This week I lost a very close friend who had been a friend for almost 3 decades. Dr Ed Solano went home to be with the Lord a few days ago. Ed had fallen in his home about 4 months ago and had been in shock trauma for almost 4 months, the first two in a coma.
Ed was a passionate lover of Jesus who continually had a burden for souls. He was also one of the finest surgeons that Frederick ever had. He learned his craft while serving in a Viet Nam mash unit during the Viet Nam war. He was known as a surgeon who followed the Holy Spirit while performing surgery. Because of that, he saved many lives in the operating theatre.
After retiring, he took care of his wife of many years, Sharon who began to begin the slow decline with Altheimer’s. They stayed in their home right up until the time of his fall.
Ed had such a passion for praying for and sharing Jesus with all his fellow doctors at FMH. I would say that because of his fervent effectual prayer, FMH today has many believing doctors and nurses. I have met many of them at the hospital. I was able to share that with Ed on his 88th birthday a few months before his tragic fall.
What a hope we have in Jesus. It’s incredible to know that Ed’s parting is only temporary. We will see him again.
Jesus said this in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 (ESV)
But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. 14 For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. 15 For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord,[d] that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.
Thus, we are comforted by the words of hope expressed by the Apostle. There have been several friends who have lost loved ones this year including the passing of my own Mother-in-law last Christmas. May these verses also comfort you in this time of bereavement.
Because of Jesus, we have great hope. His resurrection defeated death once and for all. He told the Apostle John this Revelation 1:17-18 (ESV)
When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last,18 and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.
Because Jesus defeated death, Ed defeated death, my Mother-in-law defeated death, all the friends that I have lost this year also defeated death. In fact, King David describes death as only being a shadow. (Psalm 23) to followers of Jesus.
Finally, the Apostle Paul said this by direction of the Holy Spirit to the church in Corinth in his first letter, chapter 15, 20-22…
But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.
And then in verses 51-57
Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. 53 For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. 54 When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:
“Death is swallowed up in victory.”
55 “O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?”56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
What tremendous verses. If you’re mourning the loss of a loved one or friend as I have been, let these verses and the hope we have in Jesus encourage you and lift the heaviness off your soul. In Jesus, we will see all those we’ve lost again. After His close friend Lazarus died, He said this to Martha, the grieving sister in John 11:25-26 (ESV)
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.
This is the hope that Ed had, and we have in Jesus. Hallelujah!!