“Death: Reviled, Revealed, Revered, Reveled”
Job 10:1, 18-22 (NKJV)
Job 10:1, 18-22
1 “My soul loathes my life; I will give free course to my complaint, I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.
18 ‘Why then have You brought me out of the womb? Oh, that I had perished and no eye had seen me!
19 I would have been as though I had not been. I would have been carried from the womb to the grave.
20 Are not my days few? Cease! Leave me alone, that I may take a little comfort,
21 Before I go to the place from which I shall not return, To the land of darkness and the shadow of death,
22 A land as dark as darkness itself, As the shadow of death, without any order, Where even the light is like darkness.’”
“Death: Reviled, Revealed, Revered, Reveled”
Job 10:1, 18-22 (NKJV)
Job 10:1, 18-22
1 “My soul loathes my life; I will give free course to my complaint, I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.
18 ‘Why then have You brought me out of the womb? Oh, that I had perished and no eye had seen me!
19 I would have been as though I had not been. I would have been carried from the womb to the grave.
20 Are not my days few? Cease! Leave me alone, that I may take a little comfort,
21 Before I go to the place from which I shall not return, To the land of darkness and the shadow of death,
22 A land as dark as darkness itself, As the shadow of death, without any order, Where even the light is like darkness.’”
The first Sunday after Resurrection Sunday, I would like us to revisit the event that brought us to the empty tomb and Jesus’ reunion with his disciples.
Death is what the father chose as his way to save humanity. Death is what Satan thought would end the ministry of Jesus Christ. Death is what the lord planned as his way to give us eternal life. Death is the way that God chose as the way to welcome believers into his forever family.
Our text draws us to Job, a very familiar friend in the Old Testament. It has often been said that Job was a very patient man, but this text belies his patience, because as we heard in the reading, by the 10th chapter Job is despairing of life itself.
As you probably know, Job was the most righteous man in the land of UZ. Job, was also the wealthiest man in the land of Uz. Job, was recognized by God as a paragon of faith and devotion to the lord. And when Satan was looking for a new project, he asked and was granted permission by God to assault Job. God gave Satan permission to take everything that Job had, and in the words of the lord, “very well, then, everything he has is in your power, but on the man himself do not lay a finger.” (Job 1:12). You probably know the rest of the story, within a brief period of time, Job had to bury his children and his hired servants. All of Job’s livestock were stolen or destroyed. And then shortly thereafter, Job was stricken with a condition of painful boils from head to toe (so Satan went out from the presence of the lord, and struck Job with painful boils from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head.) . Much of his property was destroyed, and in a moment, Job went from riches to rags. He went from being a family man to a bereaved father, And when his wife, grew disgusted by their ordeal, and by the sight of his body covered with sores, even she cried out, why you don’t just curse God and die.
In time, his friends came to visit, initially to commiserate with him, but then they quickly became like a courtroom of prosecutors and jurors who were convinced that he must have committed a grave sin to have deserved so much destruction and suffering.
Our text lifts up one of the saddest portions of the book of Job. While his losses of children and finances were sad, nothing could compare with the depths to which his faith had fallen. Job got to the place where he wished that he had never been born. Even worst, he soon longed for his own death, as a means of ending all of his personal suffering.
I was challenged to preach about death, after reading about Job’s unique perspectives about death. In (Job 10:21-22 KJV) we hear Job saying: before I go to the place of no return, to the land of gloom and utter darkness to the land of deepest night, of utter darkness and disorder, where even the light is like darkness.”
Job’s perspective of death is that it is a place of darkness or gloom; in essence, it is a place of depression, despair, and anguish. He calls death the land of deepest night, he, like David in the 23rd Psalm sees death as a constant shadow following him through a valley. Ever seen that commercial for an antidepressant, where a woman with depression is walking around and a dark cloud follows her everywhere she goes? That was Job in a dress. He spoke of death as darkness itself; that is, if we want to experience true darkness, the only place or condition where you can see true darkness itself, is in death. He sees it as a place where even the light is darkness.
