I Promise Death

I’ve been in sales for 20% of my life. (That sounds more dramatic than 5 years, right?) I have developed a firm policy of under-promising and over-delivering. With that in mind, I have some unfortunate but expected news for you:

You will die.

I can guarantee it. St. Paul’s letter to the churches of Rome poses a very challenging reality:

“For the wages of sin is death…” Romans 6:23a ESV

“…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” Romans 3:23 ESV

I’ve never been known as a prophet, but those are pretty good odds. Based on my experience with human beings, it seems that every one of them sins and every one of them dies.

While I appear to make light of that reality, it is unquestionably the most depressing, tragic reality of our world. The ultimate questions of life quickly lead to the ultimate questions of death. For those that consider the possibility of believing in a good and all-powerful God, the question of death is forefront.

Why would a good God who could stop death allow so many to die?

The answer resides partly in the understanding of who God is. He is the source of life, and sin by nature is any action that causes us to separate from him

“…then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into  his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.” Genesis 2:7 ESV

The following question would be equally valid, I believe:

If God is life and sin cuts us off from life and all have sinned, why is anyone ever surprised that death occurs?

I realize that we are not surprised by death in general but mainly when it happens to someone close or in large groups. Death is shocking, and from the belief that God is life we can also claim that death is unnatural.

Death is not the way that God chose for man. It was the way that man chose for himself. However, God is not limited by man. From the beginning of the world he forsaw that we would choose death. It is no coincidence that he had eternally planned for God the Son to become human, emptying himself and assuming a human body through the Virgin Mary, to become the lowliest of men. From there he chose death.

God, who did not sin, died. How unnatural is that?

But that wasn’t the end. He descended into death where all who had passed on before anxiously awaited his arrival. From there he conquered death with overwhelming life. (He is Life after all!) He resurrected in spirit and flesh and later ascended to the presence of the Father in spirit and flesh. From there he promises to return to resurrect your dead bodies. In other words, he will come to give you life!

I promise you life! Are you ready for it?