It is a simple child's prayer: "Now I lay me down to sleep. I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I should before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take. Amen." My parents taught me this prayer when I was young. Maybe yours did, too. The first time I "sort of" understood what I was praying was when a great grandparent died. I realized the sorrow of death and then thought of my parents' mortality. I actually prayed to God that I would die before them because I didn't want to experience the pain of their death. Long after I quit praying the prayer, during my last year at the seminary, I registered for a class on the topic of death and dying. While I certainly was aware of human mortality and the power of Jesus's death and resurrection over sin and death, for the first time I was forced to deal with death personally. This is how it happened. The professor started the first class by saying, "Imagine that you are attending a funeral. You enter the church and there is a casket at the front. You walk down the aisle, peer into the casket and discover the person in it is YOU." Suddenly, death was no longer a just a doctrine in my mind - death could happen to ME, not just to others. The result of this experience was a two week depression that was only resolved through the Holy Spirit's engendering His peace in me through a personal application of God's Word on the matter.
"All people are going to die!" Not many people would deny this, but few think about it happening to them. Some people refuse to make out a will because it forces them to personalize death. When people get sick, they assume they will heal. However, unless the Lord returns in our lifetime, there will be one illness or accident from which we won't recover - all of us will have a last breath and a last heartbeat. The purpose of this article is to challenge us, not only to accept the reality of our own mortality, but actually recognize our victory over it through Christ. Let's start at the beginning.
Most people probably believe death to be natural. This is not true. Death is unnatural. Death is a breach of nature.
Consider what God saw when He finished creating the world: "And God saw everything that He had made and behold it was very good." (Genesis 1:31) Nature was good. Humans were good. Death did not exist! It was not a part of nature. Unfortunately, Adam and Eve introduced sin into God's perfect nature. So God, being perfectly just, kept His promise to punish the eating of the forbidden fruit with death: "By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread until you return to the ground for out of it you were taken, you are dust and to dust you shall return." (Genesis 3:19) You see, death is not natural; it is a violation of nature. God created man to live, not die!
Death is not only unnatural; it should be viewed as an enemy that has invaded nature.
"The last enemy to be destroyed is death." I Corinthians 15:26 However, death should be viewed as a defeated enemy that will one day be completely destroyed. When Christ rose from the dead the victory over sin, death and the devil was complete. By faith we share in that victory. This changes our whole understanding and attitude toward death.
"For me to live is Christ and to die is gain." Philippians 1:21 Really? How can this be? Death is gain? How could a man (Paul) facing the possibility of martyrdom have such an attitude toward his death? He explains: "If I live on in the flesh that means fruitful labor for you...my desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better." vv. 22-23 There you have it; the perfect explanation to verse 21. As long as life continues on this earth it means serving Christ which brings great joy. However, to die and actually see and be with Christ is far better. Imagine, seeing your Savior visibly for the first time. Imagine actually being with Him in heaven. Yes, those who believe in the Triune God and understand the salvation victory found in Christ can truly say, "To live is Christ and to die is gain!" But there is much more gain. So many negatives will be left behind. No longer will I:
sin against my God
experience pain, sickness, and sorrow
have a reason to cry
need to endure temptation, etc.
So many blessings will be mine. In addition to the foregoing:
I will be with the other saints in Heaven
live in a promised mansion
have perfect understanding
serve God eternally
worship God eternally, etc.
How about you?
"For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 6:23
Everyone will experience the wages of sin. You will experience those wages! But be assured that through the death and resurrection of Jesus the perfect gift has been provided for you - it is eternal life! What better gift to give to a dying sinner? Yet, as with any gift, to benefit from the gift it must be opened. In this case, it is opened the moment a person believes and trusts in God's gift of salvation in Jesus.
"I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live. Whoever LIVES AND BELIEVES in me shall never die." John 11:25-26
Have you accepted the gift? Have you opened it? If you have then your response will be living for Him rather than yourself (cf. II Corinthians 5:15). If not, HURRY, accept and open God's gift before you receive the death wages, wages that are not only are paid the moment of you die, but continue to be paid eternally in hell!
Comments