I will deal with death by highlighting 4 points about death; death reviled, death revealed, death revered, and death reveled.
FIRST OF ALL DEATH REVILED. To revile is to hate, despise, or to consider something to be obscene and repulsive. What we hear Job doing in this text is despising and hating his condition, which appears to him to be leading towards his imminent death. We, like Job, revile death; we find reason to slander, denounce, or curse it. Job after experiencing his suffering began to despise his life. He wished he had never been born. He anticipates the end of his life, so that his suffering will end. But even so, he looks at death with the same scorn. He slanders and denounces death.
Have you ever had a time when you are going through a difficult period of our lives, where nothing seems to be going right? Some have become greatly depressed and may even have considered suicide. When we find ourselves trapped in a horrible situation, we may even have begun to despise our lives. When children have been caught doing wrong, and placed on punishment, some have been known to cry out, “I wish I were dead!” Or “I hate my life!” Or “why was I ever born?” To think, all of this brought on because they were caught, or because, things aren’t going the way they had hoped.
And then, there are the times when people did things to us that have physically or emotionally wounded or maimed us. We hear all the time about men and women who were falsely accused of crimes, convicted and sentenced only to have evidence brought out later, that they really were innocent. I’m sure most of the seniors and middle-aged among us will recall the Scottsboro boys. The Scottsboro boys were nine black teenagers accused of rape in Alabama in 1931. The landmark set of legal cases from this incident dealt with racism and the right to a fair trial. The case included a frame-up, an all-white jury, rushed trials, an attempted lynching, and an angry mob; it is frequently given as an example of an overall miscarriage of justice. Can’t you imagine the Scottsboro boys at some time reviling and maligning their very own lives? And what became of the Scottsboro boys? On November 21, 2013, Alabama’s parole board voted to grant posthumous pardons to the Scottsboro boys .
And don’t forget about the countless women of every race and shade of skin, who have been bought and sold like fruit. Men and women who have been used for any and every purpose under the sun. Recently, there was a documentary that spoke of a woman who was thirty-something who had been forced into prostitution by her own mother when she was only six years old. Her mother sold her out so she could stay high on drugs. I praise God that this thirty-something year old woman is now being rehabilitated, but just think of the number of times that she probably wished she were dead. And it is only now that she’s been rescued does she believe that she has a purpose or value beyond satisfying the needs of men. Can’t you visualize a young woman or man who has suffered such abuse thinking or saying “I wish I were dead!” Or “I hate my life!” Or “why was I ever born? That’s the way Job was feeling, after the sudden onslaught of tragedies that had come into his life.
We have been known to REVILE AND MALIGN death when it has claimed our loved ones. We cry out of sadness, but as Elizabeth Kübler ross wrote in her famous book on death and dying, she describes five stages of mourning including, denial, anger , bargaining — "I’ll do anything for a few more years."; "I will give my life savings if…", depression, and acceptance — "it's going to be okay."; "I can't fight it, if may as well prepare for it."
When we are angry. We could be angry with death. We may be angry with the physicians who couldn’t find a cure. We may become angry with God, as we question why he would allow this death to happen. We may even become angry at our loved one, for leaving us alone.
One of the times when we are most angered is when death was sudden and unexpected, as with a tragic accident, or as happened on Friday, when a 16 year old honor roll student was stabbed to death by a former boyfriend, surely her family may have been angry with the lord. And of course, when a man took 2 month-old Adore Marie Daniels, shook her and threw her head-first into her bassinet, I can see how someone might get angry with God.
But even those who have had loved ones who suffered with a terminal illness, and who have watched their loved ones slowly slipping away from them, will soon come to the place where they can become angry, and ask, “Why him/her?” “Why not one of the common criminals who walk the streets tormenting and terrorizing the lives of peace loving citizens.” We may become angry with a physician or treatment modality for their ineffectiveness. Or sometimes we may be angry that the physician didn’t discover the disease soon enough.
