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Friday, May 17, 2013

Perspectives on death

The Bible has different perspectives on death. That’s because death means different things to different people, at different times of life.

Paul calls death “the last enemy” (1 Cor 15:26). I think you have to begin losing people close to you to appreciate the force of that designation.

For whom is death the last enemy? Death is the last enemy for the damned. Death seals their fate. Death extradites the lost to hell. This is vividly portrayed in the fate of Dives (Lk 16:19-31) as well as the king of Tyre’s demise (Isa 14:4ff.).

Death is also the last enemy for those who are left behind to grieve the loss. In a diary entry right after the sudden, unexpected death of his friend, Charles Williams, Warnie Lewis (brother of C. S. Lewis) said:


There is something horrible, something unfair about death, which no religious conviction can overcome. “Well, goodbye, see you on Tuesday Charles” one says–and you have in fact though you don’t know it, said goodbye forever. He passes up the lamplit street, and passes out of your life forever. There is a good deal of stuff talked about the horrors of a lonely old age; I’m not sure that the wise man–the wise materialist at any rate–isn’t the man who has no friends. Brothers and Friends, 183.

For Christians, the wrenching separation is not inconsolable, for Christians anticipate the future reunion:


13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope (1 Thes 4:13).

For the believer, death can sometimes be a blessing. It may spare the believer great sorrow had he lived longer:


The righteous man perishes, and no one lays it to heart; devout men are taken away, while no one understands. For the righteous man is taken away from calamity; 2 he enters into peace; they rest in their beds who walk in their uprightness (Isa 57:1-2).

Paul viewed his impending death with a sense of relief and eager anticipation:


21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. 22 If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. 23 I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. 24 But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account (Phil 1:21-24).

For younger Christians who have more to live for, death is still the last enemy.

Jesus said:


2 In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also (Jn 14:2-3).

This picks up on the fact that Jesus is the Son, who is going home to his Father’s house. As the Son, it is his prerogative to assign rooms to his disciples (Jn 8:35-36). Christians take comfort in knowing that Christ has reserved a place for them in his Father’s house. And Jesus will come back for them, to take them home.

On a related note, Scripture depicts Jesus as a scout or pioneer who went ahead to secure our heavenly homeland. The walk of faith is a pilgrimage through life and death to our ancestral home, and Jesus leads the way:


10 For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering (Heb 2:10).

19 We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, 20 where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek (Heb 6:19-20).

We still must die, but the path is clearly marked while the destination is assured.

Finally, we must die before we can live again. To have the greater, better life to come, to enter into resurrected life, we first must die. We must set aside this decaying body, in this decaying world:


24 Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. 25 Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life (Jn 12:24-25).

7 comments:

  1. Thanks, Steve. This was very good to read, to say the least.

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    1. I agree. Whenever Steve writes on topics like these it's always a blessing. I suspect other people (like me) usually don't post anything to posts like this one because they're perfect. Nothing needs to be added. Just because a post on Triablogue doesn't receive a comment doesn't mean dozens of people haven't read and been blessed or instructed by it.

      That's why I'm hoping you and Steve will more frequently post blogs at But These Things Are Written.

      There are a lot of great Christian classics on death and dying. Here are just two that are freely available online.

      Saint's Everlasting Rest by Richard Baxter

      Holy Dying by Jeremy Taylor

      (a companion to his other classic Holy Living)

      There have been so many recent Evangelical books published with the word "Gospel" in the title. I'm sure many of them are good books that needed to be written and read. But I wish someone would write a book titled (something like) "The Gospel for the Elderly" in light of how seniors are one of (if not "the") the fastest growing segment of Western society. Some of these people never heard the Gospel, or if they have rightly feel they aren't worthy of the Gospel or to be saved. But don't realize that the Gospel is offered specifically for the unworthy.

      Other senior think they're too sophisticated for the Gospel or know too much to believe in it's truth.

