The Second Sleep
My brother's wife died a few days ago. It was not unexpected but it was sudden. It was a long time coming, until it happened and then it was quick.
As a pastor and a theologian, I am not unacquainted with the topic of death. I have done many funerals in the past and I have a few more coming up. But that does not mean I am comfortable with death. I am not!
In my university training, I took a course on 'Death and Dying' taught by the team of Dr. Elizabeth Kubler Ross from the University of Chicago. At the time she was on the cutting edge of research on death and dying. But all she had to contribute was based on psychological and sociological experiential research and was totally devoid of spiritual and eternal realities.
It is natural to be afraid of death or at least apprehensive. Jesus wept at the death of His friend Lazarus. But death is not actually the end either for Lazarus or for us. Jesus reminds us of the supernatural reality that is all too easy to overlook in the midst of our natural world.
We were created for eternity. It is true that the curse upon the earth and corruption of mankind is unavoidable, but the power of the Gospel is to remove the sting of death and give to us eternal life. And that is the message of Christmas. It is the gift of God of His Son to offer to us His life for us so that we may have eternal life in Him.
We may not escape death in this life, but we can escape the second death if we have eternal life in Jesus.
We may not escape death in this life, but we can escape the second death if we have eternal life in Jesus.
As Max Lucado reminds us; "God never said that the journey would be easy, but he did say that the arrival would be worthwhile."
Until He comes for us,
Fred