My second point today is that in order to alter our perspective about death we need to REVEAL
DEATH. What is death? Sure, we know that death shows up when all brain activity ceases. We know that death shows up when our organs fail or shut down, and we know that after a period of time, decomposition takes place. But what is death?
The last words of the author Rabelais were quite brief: "I go to seek a great perhaps." this sentence expresses the mystery, if not the fear and anxiety, with which humans have traditionally viewed death. Dying, the halting of all life functions, is the great unknown that neither science nor religion has ever been able to penetrate. Philosophers have only been able to speculate about it. Because it is both unknown and inevitable, death has always been an object of fascination and fear… for many, as for Socrates, it is an open question. His farewell remarks to his friends were: "the hour of departure has arrived, and we go our ways--I to die, and you to live. Which is better only God knows."
From a biblical perspective, the Old Testament teaches that death is a time when the body and soul are separated. The soul, the nephesh, is the life force of the human being. Without soul, or life force, there is no life. In essence, Sam and Dave were right when they sang “I am a soul man…” the book of genesis records how God formed man out of the dust, God’s finishing touch was to breathe into his nostrils, and the scripture declares, that at that time man became a living soul. The very breath of God is the source of our lives. Therefore, at death, when the brain and organs shut down, it is a moment of release for the soul. The bible teaches that death occurs, the soul returns to the lord from whence it came. (2 Cor. 5:8 NKJV) we are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord...
For the Israelites, death and the grave were seen as simultaneously acceptable and unacceptable. In many ways the Israelites saw death the same as many of us. The bible reports the obituary of David, it reads: (1 Chronicles 29:28 NIV) he died at a good old age, having enjoyed long life, wealth and honor…
The Jews, like Job, recognized that God was the author of life. But they saw death as Sheol, the pit. Jonah personified death as the king of terrors. In Job 17:15-16 he described death as the house or city with bars Job raised a rhetorical question when he asked, where then is my hope? As for my hope, who can see it? Will they go down to the gates of Sheol? Shall we have rest together in the dust? Job suggests to us that it is impossible to escape death. And the psalmist even echoed some of Job’s thoughts, when he wrote that death is a place where gloomy darkness prevails. Shall your wonders be known in the dark? And your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness? (Psalm 88:12 NIV). And of course, David reminds us that he traveled through the valley and the valley and shadow of death. The Hebrew though, were still able to celebrate death, because, although one had died, the family remained as a remnant. Thus, we find in our own family experiences, that when death comes, the family gathers, and may have one of the most closest, loving, and affectionate times of fellowship together as they encourage one another to maintain hope.
When we try to understand death, the bible, reminds us, that the original cause of death, was not organ failure, nor accidents, nor the result of tragic assaults. No, the bible clearly indicates that death is experienced solely because of sin. (Genesis 3:3 NIV) but God did say, 'you must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.'"
Sin, is the original cause of all death. Sin and all of its consequences have been passed on to all of the offspring of Adam and Eve. Sure, the death certificate lists the cause of death as: heart failure, kidney disease, cancer, etc., but the ultimate real cause of death is sin. You see, God’s original plan for Adam, eve and their children was that they would live eternally in the Garden of Eden. Their disobedience, terminated the covenant of life. And so, death now rules within our mortal bodies.
So far we’ve reviled death, we’ve revealed death; and now, LET US REVERE DEATH. Most people respect death and the dead. Most people, honor and respect death, by trying to preserve their lives to the best of our ability. We revere death every time we get on a treadmill. We revere death when we monitor our diets. We revere death whenever we conscientiously limit our intake of fat, cholesterol, and sugars. People play Russian roulette every time they smoke, and millions test the limits daily.
• Cigarette smoking causes an estimated 443,000 deaths each year, including approximately 49,000 deaths due to exposure to secondhand smoke.
• Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death among both men and women in the United States, and 90 percent of lung cancer deaths among men and approximately 80 percent of lung cancer deaths among women are due to smoking.
