Why Do We Die?

Recently, I read a news story about a man who drowned in the middle of Lake Tahoe. The events surrounding the tragedy were so disturbing that I found myself contemplating what must have happened to bring it about and what it must have felt like to be this unfortunate man. 

The calamity was discovered when an empty ski boat, still in gear, ran ashore, prompting police to launch an investigation into this puzzling incident. On the boat they found a cell phone with video footage that helped them piece together the bizarre chain of events that had resulted in this abandoned boat making its way back to land.

Apparently, the man who had rented the boat positioned his phone to video himself jumping and playing in the water not realizing that he had accidentally left the boat slightly in gear until it was too late. According to the police, the video shows the man diving into the water and splashing around, however the scene becomes increasingly morbid as the boat slowly pulls away from this man who cannot swim fast enough to catch it.

Tragedies like this cause me to stop and think. They force me to contemplate my own mortality. They compel me to look beyond this life and ponder what awaits each of us beyond the grave. They constrain me to consider God: who He is and why He would allow such a disturbing demise. Thankfully, God has spoken on these topics.

In chapter 13 of Luke’s gospel, some of the people bring up a horrific event, recounting how Pilate had slaughtered some Galileans, mixing their own blood with the sacrifices they had been making. Perhaps they wondered why a good God would allow these good worshipers to be destined to such a fate. Or maybe they wondered if possibly the Galileans might have done something to deserve punishment from God at the hands of Pilate. Jesus, however, does not answer these questions directly, but shows them they are asking the wrong questions. He does not praise any goodness in the Galileans that would suggest injustice on God’s behalf for allowing them to perish in such a way. He also does not reveal some deplorable sin of the Galileans that would cause us to agree in judgement, “Yes, they deserved it.” 

So how does Jesus respond? He answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” Jesus is challenging their presuppositions by essentially asking, “Do you think it is unjust that God allowed these Galileans to be killed? Don’t you agree that all sinners, including you, deserve death?” He uses this opportunity to make us consider why we die in the first place. Yes, we will all die. And those who suffer what we might consider an untimely death are no more or less deserving of death than we are. If we fancy ourselves to be good, moral people, we might think we are entitled to a long life with a peaceful passing. We certainly don’t think we deserve to fall victim to a wicked man’s outrage or to succumb to some unfathomable freak accident. When tragedies strike, our hearts cry out, “It’s not right! It’s not fair!” But our hearts are deceitfully wicked, especially when we think God is somehow unjust or unfair for allowing people to suffer and die. 

God has told us why we die. Romans 6:23 says that the wages of sin is death. We are paid a wage for what we do. Our rebellion against God has earned us the death penalty. So it really doesn’t matter so much as to when we die or how we die; we need to understand WHY we die. This is what Jesus is bringing to our attention. He then strengthens his message by offering an example of another event we might be tempted to shrug off as “wrong place, wrong time.” Jesus continues, “Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who live in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” Now is Jesus saying that if we repent we won’t die? Yes and No. He’s obviously not saying that if we repent we won’t ever die physically. Rather, he is calling us to a repentance that leads to true life, eternal life. You see, there is a second death that is far worse than the physical death we are all too familiar with and will all face. This final, eternal, irrevocable death of ultimate and continual perishing awaits each one of us if we refuse to believe Jesus and repent. (See Rev. 20)

God is not unjust for allowing and even sovereignly decreeing each of our impending deaths. We deserve death. All of us. Why? Because each of us have broken God’s moral law which is revealed to each of us through our own conscience and more explicitly expressed through the Ten Commandments. Yahweh God is the Sovereign Creator God and it is His prerogative and absolute right to establish the law for His creatures, decree the punishment for breaking it, and serve justice upon those who defy it. When we defy God’s law, we defy God himself, for His moral law is an expression of who He is. How have we broken His law? We have lied. We have lusted. We have hated. We have envied. We have slandered. We have deceived. We have failed to love God and have served ourselves; and we know what we do is wrong. 

