Click on image for more info on Grieving, Hope and Solace from Cruciform Press.When a Loved One Dies in Christ by Albert N. Martin.

A few weeks after Albert Martin’s wife died, he began preaching the series of sermons from which this excellent little book came. He was answering the question of what it means to grieve a loved one who has died in Christ, for himself first and also for his congregation.

What I appreciated most was Martin’s biblical description (as much as it can be described) of the intermediate state—the time between the death of a believer and the resurrection of the dead. It’s a neglected subject, I’d say. For one, we are not told much about it in scripture; and two, we prefer to skip right over to the best part—the final state and the believer’s glorification. But I know from experience that when a loved one dies, the question that nags is “Where are they? What is happening to them right now?”

Thankfully, we are told enough that we can be comforted by what we know. What we can know about the intermediate state gives us the ability to grieve as people who have a solid hope. And thankfully, Albert Martin has worked through what the Bible tells us about what happens directly after the death of a believer and presented it to us in Grieving, Hope and Solace.

Have you lost a believing loved one? Or do you want to understand what will happen to you after you die? Either way, this book will be instructive and encouraging. I recommend it, too, as a gift for anyone who has recently lost someone who is in Christ. Much better for them than C. S. Lewis’s A Grief Observed, a book recommended to me that I found quite discouraging. While it does not make light of the grief experienced by those left behind, Grieving, Hope and Solace is always hopeful, constantly pointing us to Christ and the glory that will surely come. 

Update: Elaine endorses this book, too: 

Having already experienced the loss of a loved one in Christ, I believe this book has truly prepared me much more for a similar experience.

From Cruciform Press, a description, some excerpts and another review of this book.