We keep poisons out of the reach of children because we revere and respect death. Simultaneously, like Job, we thankful to God that “You have granted me life and favor, and your care has preserved my spirit (Job 10:12).
We revere God and death. We revere God, because we realize that God created us, but we revere death because we know that we have very little control over our lives and recognize that death could claim us at any time. We try to carefully protect our lives and the lives of our loved ones. We love life. As Ephesians 5:29 tells us, 29 no one hates his own body but feeds and cares for it, just as Christ cares for the church... Even those who plead for the right to medically terminate their lives, don’t really want death anywhere near them.
But with all of our efforts to REVILE DEATH, to REVEAL DEATH, and to REVERE IT, there comes a time for the Christian when we must ALSO: REVEL IN DEATH. To revel is to celebrate and rejoice over death. I am here today to help you to celebrate death. No matter how threatening it may be, Christians need to celebrate death. No matter how painfully it may arrive, Christians need to celebrate death. No matter how, lonely it may make us, Christians need to celebrate death.
Now this may be difficult for some, but as people of faith, we need to get to the place where death doesn’t torment us. We need to get to the place where we fully enjoy life, while simultaneously staring death right in the eyes, and taunting death saying,
1 co 15:54 so when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: "death is swallowed up in victory." 55 "O death, where is your sting? O hades, where is your victory?" 56 the sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. 57 but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our lord Jesus Christ.
Brothers and Sisters, I refuse to die without a battle. I will not willingly surrender to death, because life is the most precious gift of God. I want to put death on the run. I want to tell death “Take Your Best Shot. Or as the movie character Dirty Harry would say, “Make My Day!” As I mentioned earlier, I have the power of Jesus’ resurrection dwelling within my nephesh or soul. You can take my body, my God-made, God breathed flesh with clay feet. But you won’t be able to handle my soul, because it is the very breath of God that He breathed into me. We should be like Simon, after he had seen Jesus as an Infant, and recognized him as the salvation of God. When Simeon saw the Infant Jesus, he said: Luke 2:29 “Lord, now let me die in peace, as you have said. Revel Church! Celebrate Church!”
Death is an opportunity to end the turmoil and conflicts of this life, and to encounter the peace of God. Celebrate Church, because death, for the Christian, Is the end of our warfare with evil. Celebrate Church, because death, for the Christian, may be the end of mortality, but It Is the beginning of Immortality. Celebrate Church!
Celebrate Church, remember Jesus told us, who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? So don’t lose valuable lifetime, worrying about when and how death will arrive. Instead, live your life to the fullest; and then, when death comes, live life beyond fullness as an Immortal. Paul speaks about our corruptible bodies becoming incorruptible, he is saying we are all like perishable fruit and vegetables. We all have a shelf life, and no one can exceed that shelf life. What is our shelf life? Our days may come to seventy years, or eighty, if our strength endures; yet the best of them are but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away. (Psalm 90:10 NIV)
But as with Paul, remind yourselves that “the perishable must clothe itself with the Imperishable, and the mortal with Immortality.” 1 Cor. 15:53. We are reminded that through Jesus, we have been given Immortality. Through our belief In Jesus, his life, his ministry, his death, and his resurrection, then we are accorded Immortality. Immortality, the root word for Immortality Is mortal, and mortal, comes from a French word, mort. Mort, simply put, is death. So when Paul speaks to us about Immortality, he is reminding us that with Christ, we have been transformed from death to un-death. It is a life that Is Impervious to death. A life that has no end. Celebrate Church, Celebrate.
Someone once wrote:
Death is not the enemy of life, but its friend, for It Is the knowledge that our years are limited which makes them so precious. It is the truth that time is but lent to us which makes us, at our best, look upon our years as trust handed into our temporary keeping.
