“It is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him” [HEBREWS 9:27-28]. [1]
Memorials are erected, and forgotten. Plastic flowers fade and soon look tacky. Stone erodes, plastic hardens and cracks, steel rusts, and brass corrodes. The memorial to loved ones is shortly bereft of visitors. The only memorial that is meaningful is the memory of departed loved ones that we hold in our hearts. Remembering the friendship, the kindness, the gentle touch, these are the memorials that last.
Death stalks each of us, and we wonder whether our presence makes a difference. Because we know that memories fade as generations pass and new lives replace those we knew in the days of our walk on this earth, we rightly question whether our lives actually leave an imprint on the world.
These thoughts are disturbing, without doubt; and when we read the Word of God, the fact that the Bible invests so much time speaking of death disquiets any thoughtful reader. We wonder why it is necessary for God to speak of death so frequently. Why does the Creator warn us of the brevity of life as He does? Why can’t He leave us alone until we are at last forced to confront the inevitable?
The answer to the question lies in the knowledge of God’s love for His creation. Though I have no doubt that what I’m about to say is known, it is important to remind ourselves how we got where we are.
The Bible talks about death as much as it does because we age and we die. And why do we die. As a scientist, I studied the systems that define human life. We are so designed that we should never wear out, we should never die. And yet we do die! How did that happen? If the Creator made us so that we need not die, why do we die?
The answer to that dark question lies in the fact that we are sinful creatures—we are fallen from our perfect situation. Our first mother was deceived and our first father chose to rebel against the Creator. This is revealed when the Apostle to the Gentiles writes, “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come” [ROMANS 5:12-14].
Because none of us can claim perfection, we are subject to death. Death is the result of our sinful condition. And we are dead in our Spirit—we don’t know the Father, and we are separated from Him. The evidence that we are dead in our Spirit is that we die physically. Death touches each of us—it is the evidence of our broken condition. God’s Word speaks quite plainly, warning, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” [ROMANS 3:23]. And because we are sinners, we are cautioned elsewhere in Scripture, “The wages of sin is death” [ROMANS 6:23a].
The Living God does not condemn us and leave us in our broken condition. Whenever He speaks of our sin and of the death that must result, He graciously points to His provision to deliver us from condemnation. Physical death is where the thinking of most of us begins and ends. However, the Creator seeks to give us a life that is free from the fear of death. Through His Word, God tells us, “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life” [ROMANS 5:8-10].
Addressing those who follow Jesus, Who is the Christ, the Apostle Paul wrote, “You were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” [EPHESIANS 2:1-10].
Though we are broken, God has made provision for us to be eternally alive in Christ the Risen Son of God. It is easy to drift along, pretending that all is fine and that nothing bad will ever happen, until death comes in this life. Then, we panic, because all our supposed goodness, all our vaunted strength, proves to be worthless. Dying in this flesh, we know that we shall appear before the throne of God to give an answer for our lives, especially answering for what we have done concerning the Son of God Who died because of us.
If we have received Him as Master over our life, we are given a rich promise which is recorded in the First Letter written by the Apostle of Love. John writes, “Little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming. If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him.
“See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure” []1 JOHN 2:28-3:3].
This serves as a reminder of the promise of God, which invites each of us, saying, “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, ‘Everyone who believes in Him will not be put to shame’” [ROMANS 10:9-11].
The Lord makes the invitation simpler still when He says, “Everyone who calls on the Name of the Lord will be saved” [ROMANS 10:13].
It is not my place to judge this young woman, or anyone who now hears what I say. It is my responsible to point each of us to God, Who makes no mistake and Who is a perfect Judge. As we see in the words of an unknown writer, “It is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him” [HEBREWS 9:27-28].
If you are willing to receive Christ as Master over your life, believing that He died because of you and believing that He is raised for you, you will be saved from condemnation, receiving the promise of the forgiveness of sin and acceptance into the eternal home prepared by the Living God for those who love the Risen Son of God. Amen.
[1] Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2016. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
