What should be our personal perspective of death?
Discussion question for July 1, 2011.
We know that physical death is the consequence of sin, and that spiritual death separates us from God. As Christians, how should we understand death? What attitude should we have for ourselves and on behalf of others regarding physical death? How do we overcome the fear of death (Hebrews 2:14-15)? What should we teach our natural and spiritual children?
Here’s my summary of our discussion.
The Bible states that the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23) and this verse informs us of the penalizing nature of death. Later in the same book it says that God works everything together for good (Romans 8:28) and this informs us that death is a gift of God once it has been redeemed.
In the Genesis narrative about Adam and Eve being expelled from the Garden of Eden we see a compassionate God acting on behalf of the humans He created and continued to love. He announces the need to expel them so that they won’t eat from the tree of life and thereby avoid the death they deserve. He didn’t want them to live forever in a state of rebellion and separation from God.
Some have assigned a meaning of punishment or penalty to the death of a person. An “untimely death” or the passing of a young person is sometimes used as evidence that there was sin being punished. This is not necessarily the case, since God allows death as an act of love. The physical death is required in order to break the old covenant and allow the new covenant to be in force.
We should know and teach that the way to eternal life is through physical death. The fear of death (Hebrews 2:14-15) is used to threaten people and hold them in bondage. There is no fear in perfect love, and it is with that perfect love that God redeemed His chosen ones.
Some have said in great faith that they are not afraid of death, even though they are afraid of the unknowns in the dying process. Fear of any pain associated with the passing, or the cause of death leading up to the passing, for instance. There is also the fear of not knowing where you will be or how you will get there. These fears are only overcome by faith in a loving God.
The death of a friend or family member creates a loss in the lives of those remaining. This requires grieving. It is hard work. Through the grief process a person emotionally and physically lets go of the past and accepts a new reality. Since grieving is so hard, many believe that there must be equal hardship in leaving. This is an earth-bound assumption and should not be extrapolated.
God is love. He created us with the desire to live, which is natural since we are created in His image, and He is life. He won’t let us eat from the tree of life in our sinful condition because that would trap us in our sin. Instead, He is reserving the Tree of Life that we will be able to eat from all the time in the new heaven.
We can encourage our children that the passing of a loved one marks the occasion of them going from physical life to spiritual life for eternity. God is in control. It is His way to keep us through this transition with the same love that moved Him to redeem us.