What verses help deal with the loss of a loved one?

All the members of ApologetiX have experienced the loss of loved ones in recent years.

Here are two Bible verses that give us great comfort. We hope they do the same for you.

Isaiah 57:1-2
The righteous perish, and no one ponders it in his heart; devout men are taken away, and no one understands that the righteous are taken away to be spared from evil.  Those who walk uprightly enter into peace; they find rest as they lie in death.

In other words, what the verse says is that death is not some unfair punishment for a righteous person -- but a reward -- a threshold to a much better place. We hope this gives you some comfort in this time.  We also like this verse from the Bible and its description of what awaits us:

1 Corinthians 2:9
However as it is written:  "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him..."

In other words, Heaven is even better than we can imagine. We're not trying to trivialize what you may be going through.  God doesn't want us to just put on a happy face at times like these.  Ecclesiastes says there is a time for everything, a time to rejoice and a time to mourn.  Jesus wept when He came to the grave of His friend Lazarus died, and He knew he was going to raise him up just a few minutes later!  And the Bible says "blessed are they who mourn."

But death is not the end.