“You fool! This very night your soul is demanded of you (Luke 12:20).”
Why is God so concerned with Death? The Bible mentions Death 372 times, so you could say God cares about it a lot, even that He’s obsessed with it. Since Halloween is only a week away it seemed like a good time to talk about our demise, like the dinner caught in our fence last week, it can be scary.
Our dinner was disguised as a rabbit, his front half outside of the fence with two feet on the ground. His back legs were up in the air inside the fence, firmly stuck at his hips (which were rubbed raw and exposed from struggling to get free). He was stuck all night.
As I approached him the spiritual imagery was deafening; he was just like us. Stuck, helpless, and dying. He needed to be rescued. The Bible says we are spiritually dead and need rescuing too (Ephesians 2:1-5). We tend to ignore our plight, that is until a funeral arrives (Ecclesiastes 7:1-2), which like an alarm clock, wakes us up to our appointment.
So what is Death exactly? The Bible says, “The wages of sin is death.” If you work at Sin, Inc. then your paycheck will be Death (Romans 6:23). In the Bible, Sin and Death are linked together and you are fully employed as members of the human race.
• Death is physical and spiritual. “The soul that sins shall surely die (Ezekiel 18:20).”
• Universal. “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).”
• Divisive. “Your sins have made a separation between you and your God (Isaiah 59:2).”
• Inescapable. “It is appointed for men to die once, and after this comes judgment (Hebrews 9:27).”
• Finished. Jesus killed Death for all of us by rising from the dead, but we have to accept His help (1 Corinthians 15:24-26; John 1:12). Your death sentence can be pardoned.
But without Jesus, like my rabbit, you’re stuck…separated. I could have shot the rabbit (the fence was to protect our apple tree), but out of mercy I freed the thief. Are you exhausted, rubbed raw with guilt, the fear of death, and judgment? Jesus offers mercy, release from your offenses. “But God demonstrates His own love toward us in that while we were yet sinners (stuck rabbits), Christ died for us (Romans 5:8).”
So why is God so obsessed with our Death problem? The answer is in another word in the Bible, mentioned 541 times. God is also obsessed with the word Love…for you, to the point of His own death to rescue you from it, if you want His help (John 3:16).
For those without mercy…here’s the recipe:
YHM 