The Mystery Of Death Series

A librarian commented concerning a woman just leaving her desk

that she could get more out of a mystery novel than anyone she knew.

"How is that?" asked her co-worker. She replied, "She starts in the

middle so that she not only wonders how it comes out, but also how it

began." This illustrates what a great many people are doing with life

today. They have no idea how things began, or of how things will end

up. All they look at is the middle of the story. They see the

contemporary scene only, and the result is that they have too much

mystery on their hands, and life is confusing. They have what we

could call spiritual amnesia, which leaves them stranded in the present

with no roots in the past, or goals in the future. Mystery in itself is not

only valuable, it is essential for making life an adventure, but to live in

this much mystery is to be miserable. One has to have some basic

answers.

When mystery reigns fear is on the throne as well. Henry St. John said,

"Plain truth will influence half a score of men at most in a

nation, or an age, while mystery will lead millions by the nose." The

unknown is always frightening and so it becomes an ideal basis for

controlling people and their money. Religion in general and cults in

particular take full advantage of people's ignorance about life after

death. Since people do not know the unknown it is impossible for them

to prove any claim to be false, and so in fear they bow down to those

who speak with authority. The witch doctor had such power over

whole tribes because of his claim to know something about the

darkness, which the masses do not know.

One is always at a disadvantage when he is ignorant of the enemy.

Nations know this, and that is why the intelligence forces our vital to

survival. We try and find out every possible move of the enemy. We

use spies and reconnaissance planes to keep current of enemy

movements. Not to do is to give the enemy the advantage of surprise.

Death is an enemy, and we ought to know all that can be known about

this enemy, and not be content with leaving it as a total mystery. In

order to protect believers from being at the mercy of mystery

mongers who sell their ignorance God has given, through Paul, some

clear answers concerning the mystery of death. They are not answers

reserved for the elite and spiritually superior. They are public

information for the benefit of all.

There is so much revealed in I Cor. 15 alone that it would take a

whole series of messages to expound it. This does not mean that there

is no more mystery. There will always be some mystery simply

because we are finite and cannot comprehend infinite truth. Some

poet has written,

Shall my gazes see with mortal eyes,

Or any searcher know by mortal mind?

Veil or after veil will lift-but there must be

Veil upon veil behind.

As long as we are in these bodies there will be veils, but it is our

responsibility to lift those veils and remove them where God has given

knowledge. There is no merit in being ignorant of that which God

wants us to see concerning death. Paul begins the final paragraph of

his long discourse on death and resurrection by saying in verse 51,

"Behold I show you a mystery." Henry Vaughn wrote,

Dear, beauteous death, the jewel of the just,

Shining nowhere but in the dark;

What mysteries do lie beyond the dust,

Could man outlook that mark!

Paul is saying that is exactly what we are going to do. We are

going to look beyond the dust into the realm of ultimate destiny. Not,

however, because we have any faculty capable of grasping the

unknown and reducing it to the known, but because God has revealed

it. It is a mystery that Paul is going to show us, and a mystery is a

truth that cannot be known except by revelation. In other words, if it

is not revealed it will remain in the realm of the unknown beyond the

powers of man to discover.

The first aspect of the mystery is that we shall not all sleep. Not

all Christians will die. There will be those who enter the realm of

eternity directly from this life without going through the valley of

death, just as Enoch and Elijah did in the Old Testament. In the case

of the Christians, however, it will not be because they are such unique

servants of God, but simply because they live at the end of history.

The pattern of what is normal is not followed at the beginning or the