Death

Death. This is probably one of the most avoided topics on the planet. But why? Death is one event we will all experience, but no one has personal experience with death – well, everyone will, but no one lives to tell about it. Death is an avoided topic for 2 main reasons. First, it is uncomfortable and confusing. Second, it is just downright scary. Death is forever – no one recovers from death; death leaves in its trail sorrow, pain, unfinished business, regret, fear, and anger. Come to think of it, to the average person, death has significant power in (and sometimes over) life.

I’m not trying to be intentionally morbid. The reason I’m writing about this particular topic today is that my family just received news that my Grandfather has terminal pancreatic cancer and only 3-12 months to live. Maybe the problem with death is that, for a permanent event, the idea is shrouded in obscurity, making our understanding of it elusive at best, like trying to grasp water. So I began to think – what do I KNOW for sure about death?
1. It is permanent
2. It is a step that all must take eventually
3. It is something we all experience secondhand at one point or another
4. It is one of life’s most frightening unknowns.

Maybe you’re thinking – “Its not obscure. Death is simple – it is the point where life stops, when the heart stops beating, the blood stops pumping, etc.” I have to concede that, on a physical, biological level, death is very simple. It is easy to explain how a person dies. It is much more difficult, however, to simply dismiss all the philosophical baggage that inevitable comes with someone’s passing. All the great philosophers pondered death and the afterlife, and all the amateur philosophers (ie – everyone else on the planet) ultimately ponder death as well – even if it is none other than their own.

While I could sit here and ponder and hypothesize and philosophize until the cows come home, there is one other thing about death that I am absolutely certain of: Jesus Christ, God the Son, defeated death. He has tasted death and still lives to tell about it. With His perfect sacrifice, He defeated sin’s power, and with His resurrection, He shattered the power of death over all who choose to believe on Him. Ponder that for a moment. Death – the step we all take alone, the event that provokes regret, sorrow, anger, and fear – has been utterly defeated!! All of us who trust Jesus Christ as Savior receive death as our entrance into eternity in the presence of the Living God.

Yes, death is still a sad event. Death is still full of unknowns. But Jesus Christ has tasted and defeated death; He knows all that death and dying entails. So while there is still much we don’t know, those of us who are children of God know one thing – Jesus has told us that death is no longer something to fear. “Where, O death is thy victory? Where, O death is thy sting?”