I hate death beyond words to describe. It fosters fear, sadness, hopelessness, loneliness, grief, and suffering. It's brutal. It's ugly. It smells. It hurts. It tears at the heart like a ravenous beast. It has no regrets and no mercy. It's a thief who robs you of those you love with no remorse. It is the final hurrah of the enemy – his greatest victory against God's most magnificent creation - yet it was never intended for human beings.
I've had many different animal family members over the years and each time they came to the end of their life, its finality hurt my heart and stirred up the culmination of sorrow and anguish experienced over the years at the moment a loved one died.
I attended my first funeral as a young boy. It was for my best friend's Dad and was an open casket, which shook me to my core. It was there that my deep hatred for death began. There have been too many other relatives who have died over the years. I was given up for adoption when I was a baby and my next funeral was for my adopted Mom, who died of cancer when I was 11 years old. It is still painful to this day. My adoptive Dad died due to a tragic accident when I was in my forties, and the pain of his departure tore a hole in my heart. My Step-Mom died suddenly a very short time ago at the ripe old age of 91. She lived a long and productive life. Knowing that has been somewhat consoling and offsetting much of the pain. My birth mother recently graduated from this life and is now with Love Himself. The continuing sadness of loss is what provoked this message within me.
I was by the side of my wife during the final days and moments of her life after a decades-long fight against the effects of a ravenous disease. Watching her die was far beyond words to describe the anguish, and it was the hardest thing I have ever done. I will NEVER get over it.
Her life was plagued by chronic illness and debilitating pain that ended only a couple of hours before taking her last breath. I have tried in vain to understand and reconcile the love of God in contrast to her suffering over the years. I have found NO legitimate answers. I have been consoled by others, who I am sure were well-intentioned but could offer only hollow spiritual platitudes – which I think were said more out of their fear of facing the very issues I have had to confront for decades – than from a deeply personal and experiential emotional understanding.
My wife lived to share the love of God with others. She prayed with many to receive the gift of salvation – and she continued up to the final days of her life. I was hoping that she would pass over at 3:16 pm as a kind of prophetic soul-winning climax to her life. However, precisely at 4:44 pm, February 24, she finally graduated from this world into the next. February 24 was the day of Purim on the Jewish calendar, a joyous celebration of deliverance from destruction. The number 4 in the Bible represents the earth. It is where we were made from, where we live, and where we will return.
"By the sweat of your brow will you have food to eat until you return to the ground from which you were made. For you were made from dust, and to dust you will return." (Genesis 3:19 NLT)
I did a lot of contemplation in those final days and hours spent with her. I wish I could say that her death had the glow of glory shining in the room as the sound of Angels singing could be heard in the background while doves flew in to carry her away to her heavenly home. But, that was not the case - it was quite to the contrary.
Once again, I found myself being forced to confront another one of the many paradoxical mysteries of Christianity. Amid all this agony, gut-wrenching grief and despair rolling over me like a Tsunami as I watched the pain and suffering this world offers brutally inflict itself upon the one who I loved explicitly for nearly four decades, I simultaneously experienced Love Himself – holding, comforting - and as He has always done - filling me with the wondrous peaceful beauty of His limitless love that is beyond comprehension and understanding.
I am forever amazed by Jesus, and I am now even more desperately in love with Him than yesterday. I will forever be fascinated with His beauty. I don't know what the future holds for me, but I do know that Jesus will keep me in His everlasting arms of love, and I have nothing to worry about and absolutely nothing to fear.
"This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel." (2 Timothy 1:9-11 NIV)
God had nothing to do with my wife's suffering and pain. He is not the author of death. It was not His will – nor was it ever His intention for any human to suffer the pain of death. He is a good God.
"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." (Jeremiah 29:11-12 NIV)
THREEFOLD DEATH
The Bible speaks of death as threefold: physical, spiritual, and eternal. God first mentions death (Genesis 2:17). The first physical death of a human being recorded in the Bible was Abel, who was murdered by his brother Cain (Genesis 4:8). In both the physical and spiritual sense, death itself came about as a result of sin and is not a "debt of nature" (Romans 5:12-21; Hebrews 2:14).
Death is universal and happens just once (Genesis 3:19; Hebrews 9:27). However, physical death is not the end of life for human beings. The Bible teaches that they are more than biological creatures; they are also spiritual beings. Physical death begins a transition to another dimension in which conscious existence continues for eternity.
Every human being has "sinned" and fallen "short of the glory of God" (Rom 3:23 NIV). As a result of sin entering the world at the Fall of Adam and Eve, every human being is spiritually dead and separated from God, who is the source of spiritual life (See Genesis 3:1-24; Luke 15:32; Ephesians 2:1-3; Colossians 2:13).
