10.14.2011

I Hate Death

I hate death.




Is that too raw, too vulnerable?




Perhaps, but it's true.


I have spent a lot of my adult life trying to claim that death is not bad, that death allows us to be with God.


That's what many Christians would say, wouldn't they?


But that's not what they really believe.




Why do we think that we have to defend death?


C.S. Lewis, in A Grief Observed, says 
It is hard to have patience with people who say, "There is no death" or "Death doesn't matter." There is death. And whatever is matters...I look up at the night sky. Is anything more certain than that in all those vast times and spaces, if I were allowed to search them, I should nowhere find her face, her voice, her touch? She died. She is dead. Is the word so difficult to learn?
Maybe because that is what we were taught in our churches.  Maybe because of pieces of Scripture that we read such as "For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain." ~ Philippians 1.21


We long to be with God, long to see Him face-to-face, long for the day when there will be no more hurting, suffering or tears...


And we long for the day when there will be no more death.




Isn't death what gets us to that glorious day?


Yes, but that isn't how it was supposed to be.


We weren't supposed to have to die to get to God, we were supposed to simply live with God.
And the LORD God said, "The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever." ~ Genesis 3.22
We brought death into this world through our sin and death is our enemy.


Our enemy!
My heart is in anguish within me; the terrors of death assail me. ~ Psalm 55.4
Our God is a God who saves; from the Sovereign LORD comes escape from death. ~ Psalm 68.20
For you, LORD, have delivered my soul from death... ~ Psalm 116.8
On this mountain he (the Lord) will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations; he will swallow up death forever. ~ Isaiah 25.7-8
I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death. Where, O death, are your plagues? Where, O death, is your destruction? ~ Hosea 13.14
We have opened the door and allowed death to enter our world.




Jesus came and defeated our enemy.  Did you hear?  Death is defeated!!!!!
...through the appearing of our Savior, Jesus Christ, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. ~ II Timothy 1.10
The last enemy to be destroyed is death. ~ I Corinthians 15.26
For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. ~ Romans 6.9
Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away. ~ Revelation 21.4
This is how it is supposed to be.


So go ahead. You have permission.


Hate death. Give praise and thanks and glory to God.







(If you are viewing this via email, may I suggest that you visit the website in order to also view the video I have included?)

4 comments:

  1. Oh my word.
    This post is amazing.

    So thought-provoking. So honest.

    Really excellent.

    I found you through "have a blog?" conversation at (in)courage, and I am SO glad that I came by. I will be subscribing.

    Thanks,

    Meredith

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  2. Great post Elizabeth! I HATE death too! We were not created for Death. I have had many loved ones die and I hate it! Sometimes I think that people think that God can't take our anger or hate of death and the reality is that He loves to hear from our hearts and heal us from our deep hurt. Jesus came to bridge that gap...just as you have said.
    Blessing to you
    Shari

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  3. Thank you, Meredith! It is a difficult thing to talk about. Perhaps that is why so many think that we have to defend death...because none of us really want to talk about it!

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  4. Thanks, Shari. It's true...God can handle anything we throw at Him, and He hates death too. Perhaps that is why He wept when He got the news that Lazarus had died even though He knew that He would raise Lazarus again. He knows how much it hurts us.

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