The Value Of Death Series

There are two subjects that men have tended to be shy about all

through history. These two subjects have been considered off limits as

topics of public conversation. It was taboo to speak of them openly.

The two subjects are, sex and death.

The paradox of this is, there are no two more universal topics. Life

begins with sex and ends with death, and between the two they play a

major role in life. Nobody can escape either one. If you are awake at

all you are aware that we are in the midst of a sexual revolution where

few things are openly discussed more often then sex. Death is a long

way behind in popularity, but it is nevertheless no longer an obscure

subject. Courses on death and dying are being taught in schools and

hospitals all over our country.

All of this radical change is just getting us back to what life was like

in Bible times. The Bible is neither shy nor silent on sex or death. The

sexual nature of man is dealt with frankly and openly in the

Scriptures. And so also is the finite nature of man dealt with openly,

which means that he will die.

By rough estimate I counted 750 references to death and dying in

my concordance of the Bible. If we are to live by every word that

proceeds from the mouth of God, then no Christian can be honest with

God's word and ignore the subject of death. It is a major subject of

God's revelation, and not to study it is to be disobedient. Death has

many faces, and you cannot look at all of them at the same time, and

so to really take a study of death seriously, you have to deliberately

search the Word and categorize the various faces.

Psalm 116 reveals death as a enemy that has been conquered. It is

a success story of one who encountered the enemy on the battlefield of

life and came away victorious. This is a true story, and the kind of

story that we all like, for we prefer happy endings to stories of trial,

for they give us encouragement that we too can fight and win. It is

true and a valuable aspect of life, but the fact is, it is not the whole of

life. Not to be prepared for seeing death from another point of view,

such as a victorious enemy rather than a defeated enemy, is to be

unprepared to face the world as it really is.

The three friends of Daniel who were thrown into the fiery furnace

were ready for facing death defeated, or death victorious, and,

therefore, were prepared for whatever would come. This is true

realism, and true surrender to the will of God. In Daniel 3:17-18 they

state their profound convictions-"If it be so, our God whom we serve

is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace; and He will

deliver us out of your hand, O King. But if not, be it known to you, O

King, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image

you have set up."

They were ready for deliverance or death, but either way they

would be loyal to God. All too often Christians are not ready for

unanswered prayer, and when death comes, they are disillusioned, and

their faith is shaken. One of the values of studying all the faces of

death is that it prepares you to be aware that not all stories have

happy endings in time, as is the case of Job or the Psalmist here in

Psalm 116.

Vance Havner, the great evangelist and author of many books,

prayed so earnestly for the miraculous healing of his wife Sara. He

already had a sermon prepared for the dramatic testimony they

would share with the world. But it was not to be. In spite of the best

care known to man they lost the battle. The disease so disfigured her

fair face they did not have an open casket at the funeral. Vance was in

intensely disappointed in God, but sober thinking on the matter

changed his mind. The dramatic healing would have been sensational,

but the facts of life are that such experiences are rare, and the masses

who listened to him or read his books would have said, "Most of us do

not have such miracles. Our loved ones die, our hopes fade, and we

need a word for those who walk the valley with no happy ending to the

story."

Havner, as he reflected on life and saw that most saints are not

delivered by miracles, he concluded-"I can see now that God denied

me what I sought that I might bring a message to a multitude like

myself when prayers were not answered as hoped. "This story of an