Did you know that God not only tells us what sin is and that we are all guilty, but He also tells us why we love sin in the first place? It is because we, all mankind, have been condemned in Adam, the first created human being. When Adam fell from grace through his deliberate disobedience, we all fell in him and through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men (Romans 5). Mankind is now born guilty, condemned under God’s curse with our human nature utterly defiled. The Bible says we are slaves to sin and children of wrath. We are spiritually dead in transgressions and sins. We love the darkness rather than the light because our deeds are wicked. You may say, “but God sees my heart!” Yes he does. Our hearts lie open before him like a book and this is what He sees: 

None is righteous, no, not one;

    no one understands;

    no one seeks for God.

All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;

    no one does good,

    not even one.

Their throat is an open grave;

    they use their tongues to deceive.

The venom of asps is under their lips.

    Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.

Their feet are swift to shed blood;

    in their paths are ruin and misery,

and the way of peace they have not known.

    There is no fear of God before their eyes.  (Romans 3:10-18)

Perhaps you might be thinking, “This still seems unfair. Why am I under this curse for something Adam did?” I would argue that we are again asking the wrong question. We are assuming that God does not have the right over His creation to do as He pleases. God is the sovereign Creator of the universe. This is His world and we are His creation. God told Adam that if he ate the forbidden fruit he would die. When Adam rebelled, choosing to trust in his own wisdom over God’s, he deserved immediate death. If God wished to exercise His perfect justice in that moment, He could have put an end to Adam and Eve and destroyed the human race right then and there. If God were to have done that, you and I wouldn’t even exist now to question His justice and righteousness. But what did God do? He showed Adam and Eve mercy by allowing them (and all people who would come from them) to continue to exist; and He promised to send a Redeemer who would deliver His people from this curse and set them free from the slavery of sin! Adam, our earthly father, was our representative and in God’s perfect knowledge, He knows each of us would have rebelled just as Adam did if we had been given the same opportunity. So now, because of the justly deserved curse of God, we are all born physically alive but spiritually dead. We need to be brought back to spiritual life, to be born again. But just like our physical birth, we have no power or control to do this for ourselves. We are entirely at the mercy of the Almighty God. It is a terrifying thing to stand before a Holy God and His perfect law, naked and condemned, without hope and without excuse. Unless God chooses to show us mercy, we are utterly lost. Which brings me back to thinking about the young man in the lake.

I imagine him excited to enjoy his day on the water and then coming up with the idea to video and share his experience with his friends on social media. He sets up his phone and dives in the water. At what point does he perceive the dreadfulness of his situation? Perhaps after a few minutes of splashing around he realizes he is farther away from the boat than he’d like to be. So he begins to swim. When does he realize that it’s not him who got too far away but that the boat is leaving him? As the boat pulls away faster than he can swim, surely he must have tried with all his strength and might to reach it. But he can’t swim fast enough. It is just not physically possible. Ultimately, he had to recognize the futility of his efforts. The panic sets in deeper as he watches the distance between himself and the boat grow increasingly larger, leaving him stranded. He is helpless. He is hopeless. He is ruined. With the water beginning to engulf him, oh the doom and despair he must have felt!

It is to this place of utter helplessness and hopelessness that the gospel of Jesus Christ must first bring us. To rightly grasp the weight of the glorious gospel, the good news, we must first come to understand the reality of our desperate situation. It could be said that we are that man left in the middle of the lake and the boat represents anything we’ve done that we are counting on to justify ourselves before God. Perhaps it’s a prayer we once said. Or the many good things we think we’ve done. Or the bad things we’ve not done. Maybe it’s our belief in God, our biblical wisdom, or our efforts to be obedient. We might just be banking on the idea that God esteems us above other evil people by comparison. It could even be an idol, a false Jesus even, whom we’ve created in our own minds and who speaks words to our hearts that though they are contrary to The Word, they are words we like better. Whatever you are trusting in to commend yourself to God, if it is something that has been generated from yourself, you need to know that boat will not save you. It will leave you stranded and damned. Why? Because if you will escape the second death and earn eternal life and everlasting favor with God, you must be holy, as He is holy. You must be perfect, as He is perfect. You must be righteous, as He is righteous. You must not fail to keep the entirety of God’s law perfectly. Do you see that if the boat represents something you have done to justify yourself before God, then it must be your own sinless perfection. The boat, therefore, actually represents the perfect law of God. Trying to reach God through your own works are as futile as the man’s efforts to try to catch the boat. They are useless. We can’t attain unto it. No matter how hard we try, we will never be able to reach the boat. The perfect law of God and the obedience He requires is a burden we are unable to bear because it condemns us and we are condemned already. We don’t enter this world neutral with God, rather we are conceived in iniquity. Who can live up to the perfect righteousness of the most Holy God? We are guilty, we know it, and death is our just sentence. I pray you will see the boat leaving you.

