On Death

            Death is a topic that many try to avoid. Frankly speaking, it is morbid and macabre. However, we must ask, “why is it this way?” Aren’t we told that death is a beautiful thing? What is it about death that is so dreary and gloomy? Aren’t Christians supposed to focus on and “celebrate” life? 

            Christians are certainly to celebrate life—all life!  But when you go to a funeral that has a “Celebration of Life,” it is because the person died. The frank reality that many of us need to come to is that the person is dead. There is a reason why many grief groups try to get the spouse of a deceased loved one to say, “I am a widow/widower” as soon as possible. Once you accept the reality you can move toward healing. If you only focus upon the life of the person without recognizing the reality that a death has occurred, what you are doing is, in a sense, denying the reality of death altogether. To put this in a theological framework, we are denying the reality of sin in the world and God’s judgment upon the world. But before we continue down this road, let’s back up and see what exactly “death” is anyway. 

            We often define “death” by “the cessation of animation” or “the opposite of living.” However, when we define things, we often disassociate it with God’s Word and how He uses the concept or idea. Looking to the Bible we find death in the very beginning. In Genesis 2:17 God says to Adam, “but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” Now, certainly, it is questionable that Adam even knew what death was, being that death had not yet been brought into the world. However, it is clearly a threat no matter if you know what death is or not. God says, “but you shall not...in that day you...shall surely die.” The structure of this sentence is clearly threatening, regardless if you know the specific outcome involved. 

            Next, we see death occur in Genesis chapter 3. Eve repeated God’s threat (albeit a bit modified) and Satan replied back with a lie, saying “You will not surely die.” You have two opposing ideas here, but still we have no actual definition of death. We only know that it will occur according to God and will not occur according to Satan. We then see God’s mercy displayed in the midst of His judgment throughout the rest of this chapter. Yet the means of God’s mercy was the death of an animal to provide skins to clothe Adam and Eve with (Gen. 3:21). In Genesis 4 we see the first physical death occur when Cain kills his brother Abel. Cain’s punishment is to be cast away from God’s presence, much like his parents were driven from the Garden of Eden. We are beginning to see a pattern here, where death is associated with being “driven from the presence of God.” This is further confirmed when we read, “Then Cain went away from the presence of the LORD and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden” (Gen 4:16). Death is associated with being driven away from the presence of the Lord. Next, in Genesis 5, we are given a long list of men who, while they lived remarkably long lives, all eventually died. This serves as a very clear reminder of what Adam did-- that these men died because of Adam’s rebellion. 

            When we get to the book of Romans, God speaks through the Apostle Paul and tells us the nature of “death.” Starting in chapter 5, verses 12-21, Paul explains that a singular trespass (sin) brought condemnation, and not only condemnation but to “all men.” Since we know that there was a conviction and condemning of Adam because of the eating of the fruit of the tree, we see that death is a condemnation from God. This shows us that sin leads to the judgment of “all men.” Looking closer at this passage, we read “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” (v. 14). To briefly explain the massive amount of theology loaded in this singular verse:

·       It says that death comes through transgressing the law of God. 

·       But if the Law only came with Moses, how did people die before Moses? Paul’s point is that death reigned from Adam to Moses, because there was a law given to Adam. 

·       While our sins are not exactly the same as Adam’s (we are not representatives to all of humanity, already have a sin nature, this particular sin affects all posterity in a condemning fashion whereas our sins do not), death still reigns. 

·       We were condemned because of Adam’s sin, not simply because of our own. Our sin only adds to God’s judgment upon us.

While this seems bleak at first, the whole point of this chapter is to say that Christ died willingly to take on the judgment we deserve. Although we may experience first death and judgment, the second death will have no effect on us as believers. Hallelujah!  

            While we see various passages that speak of animation of the soul after the body dies (see the parable in Luke 16:19-31 of the Rich Man and Lazarus and Rev 6:11), we must not divorce the idea of death as part of God’s judgment upon us. We should not bow to the world’s notion that, “death is just a part of life,” or “death is natural.” No, death is not a part of life nor is it natural. Death is condemnation upon us. However, much like most of the Biblical timeline, there is what is called an “already-not yet” tension. That is, as we progress through time, there are some things that have started at a point in time but have not yet come to completion. In a similar way to the criminal who is convicted of his crimes and given a death sentence, we who are alive await the carrying out of this judgment in its final sense with the death of our physical bodies. 

            The question remains- did Adam die “on that day” when he sinned? In a very real sense, the answer is yes. He was condemned, and since we have seen that death is condemnation, he most certainly did “die.” Adding in the “already-not yet” factor, we see the timeline of ‘Adam condemned → Adam dies.’ This should remind us that when God makes a judgment, it is so certain that it will happen, that the decree is stated as a past tense, even if it has not occurred yet in time. As Job said, “no purpose of yours can be thwarted.” This is true both of glorification (Romans 8:30) and death. 

            We should celebrate the life of a every believer as well as their death, because as the Scriptures say, “you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.” We do not grieve in the same way when a believer dies, but we do still grieve. Our grief is that we will miss this believer until we see them in The Resurrection when Christ returns. Our grief will even remind us that death will occur to us and the rest of our loved ones as well. However, those who are in Christ will be saved from the second death. We should never lose sight of the fact that the reality of death is the reality of judgment that is already upon us (John 3:17-18). The reason why we are not already dead is because of God’s patience and loving kindness towards us. Death should make us see the frailty and succinctness of our lives. It should cause us to treasure each day and urge us to evangelize those around us, all who are dying. As Charles Spurgeon said, “To be prepared to die is to be prepared to live.” Let us now fear death not forget it. Instead, let us look to Jesus, the one who died on our behalf, so that we may find true life. Now is the day of salvation, repent and believe, that you may be saved.