Philippians 1:21 “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”
The Apostle Paul confidently declares that while “to live is Christ”; it is also true that “to die is gain”, and he had “a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better” (Philippians 1:23)! He could speak confidently because the Lord had given him personal insight into what lies ahead in “paradise” for the Children of God. Paul was the “man” who was “caught up to the third heaven”, “was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter” (II Corinthians 12:2-4). The “third heaven” means that he was all the way there, in the place that the Lord Himself called “paradise” (Luke 23:43). While there, he “heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter”; which simply means that what he “heard” there was so magnificent that human language simply cannot relate or describe it. So, I will resist the temptation to add my feeble descriptive adjectives to what Paul has declared about “paradise”. Paul is not telling us that his life was so miserable that he just wanted “to die”. He is telling us that he wanted to live so that he could serve his Lord; but, he also wanted “to die” so that he could “depart, and to be with Christ”! The message to us is to make good use of our time in this world to worshipfully serve our Lord, while always looking forward to being “with Christ” in that magnificent place that He has prepared for us!