There is also a "second death," the eternal and everlasting separation of those who have rejected Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior (Revelation 2:11). The "second death" is equated with "the lake of fire" that "burns with fire and brimstone" (Revelation 20:14, 21:8).
The Bible tells us that death is an enemy "that WILL be destroyed" (1 Corinthians 15:26 NIV - emphasis mine). It is Jesus alone who conquered it physically, spiritually, and eternally. He "abolished it and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel" and took away its sting for those who receive Him as Lord and Savior through repentance (2 Timothy 1:10; 1 Corinthians 15:55-77 NIV).
"Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:
"Death is swallowed up in victory.” "O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?" The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." (1 Corinthians 15:51-57 ESV)
Sickness and disease are a result of sin entering the world. By Jesus freely shedding His blood, every person on the planet can now go to Him and find healing. Remember, though, that God is sovereign. As the Creator of all things, He knows what is best according to His timing, not the created.
God made human beings to live forever and never die. Aging is not natural in God's original intent and is caused by the cells of an organism breaking down. The sickness and disease of sin that made its way into the DNA of human beings and all living things were brought into the world by the sinful fall of Adam and Eve and are at the root of why everything dies in this world.
Everyone in this temporary life begins to die from the ravaging effects of sin's sickness and disease from the moment they are born, no matter how much 'faith' they declare. However, that does not mean we should not pray for the sick or seek healing for ourselves.
The Bible tells us that humans can live up to 120 years (Genesis 6:3). No one is immune from death (unless they are 'raptured' out of this world!). However, at the very moment, a person becomes Born-Again; they are given eternal life because they were forgiven of all their sins!
Within the science of Physics, there is a branch known as the Laws of Thermodynamics. The second law is Entropy, an empirical biological reality, and scientific absolute. Entropy is why things deteriorate, and the body breaks down as it ages. People go bald, hair turns gray, glasses are needed to see, skin wrinkles, bones get brittle, muscles weaken and lose mass, teeth decay, and organs ultimately fail. Everything dies because cells stop dividing, and organs stop working, which 'impairs normal functioning' - the definition of disease. No matter how much 'faith' a person conjures up, they can't escape it. The process of natural death can't be cured.
A person puts on spiritual immortality when they become Born-Again. Death is the ultimate sickness. However, the mortality of this life that ends in death is swallowed up by eternal life when a person dies in Christ (1 Corinthians 15:53-55).
The biblical truth is that every human being has a mortal and perishable body that is subject to weaknesses and is being torn down and destroyed by decay which is the reason why the Apostle Paul told the Galatians that "it was because of a bodily ailment that I preached the gospel to you at first, and though my condition was a trial to you, you did not scorn or despise me, but received me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus" (Galatians 4:13–15 NIV - see also (1 Corinthians 15:42-43; 2 Corinthians 4:16-5:1).
Suppose a human being does not die from an accident. In that case, they will still die of so-called "natural causes," which is a euphemism for dying of sickness and disease when the body finally decays and atrophies to the point of ceasing to function correctly, and one sickness or another kills them. No amount of faith or obedience will undo that process.
The Bible says that the full realization of what Jesus accomplished in the atonement for the Born-Again Christian will happen at their resurrection when the perishable body is replaced by a glorified imperishable body. Until then, the body starts to slowly die from the moment of birth.
"He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” (Revelation 21:4 ESV)
CONCLUSION
God is good, just, and gracious. The Bible makes it perfectly clear that He hates death so much that He conquered it through the death and resurrection of Jesus, who made sure that it did not have the last word. Jesus said, "I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world" (John 16:33 ESV).
God never promised that life would be without heartache and sorrow. He said that the "thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy, I came that they may have life and have it abundantly" (John 10:10 ESV). He promised to enter into every life circumstance and come alongside us to work it out for our best (Romans 8:28). But our hope lies in His overcoming sin and death. Someday, all sickness and death will be eradicated (see Revelation 21:4).
God still implements miracles and heals people today. He has never ceased empowering and giving spiritual gifts to every Born-Again Christian yesterday, today, or forever (Hebrews 13:8).
Sickness, disease, pain, and death are constant realities in this world. Until Jesus returns, everyone who is alive today will die, and most will die from disease, sickness, or injury. It is not always God's will to heal physically the moment when asked.
The fundamental fact is that healing was provided for in the atonement (Isaiah 53:5; 1 Peter 2:24). The same is true for victory over death, sin, and satan (2 Timothy 1:10; 1 John 3:9; Hebrews 14:14). However, physical healing in this life is not guaranteed, but it is found through the provision of grace within the atonement itself. The Born-Again Christian is implored to pray without ceasing for anything they need or until God says to them, "My grace is sufficient for you" (1 Thessalonians 5:17; 2 Corinthians 12:9 ESV).
