15 pm). I took a screenshot of this particular time with my cell phone and headed to Hof where my parents lived. As for this screenshot you see on the right, this is an image section of a photo my husband Paul had taken.

Sitting beside my mom’s bed for quite some time, watching her breathe deeper at times, I started to wonder. Her eyes were looking into a distance my natural eyes could not follow. At the same time God’s peace was increasing and I “knew” that there was nothing to worry about any longer. I was plunged into a deep, soothing, inner silence and rest. So subtly, but so overwhelming to experience THIS! Indeed, at that moment the sting of death was gone!! In fact, Jesus had promised me about nine years ago He would remove this sting. From that time on, I saw various signs and symbols that pointed me to these four numbers 15:55, referring to a verse from 1st Corinthians where the apostle Paul bursts out,

O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? (1 Cor 15:55 ESV)

The very next day, on Friday, November 17th, I had the privilege to watch a loving nurse wash my mom and care for her. I knew it was the last time. The morning sun was softly shining through the window when I prayed for my mom afterwards while caressing her face. It was the third time then that I felt led to pray Aaron’s blessing (Num 6:24-26 BSB) over her:

May the LORD bless you and keep you; may the LORD cause His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; may the LORD lift up His countenance toward you and give you peace.

God’s Ways Are Perfect – Psalm 18:30 (In German: Gottes Wege sind vollkommen, Luther 1912)

My mom died later that day at 15:15 Uhr (3:15 pm). If you compare her death certificate on the left, you’ll find this time above the card with which I hid my mom’s personal data. This specific card originated from my parents but the scribble at the bottom was mine. Number 15 stands for rest. Resting in Christ, in His great Love, and in His peace that surpasses all understanding. Whether we still live in a physical body here on earth or “on the other side” already,  it is the same life we share in Christ since it is written,

“Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” (Jn 17:3 NIV)

My mom’s funeral was on December 6th. At that time I was still wondering why I had not mourned her passing away. Instead, there was a (spiritual) closeness to her that was really new to me. I saw that something inside me had changed dramatically as my thought life was no longer inclined to dwell on the past, on nostalgia, on my childhood, on bad or good experiences, whatever. All these things were still “there” inside me but also somehow “covered”, even uninteresting now. At that time I was also reminded of a peculiar Scripture of the last Book of the Bible. God promised there that

“He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” (Rev 21:4 ESV)

As for the Scripture from Revelation I quoted above, I always thought the Bible pointed to a future time after our earthly life. Wiping away every tear…. death shall be no more… no mourning… I could hardly imagine that the Holy Spirit, our divine comforter, would fulfill these promises even in our lifetime. Also, the following Scripture sheds light on the same topic as it testifies,

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” (2 Cor 5:17 ESV)

In closing, I want to offer you some food for thought by T. Austin-Sparks on how intriguing a life that has overcome death can be, both for us and for others who do not know this life yet.

The Testimony of a Life Which has Conquered Death

Now the next thing about this testimony. “And he will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering that covereth all peoples, and the veil that is spread over all nations. He hath swallowed up death for ever” (Isa. 25:7-8). In this mountain, Zion, the testimony is to the complete triumph of the Lord over death, the testimony of a life which conquered death. It comes out of His absolute lordship, it is a part of it, but it works out in this way – where the Lord gets a ‘Zion’ people, there you have an unusual testimony to life. The thing we must ever keep before us (I state it simply as a fact without any exposition now) is that if you get a people who are what Zion means – coming into God’s fuller thought as in His Son – the thing that is found when you meet them is life. Oh, I tell you that I cherish this aspect of the testimony very, very dearly and very greatly. To me it means almost everything, that we shall be maintained in life – not merely a people who have a specific teaching, a lot of light and a lot of truth but as dead as anything can be. (And it can be like that: you can have a marvellous amount of truth and be quite dead.) But whether the teaching is understood or not by the people who come, we want that the first thing they shall meet and register shall be – What life there is here! Not, what teaching there is here, but what life! In such an atmosphere you get a tremendous lift-up, you find yourself re-vitalised. Yes, death has been swallowed up. That is the testimony; that is part of the testimony unto Israel, and who will say that the Church as a whole does not need to know in some new and mightier way the power of His risen life? Is that not just what is needed? That is really what many are after. They are trying to get it in great organized movements; they feel the need of life as a mighty reaction against the death that has come in. It is not for us to judge or criticise, but we can say this, that this life can never be manufactured. It can never come by great efforts. It is the uprising of the risen Lord where He has room and capacity; and room and capacity are only made by travail. You have to suffer unto this life. You cannot get it cheaply, you cannot work it up and produce it by any means of man. It can only come as out from death by resurrection. It costs.

https://www.austin-sparks.net/english/books/001364.html

“In keeping with T. Austin-Sparks’ wishes that what was freely received should be freely given and not sold for profit, and that his messages be reproduced word for word, we ask if you choose to share these messages with others, to please respect his wishes and offer them freely – free of any changes, free of any charge (except necessary distribution costs) and with this statement included.”

All images by Susanne and Paul Schuberth 2023