In simple verse, Luther reminds us of the eternality of God’s Word, the abiding presence of his Spirit evidenced in his gifts, all of which transcend this mortal life and prepare us for eternal life. It’s a sanctifying reminder in this mortal life that screams for our attention and devotion, encouraging us to fear and fight not to lose it: this life is not eternal, but God’s Word is. God’s truth abides; this life does not. So, what do we gain by fearing death and obsessing over this mortal life, when all that we have and all that we will be is secured for us in Christ? As Jim Eliot said, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.” So, let us live this life for Christ. Unlike this life, “his kingdom is forever!”
Tag Archives: Death
Trust Him for His Grace
The crook in our lot is often not plain to our sight, because we live here, under the sun: “For now we see in a mirror dimly,” Paul explains, “but then face to face.” Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known” (1 Cor. 13:12). This side of glory, we do not, we will not, we cannot see God’s sovereign purpose in what he has ordained. And if we interpret this through the folly of unbelief, we will wallow in vanity and dive deeper in despair. But if we trust the Lord, for our good and his glory, we will rest contented in his loving provision, even in adversity.
God knows what is to come because he has ordained it. God knows what is good for us because he ordained that too. Let us trust him for his grace.
Dust to Dust
“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven (3:1), Solomon says, all of which is upheld, directed, disposed, and governed by God’s “most wise and holy providence.”[2] This does not mean that the child of God knows or understands everything. Though God has “put eternity” into our hearts, we cannot “find out what God has done from the beginning to the end” (3:11). Such is our human limitation: how we see often lacks a providential perspective, and even what we see is jaded by “the remnants of sin abiding in every part” of our flesh.[3] We see, for example, injustice in the world and unrighteousness seems to run rampant, but does this imply that God is neither just nor righteous?
The Gift of Life
God’s gift in Christ is one of measureless magnitude: Adam is overcome by Christ, sin by righteousness, condemnation by justification, death by life, trespass by gift. And it is through the marvelous generosity of God’s grace that we realize the inexpressible glory of God’s purpose in us. Christian, every day in Christ is a gift of life. What the Christian must guard against is resurrecting Adam and calling him Christ, trying to live the Christian life in spite of rather than in light of the gospel. When tempted to sin, look not to the reign of death but the life of Christ, who enables us to live the victorious Christian life by his Spirit. When tempted to despair, look not to the poverty of sin but to the abundant grace of God, who encourages us in his hope by his Spirit.
The Death of Death
We were made to live forever, but death prevents it. Our only hope is the death of death. Which is why Jesus could be angry in witnessing death and joyful in pursuing it. In the words of John Owen, “He underwent death, that we might be delivered from death.”[3] The death of death in the death of Christ.
Planter, Pastor, Preacher 