Funeral of Ilene Blechner

When it comes to the unknown beyond this life, there are few things of which we can be certain. What exactly happens in the moment of death? We don’t know. What is the next life like? Apart from a few vague descriptions in the Bible, we really have no idea. Death has a way of reminding us that when we measure our knowledge against eternity, we are little wiser than infants. But there is one thing that I can tell you today about the next life with absolute certainty: Ilene in with Jesus. Her suffering is over. Her race is complete. She is even now at rest with her Savior.

Many of us don’t think much about heaven until we are forced to by tragic events. But after we lose someone we love, then the questions come flooding in, “Where is she now? Will I see her again? Will she be in heaven?” Perhaps the answer seems easy enough for someone like Ilene. She was a wonderful person, much loved by her friends and family. She went to church regularly, as long as her health permitted. She was sweet and gentle. Surely, if anyone is good enough to get into heaven, it would be Ilene.

This may come as a surprise to you: Yes, without doubt Ilene is in heaven, but not because she was a good person. In fact, God doesn’t let good people into heaven. He doesn’t? No. The only people God lets into heaven are perfect people. Think about it. God made a perfect world, but all it took was one bite of the forbidden fruit to plunge everything into sin and darkness. So how can God allow even the smallest sin or the most harmless sinner to enter heaven? He can’t. In order to pass through those gates, you must be entirely free from sin. Your actions, your words, even your thoughts must be perfectly clean. You must live a blameless life from the moment of conception to the moment of your death. Guess what? No one is good enough for that. Not you. Certainly not me. And not Ilene. The Bible says that there is none righteous, no not one (Rom 3:10).

So then, if God requires perfection, but no one is righteous, who can be saved? Jesus tells us the answer in John, chapter 5: “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life” (Jn 5:24a). Ilene has eternal life and is now with Jesus, not because by being perfect, not by living a good life, but by hearing and believing the word of Jesus. Even though she was a sinner, as we all are, she did not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life (Jn 5:24b).

I want to tell you about when this happened for Ilene. Was there a moment in her life when she was saved? Can we point to the exact time that she received eternal life? Yes, we can. It happened on November 1st, in 1924. Here are the words that gave her salvation: “Ilene, I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” With these words, our Lord Jesus washed away a lifetime of sins, before they had even been committed. With these words, Ilene was born again into the kingdom of God. With these words, Ilene became perfectly clean in the eyes of God. Baptism is, so to speak, a glorious trade. Jesus takes all of your sins, and, in exchange, he gives you his perfection.

Do you believe this? Jesus says, whoever hears and believes my word has eternal life. Ilene heard and believed the word of Jesus. That’s why after her baptism, she continued to come to church, for the rest of her life. To hear the words of life again and again. Therefore, because of Jesus’ promise, we know today, beyond any shadow of doubt, that Ilene is with her Lord and Savior. Not because she was a good person, though she was a wonderful woman, but because she heard and believed the words of Jesus.

There are many things we still don’t know about life after death, many questions left unanswered, but of this we can be sure: Jesus keeps his promises. After nearly ninety-five years, Ilene’s time on earth came to an end, and she will be dearly missed. But this is only the beginning of her eternal life. She is even now with her Savior, and she will live again. Listen to this final promise from Jesus, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live” (Jn 5:25). Amen.

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