      While other seniors think they've lived pretty good lives and don't realize (or remember) just how wicked they've been. Moreover, their Christian family and friends don't take seriously how damnable they are because their kids and grandkids have only seen or can only remember how "grandma" and "grandpa" were harmless and sweet elderly folk. Not realizing that they were young once too and committed sins deserving of hell just like those who are now currently in the prime of their lives. As humans, we often think the more distant in time our past sins are the less serious or heinous they have become. And so, the less guilty the elderly are. When the Bible clearly teaches that God will judge every thought, word, and deed (Matt: 5:28; 15: 19; Acts 8:22; Rom. 2:15; Heb. 4:12; Matt. 12:36; Eccl 12:13-14).

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    2. I can imagine someone writing the book "The Gospel According to Simeon the Senior" who was ready to die after seeing the Messiah (Luke 2:25ff). According to Eastern Orthodox tradition, Simeon was one of the original 70 translators of the Septuagint and that he died at around the age of 360. I doubt the accuracy of that tradition, but the point is that he wasn't ready to die until he saw the salvation of God. Only then was he able to say the famous Latin Vulgate phrase "Nunc Dimittis" ("Now Dismiss"). "nunc dimittis servum tuum Domine secundum verbum tuum in pace" (O Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace according to thy word). No senior should be willing or ready to depart this world until they have found the Savior as THEIR Savior and Lord.

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    3. Of course, I'm alluding to the numerous famous/infamous books that have been written with the title phrase "The Gospel According to" [Jesus; Mary; Lucifer; Pontius Pilate; Peanuts; Coco Chanel; Biff; Rome; Judas; Simpsons et al.]

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  2. I appreciated this post and I like this blog, but I think it's a mistake to refer to Heaven (i.e. the place where the disembodied souls of believers go after death) as our final hope and rest. It isn't. Our final hope is the hope of the Resurrection, and the new Heaven and new Earth that will follow after it. The departed in Heaven don't yet experience the full joy of salvation, because salvation applies both to our souls and our bodies - we are saved both from Hell and from the grave itself. We don't desire to be unclothed, says Paul in 2 Corinthians, but clothed.

    Likewise, death is an enemy for believers just as much as it is for unbelievers. After all, death is a sign - the greatest and most unmistakable sign - that sin still exists and still has power over the earth. Death is unnatural, a curse, something that should not exist. Until it is destroyed, Christ's victory has not yet been fully played out in history.

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    1. caesartheologus

      "I appreciated this post and I like this blog, but I think it's a mistake to refer to Heaven (i.e. the place where the disembodied souls of believers go after death) as our final hope and rest. It isn't. Our final hope is the hope of the Resurrection, and the new Heaven and new Earth that will follow after it. The departed in Heaven don't yet experience the full joy of salvation, because salvation applies both to our souls and our bodies - we are saved both from Hell and from the grave itself. We don't desire to be unclothed, says Paul in 2 Corinthians, but clothed."

      I discuss the resurrection of the just in this very post.

      "Likewise, death is an enemy for believers just as much as it is for unbelievers."

      No, not "just as much"–for reasons I gave.

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  3. I agree. For 25 years I've believed that in the Eternal State redeemed humanity will exist with their resurrected glorified bodies on Earth for all eternity. Ours isn't a Platonic or Gnostic religion where the body is a prison of the soul/spirit or where matter, and therefore the body, is evil.

    Human beings were originally created to be both spirit AND body and God's plan to save human beings includes both, not just the spirit. However, there's nothing wrong with referring to the intermediate state of believers as being in "Paradise" because both Jesus and Paul did (Luke 23:43; 2 Cor. 12:4). What makes the afterlife blessed for the redeemed is ultimately is being with God.

    That's true before the cross (where the saints may have been kept in the righteous "compartment" of sheol/hades.

    It's true after the cross/resurrection/ascension of Christ where the saints are in "heaven" during the intermediate state.

    And it'll be true finally after the return of Christ when the souls of believers will be united with their resurrection bodies and live on earth for all eternity.

    From Steve's past blogs, I think he would agree too. Although, he may believe that there isn't a difference between the intermediate state of believers before and after the Cross/Resurrection/Ascension of Christ as I (and other Christian authors) believe or suggest.

    I lean toward there being a difference. That before the cross the saints were in the presence of God in a lesser sense than after the cross. Just as the wicked in sheol/hades are in a different state of existence before they are judged and sent to Gehenna. Though, other theologians believe that the wicked immediately go to Gehenna upon death.

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