Our only hope is to throw ourselves before the mercy of God. And praise God, He is merciful! He has not left us without hope. This is the grace of God, this is the mercy of God: Jesus Christ. God has allowed a substitute to take the punishment of death we have earned and deserved. He has allowed a substitute to live a life of perfect obedience in our place. And not only has He allowed a substitute, He has provided one. But only one. God has supplied a Spotless Lamb without blemish, the perfect Lamb of God, His one and only eternal Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus endured the wrath of God and received the penalty of death in our place. Because God punished the sins of His people through the death of Christ on the cross, we have been forgiven. Our sin debt has been paid and our slates have been wiped clean! And if that weren’t enough, Jesus was bodily resurrected as proof that God accepted this perfect, complete, once-for-all sacrifice which provided full atonement for every single person that had been given to Christ before the foundation of the world. And here’s grace upon grace: not only have God’s elect been saved from eternal condemnation, not only have His people been delivered from the spiritual death that once held us captive, God has bestowed upon His sheep the righteousness of Christ whereby God has adopted us as sons and daughters and made us joint heirs with Christ! The people of God, true Israel, are freely given everything that Christ earned when all we ever earned was everlasting damnation and eternal death. Eternal life has been given to the bride of Christ - a never-ending life spent knowing God, serving God, worshiping God, loving God, and enjoying God.

How does one receive this merciful gift of grace? By faith. This salvation from God is freely given to all who repent and believe. Repentance is agreeing with God that what He says is sin, is sin. It is turning from our sin, renouncing our sin, hating our sin, forsaking our sin, and turning to God, to Christ, for spiritual cleansing. It is trusting in every word He has spoken which has been preserved for us in the Holy Scriptures; for God cannot lie. Believing this gospel of Jesus Christ doesn’t make it true. The gospel of Jesus Christ is true, therefore, we who have received mercy, believe.

If anyone rejects this glorious gospel of Jesus Christ, they will be left in that place where the boat left the man: without hope and without salvation. I implore you, on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. He is the only Savior. Believe Jesus.

Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. (Luke 13:4-5)

The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel. (Mark 1:15)

I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance. (Luke 5:32)

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. (John 14:6)

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.” (John 3:16-21)

Spiritual Food

We all know that we cannot live if we stop eating. In fact, when someone is really sick to the point where they cannot eat, we know their end is near if we do not give them nourishment. Just as our physical bodies perish so easily without food, our spiritual souls will perish if we are not given the food that gives us spiritual life.

Jesus, quoting the Word of God given to Moses, said, "It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” (Matt. 4:4)

Not only is Jesus affirming the Old Testament Scriptures as the Word of God, something he did continually throughout his ministry on earth, he is teaching us something extremely important. If we do not have spiritual food - every word that comes from the mouth of God - we will not live. Our eternal life is dependent on the Word of God. 

Eternal life does not just mean we will exist forever. There is also eternal death. Eternal life is KNOWING GOD. Jesus tells us this in John 17:3: “And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.”

How can we know God if we do not read, hear, listen to, and study His Word? It is in His Word - the Holy Scriptures - where we are taught everything we need to know about who we are and who God is in this earthly life. Eternity will be spent knowing God, more and more, never reaching the end or fullness of our infinite, Most Holy God. For those whom God redeems, eternal life begins now, in this life. Don’t fool yourself if you think you have life while you neglect, despise, or ignore God’s Word. 

In God’s Word we also learn that Jesus is the Word - the Word made flesh. Jesus is also the Bread of Life. You cannot follow the true Jesus apart from God’s true Word. There is so much feasting to be done in the Word of God! We must hunger for it, delight ourselves in it, and feed upon it. When you open your Bible, you must humble yourself before God, acknowledging that every word of it comes from the mouth of God and you have come to be taught.

