Death, Go Die!
Death, Go Die!
We’ll Only Live Forever
The last enemy to be destroyed is death. 1 Corinthians 15:26
"Death is natural, we should not fear it." The student looked around the group to see who agreed with him and he was met with many nodding heads. After a pause, one person finally asked, "Then why are we so sad when someone dies?" The first student's statement could not be further from the truth, nor closer to it.
Death is not natural, it is the furthest thing from natural. Though from dust we have come, we were not meant to die, to face the harshness of decaying muscles nor a decaying mind. Death came on account of rebellion. Death came as the promised curse should Adam and Eve disobey God's only prohibition in the garden. Though death was the curse given, death, ultimately, is an enemy of God.
Jesus, the Son of God, stood outside the tomb of a friend and he wept (John 11), all while knowing his friend was about to be raised from the dead. Jesus wept. God's reaction to death is sadness and we should not be surprised that ours is the same. Death is and should be sad... for now.
What was the student right about then? We, specifically the church, ought not to fear death, not because it's natural, but because God has promised to destroy it. God will say one day, "Death, go die." Jesus lived the life we ought to have lived, died the death we ought to have died and 3 days later rose from the dead, setting forth the inevitable destruction of, or death of, death. Death's sting is limited to only this life, but those who are united to Christ are united to true and everlasting life
.Though we are dust, through faith in Christ we are united to the one who has conquered death and has promised life eternal where tears will be wiped away, where death will be no more, and where we'll enjoy our God forever. Though we mourn death truly and heartily today, we also are filled with hope because God has assured us that one day death too will go and die. In the meantime, we look to Christ, the destroyer of death, knowing he holds us fast, and we go, love, listen, and intercede for a world that still fears death.
Father in heaven, remind us that in Christ we only live forever, and move us to declare the eternal-death-defying news of the Gospel to a dying world. Amen.
Thoughts for Reflection:
Why is death so scary to the world?
How can the church, those united to Christ, have hope?
How can you relate with and care for the fear-ridden and dying world around you? (Can you think of anyone specific to offer that care to today?)
- Guest Contributor: Ben Leatherberry