Thinking About Life and Death
14,696 deaths in the U.S. since January 21, 2020 due to covid-19 according to the CDC. Close to 7,000 deaths a day worldwide according to worldometer. That same researcher records 96,788 total deaths worldwide since January 22, 2020 from the virus. Make no mistake, there is a lot of death resulting from the novel coronavirus. But it’s also been estimated that at least 24,000 people have died from the flu since October of 2019. Around 3,700 deaths worldwide happen each day as a result of car accidents. The CDC estimates that there will be 630,000 deaths from cancer in the year 2020. What’s the point? We are surrounded by death every day. We may not see it but it’s happening all around us. We usually don’t think about it until we witness it or are directly affected by it, and a pandemic where large numbers of people are dying tends to get our minds contemplating our own death. Have you ever thought about your death?
“This isn’t a very encouraging read,” you may be thinking. Why should we be thinking about our death? It seems kind of morbid, but truth be told we will all die one day. So, how should we think about death? The best way is to view it through the lens of Scripture. Here are three things to contemplate about death and life.
Biblical vs. Cultural order
Our culture believes that life comes first, and death will follow. It says things like: “live life to it’s fullest,” “enjoy everything now while you can,” and “your best life now”. We are told how to extend our life as long as possible, what to avoid, what to do, what not to do. Culture sees death as the end, and it is an end. It’s our exit from this world, but for those who are in Christ, death is also the beginning. Through Christ the order has been reversed. Death comes first. This can be seen in two ways.
The first is that we begin our earthly residence in spiritual death. Psalm 51:5 says,
“Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.”
Romans 3 tells us that
“none is righteous, no not one.”
Ephesians 2:4-5 says,
“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”
We started at death. From the very moment we were conceived we were dead in our sins, lifeless, with no hope. It is only through the mercy and great love of God that we are made alive in Christ, but death comes first.
This leads to the second way we see this death and life order. For us to be made alive a death had to happen first.
Hebrews 9 explains this. Verses 12-14 speak of Christ as having
“entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.”
Christ died our death and came back from the grave, thus reversing the life and death order. He brought life to us by paying our death penalty Himself. His resurrection made Him victorious over death securing our eternal inheritance, that is our redemption in Christ. We also must die first, die to our sins, die to this world, then we are made alive in Christ. This means we need to know how to die well.
Die Well
We know that we will all physically die one day. Our earthly body will grow old or be struck by disease or an accident and we will exit from this world. Knowing this is coming how do we die well? It starts with living well; using our earthly time wisely. Paul says in Philippians 1:21-22,
“For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me.”
We often focus on the second part of verse 21 for encouragement in facing death, ”to die is gain”. For those of us that are in Christ leaving this world means entering the presence of Christ for all eternity which is great gain. But we need to consider our time here. It is to be consumed with Christ, looking forward to our eternal dwelling. A heavenward focus does not lead us to earthly uselessness, it leads us to fruitful labor.
What is our fruitful labor? Paul tells the Philippians to be of one mind, “striving side by side for the faith of the gospel”. We need to be in unity with the body of Christ, working towards the spread of the gospel by proclaiming it and living it. I’m reminded of Galatians 5:22-24,
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.”
If we belong to Christ, our lives will be marked by this fruit of the Spirit. This will be our daily walk pouring from our lives as we speak the gospel to all. As a result we can face our physical death with the same words as Paul in Philippians 3:10-11,
“that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.”
Celebrate the Risen Christ
In two days we will once again celebrate the resurrection of our Savior. It will look a little bit different this year, but that can be beneficial. It reminds us that this is not an event to be celebrated only once a year. Every Sunday we are celebrating the resurrection of our Savior. It can also help to strip away all the extra distractions we get caught up in, things like meals, decorating Easter eggs, dressing up for Easter Sunday, giving Easter baskets, eating chocolate Easter bunnies. Not that any of these things are bad in and of themselves (I especially like the last one) but the culture around us has certainly moved the celebration of Easter away from a focus on Christ and towards a self-centered materialistic view. Maybe it’s good for us to have more time to put these extras aside and just meditate on the truth of Christ’s resurrection and all that it means for us.
I’m drawn to 1 Corinthians 15 where Paul says in verse 17-19,
“And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.”
Without the resurrection of Christ we have no hope of life. It’s only through His life that we can be made alive. By God’s great and incomparable power, motivated by love for us who are created in His image, Christ defeated death and reversed the order of life and death. Praise be to the living God for paving the way to life. Wherever you find yourself reading this post, at work, at home, on your couch in your living room, at the table for dinner, join me in saying aloud right where you are,