“Blessed is the man whom you discipline, O Lord, and whom you teach out of your law” (Psalm 94:12)

“The earth, O Lord, is full of your steadfast love; teach me your statutes!” (Psalm 119:64)

Coronavirus 2020: A Biblical Perspective

In light of all that is going on in the world, in our country, and in our state, many people are going through very difficult and dark times whether it be physically, financially or both. The coronavirus pandemic has brought enormous changes to our daily lives, habits, and freedoms and many people are experiencing not only great anxiety and fear concerning the future, but are looking to God and asking, “Why?” When we examine our world, in present times and past times, and consider the numerous wars, sicknesses, diseases, deaths and so many other evils, there is something within us that cries out “This is not how it should be!”

These are troubled times indeed, but God, in His Word, has given us answers. He has told us that we will go through difficult times and He not only tells us the purpose for it, but He gives His children hope for the future. But to understand these things, we need to go back to His Word to remind ourselves of the beginning and why He created us.

In the beginning, God created a perfect world and made two sinless human beings in His own image, Adam and Eve. He provided all their needs and gave them a beautiful environment to live in. He gave them only one command, to not eat the fruit of one tree in the garden, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God warned Adam that if he was to eat this forbidden fruit, he would die. God had given Adam the ability and freedom to choose what was right and pleasing to his Creator, however, Adam chose to exalt himself above God by trusting and following his own wisdom. Adam was the representative head of the entire human race and his decision to sin against God is the same decision that each one of us would have made if given the opportunity.

Even though God had promised death to Adam and Eve for breaking this command, He showed them mercy. Instead of immediate death, they were banished from the garden and allowed to live for a period of time. However,  Adam and Eve would eventually die, as we all will. The Bible says, “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned.” (Romans 5:12)

Adam’s rebellion brought the human race and the entire creation under a curse. The reason we live in this fallen world full of evil, wars, sickness, and death, is because of sin. Perhaps you think, “That’s not fair!” You’re right! “Fair” would have been immediate death for Adam and Eve, resulting in the extinction of the human race. That would have been just. The very fact that you’re alive to even question the justice of God proves His great mercy.

Consider the mercy and grace of God in how He provides for us - everything that we don’t deserve: the food we eat, the water we drink, the rain for the crops, the air we breath, bodies that heal, medicines that cure, rivers to fish in, mountains to explore, families to love…the list is infinite, for EVERY good thing is a gift from God. Yet, how many people truly recognize His kindness and mercy that He shows to all people on a daily basis? We should be so grateful and thankful, praising God continually, but instead we get angry and even curse God when life isn’t going the way we think it ought.

Something else happened when Adam fell from God’s grace and sin entered the world. Not only did Adam eventually die physically, he immediately died spiritually. He was cut-off from perfect communion with his Creator. Adam’s sin spread to the entire human race so that we are born with a sin nature that is inherent to our very being. David writes in Psalm 51:5 “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me.” He’s not talking about his mother’s sin or the way he was conceived. He’s talking about the sin nature he was born with. Psalm 58:3 says, “The wicked are estranged from the womb; they go astray from birth, speaking lies.” We are enemies of God from birth, and apart from God’s mercy, we will remain in this state.

We are not sinners because we sin, we sin because we are sinners; and because we are sinners, we are also cut-off from our Creator. We are cut-off from fellowship with God because He is holy and we are not. We are all corrupt and have failed to obey and honor God perfectly as He has commanded and as He deserves. When asked which is the greatest commandment in the Law, Jesus replied, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” None of us have kept these commandments perfectly. We fail to worship and serve God. We put ourselves before others and God. We lie. We steal. We covet. We are guilty. Our sin has separated us from God.

For you are not a God who delights in wickedness;

     evil may not dwell with You.

The boastful shall not stand before Your eyes;

     You hate all evildoers.

You destroy those who speak lies;

     the Lord abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man. (Psalm 5:4-6)

Not only are we separated in our relationship with God, but God’s wrath and just punishment is deserved by all. 

Do you suppose, O man—you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself—that you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you presume on the riches of His kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God's righteous judgment will be revealed. (Romans 2:3-5)

God’s wrath is deserved by all and it is coming soon. The “great and terrible” Day of the Lord is coming when God will judge all people. All will stand before His throne and He will pay them the wages their sin has earned. This is terrible news for mankind. While we go about our days, living our lives for ourselves, following our passions and desires and not giving thought to tomorrow or what eternity will bring, we are storing up wrath for ourselves.