Celebrate Church, Cheer Church, don’t fear death, remember; for God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. With that sound mind, we are encouraged to seek the lord, while he may be found, call upon him, while he is near. Remember that Jesus’ death, was only long enough for the clerk of vital statistics to record his death. But on the third day Jesus rose from the dead, and the vital statistics clerk didn’t know whether to use white out, or to develop a brand new category for existence.
On the third day, Jesus reversed the pattern of decomposition. On the third day, he got up with all power in his hands. Even today, he declares in his word: I am he who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of hades and of death. (Rev 1:18 NKJV). On the third day, Jesus locked up death, and unlocked eternal life for all who believe on him. On the third day, he changed the tense of death from past to present perfect continuous. Some of you know that math and English grammar were my most difficult school subjects. But I discovered a tense called the present perfect continuous tense. This tense is used to refer to an event that may or may not be finished when its effect can be seen now. Brothers and sisters, through our belief In Jesus Christ, we have been givean eternal life, that’s In essence what Jesus says when we read I am he who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. And that’s exactly what he has planned for us. That’s ultimately the promise of the lord when we read precious in the sight of the lord is the death of his faithful servants (psalm 116:15). We must first die, but our death only activates the present perfect continuous effect on our lives. On the third day, God changed S-O-N-S-E-T into S-O-N-R-I-S-E.
But let’s not be fanciful, you see, too many will claim, “I’m going to heaven anyhow!” Even while they may be living like hell. “Experience teaches us that It is much easier to believe In Immortality when we are living the kind of life that is worthy of Immortality. Trivial living, selfish living, invariably causes the fires of Immortal hope to burn low in the heart. ” We need to live our lives with attitudes that are dominated by great and holy motives. It has been said, that we must dress for success. We are also told that we must work not like the position that we have, instead, we must work like the position that we want. The same can be said of the Christian life, we must live like we expect eternity around the bend. It was said of Jesus, “no life was so pure, as lofty as his, and he lived in the very atmosphere of eternity.”
We need to live believing the word of God. As I said last Sunday, the resurrection is not a fairy tale, it’s the truth, and the word came from the one who is the way, the truth and the life. You need to believe God’s word, and then, you won’t fear death. You remember how Job looked at life and death and regretted the day he was born, and wished he had never been born? Well, the longer he lived, with suffering, while holding on to his faith, the more he got to the place where he realized that he needed to change his theology, from seeing death as a place of darkness, and gloom, and as place from which he would never return. With a little more time and testing, Job changed his tune, and started singing a new song: when we hear him confidently and triumphantly profess: I know that my redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand on the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see him with my own eyes—I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me! Job 19:25-27
Revel Church, Rejoice Church, Celebrate Church, for death Is solely a passageway for the soul of the Christian were we will finally see the lord, face to face, and see that In fact we are created In his Image. Celebrate death, for Satan’s crowning moment in glory, was when he thought that he had nailed the son of God to an old rugged cross, and that with that cross Satan thought he could claim the throne of God. But God had another plan:
Man made the cross into a tree of shame. Christ changed that cross to a tree of glory. Man made it as a tree of death. Christ converted it to a tree of life. Man employed it for cruel oppression. Christ put it into the service of freedom. Man made it an agency of judgment and retribution; through Christ, It became a means of forgiveness and mercy. In the hands of man, the cross was an accursed tree; touched by the hands of God, It became a tree of blessing. Before Calvary the cross instilled only fear; after Calvary It became a symbol of Infinite love. Before Good Friday men turned their eyes from It In horror; after Good Friday men turn to it for comfort and reassurance. Before that day man shuddered at the mention of the cross; after that day men bow before the cross and are at peace. Once man disgraced this tree with crime and other sins; Christ sanctified it with his holy and precious blood. Before Calvary, It harshly enforced the law, after Calvary, It joyously proclaims the gospel. Before Good Friday, It hastened man into outer darkness; after Good Friday It ushers men into paradise and glory.
Celebrate death! It is a means of fulfilling the promises of God:
(John 11:25-26 KJV) Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; 26 and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