Is there anything we can do? Is there any hope for us? The answer to the first question is “NO.” The answer to the second is, “Praise the LORD, YES!” No, there is nothing we can do to remedy our situation. There is no act of penance. There is no offering or sacrifice we can give. There is no amount of pleading with God for mercy. There are no satisfactory acts of kindness or good works we can present to appease the God we have offended. No prayer will save us. No baptism will save us. No church or denomination will save us. No walk down an aisle will save us. No commitment to God will save us. There is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING we can do to save ourselves from the just wrath of God and eternal punishment in hell.

So where is the hope? Our hope lies in the mercy of God. God’s plan from the foundation of the world has been to demonstrate His glory to His creation. This is why we have been created. His plan for this creation is to show all mankind His power, His love, His mercy, His goodness, His holiness, His justice, and even His perfect, righteous wrath. His plan has always been to provide a Savior who would eradicate sin from the hearts of His people and from this cursed world by creating new heavens and a new earth.

This is the good news! God has sent a Savior: His only begotten Son, born of a virgin and therefore free from corruption of Adam’s original sin. Jesus Christ, whose birth, life, and death, were prophesied hundreds of times in the Old Testament, fulfilled ALL of these prophesies. The Bible teaches that Jesus is the eternal, uncreated, Son of God, the second person in the Holy Trinity with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. God the Son added a human nature to His divine nature at His incarnation. He entered into His creation to bring us light, to bring us to the Father, and to show us the way of reconciliation and restoration to God. Jesus lived a sinless, righteous life, pleasing to the Father. He lived the life we could never live. He offered his life as a sacrifice for sin. While He hung on the Roman cross, God poured out His holy wrath on the Son who became the substitute for sinners. Jesus was raised back to life on the third day - proving God’s acceptance of the Son’s sacrifice, proclaiming Jesus’ victory over death, and prefiguring the resurrection of all God’s redeemed. This is the promise and hope God has given to sinners: God has placed the sin of His people upon His Son and has poured out His wrath upon His Son who died in the place of sinners. The wrath of God has been satisfied in Christ’s blood that was shed on the cross. Anyone who recognizes their sin and turns from it (repents) and trusts in Christ alone for their salvation will be saved! Believe and be saved!

We can only be saved by faith in Jesus Christ. Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” Through faith we are justified. Not only is Christ our substitute in death, He is our substitute in life. He died in our place and lived in our place. His death was our death and His life, our life, when we are in Christ. Our sin was imputed (credited) to Him and His righteous life is imputed to us. All of this is the free gift of God. What love! What mercy! What kindness!

Do you believe this? If you do, then know that even your belief, faith, and trust are not the result of your own inherent wisdom or goodness. For even the faith to believe the good news of the gospel is a gift from God. That is why our only hope lies in God’s mercy, for there is NOTHING we can do in and of ourselves to merit or earn His mercy and forgiveness.

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—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages He might show the immeasurable riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. (Ephesians 2:4-9)

So what does this good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ have to do with our current situation caused by the coronavirus pandemic? This plague is in the complete control of Almighty God and He is using it to accomplish His just and good purposes.

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose. (Romans 8:28)

He is using this situation to bring His people to stronger faith and reliance on Him. He is using it to call sinners to repent and trust in Christ. He is also using it to judge the wicked. God’s word tells us that we are in the last days and that we’ve been in the last days ever since Christ’s first coming. We have been promised that there will be trials and tribulations. The prophetic book of Revelation uses symbolism to show us what these end times will be like and what will happen between Christ’s first and second coming. Revelation shows us not a chronological order of events that will unfold, but a series of visions that explain the same events in a given time period but each from a different vantage point. Over and over, we see that as Jesus is reigning now on the throne; he is directing all of human history to its decreed end. He is breaking the seals and opening the scroll and is sovereign over all the happenings of this earth.

Nations and kingdoms rise and fall, all as God has purposed. Wars, earthquakes, plagues, and famines destroy the wicked, and yet God’s children are preserved through it, for even in death, they have victory!

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written,

“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;

     we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:35-39)

The only hope that any of us have is found in Jesus Christ, the only Savior. One day you will pass from this life to the next. One day, this earth will pass away as well. These times we live in are temporary, but God is building His eternal kingdom even now. 

Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making His appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. (2 Corinthians 5:20)