Death – Paul Nordman

One Hundred Percent

A former work colleague — we’ll call him Ben — had previously made his living by selling life insurance, and like most sales people, he had accumulated a repertoire of battle stories, tests of wills between one trying to sell a product to those hesitant to buy it. In one such conversation, the prospect demurred, saying, “Well, what are my chances of dying, anyway, Ben?” The salesman kept his professional composure and replied matter-of-factly, “Oh, about a hundred percent.” Recalling the encounter years later, Ben described the look on the buyer’s face—stunned. “He looked as though this was the first time he had truly considered his inevitable demise.”

Death awaits us all; there are no exceptions. Israel’s King Solomon observed, “There is one fate for the righteous and for the wicked; for the good, for the clean and the unclean; for the person who offers a sacrifice and for the one who does not sacrifice.”¹ We naturally fear death, and our fear takes different forms. Ben’s life insurance prospect, for instance, apparently lived in denial. Contrastingly, the ailing Hezekiah, when told he was at death’s door, “prayed to the Lord . . . and wept bitterly.”² No denial here, just abject grief. God answered the king’s prayer, promising “I will add fifteen years to your life,”³ yet Hezekiah ultimately joined the “one hundred percent.” Likewise, every person Jesus ever healed in the Bible eventually died. And oddly enough, herein lies our hope.

For Jesus did not come to sentence us to eternal existence in a fallen, painful, and unjust world; rather, He came so that “what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.”⁴ Jesus came so that “through [His own] death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.”⁵ Then may we cower no longer at death, but run boldly, purposefully, and confidently toward life. For through Christ death is destroyed, and in Christ we live forever. One hundred percent.

Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. —Philippians 3:13-14 ESV

“Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.”⁶ Amen.

¹ Ecclesiastes 9:2 NASB
² Isaiah 38:2-3 ESV
³ Isiah 38:5 ESV
⁴ 2 Corinthians 5:4 NIV
⁵ Hebrews 2:14-15 ESV
⁶ John 6:68-69 ESV

Take This to Heart

This has been a year of mourning for me, having lost my step-father in February, a sister-in-law in August, and a friend who died tragically last week. Shock and grief have been the houseguests who stayed too long; social distancing is lost on them. Yet God is glorified in all things, and His sovereignty is not shaken in seemingly hopeless times, even in death. He is our sure and certain hope, so we do well to experience these moments in honest contemplation and complete openness before Him. Wrote Solomon, “It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting, for death is the destiny of everyone; the living should take this to heart.”¹ These are healthy words; this is timeless wisdom.

Though I have been a believer in Jesus Christ for many years now, I have struggled to understand the natural order of this life wherein we grow and learn that we may thrive—and raise another generation to do the same—only to find that, by the time we truly start to figure things out, we’ve reached its end and it is time for us to go. Why do we have so little time to savor the wisdom it took us so long to gain? It seems like such mockery, in a way. But as I sat beside my step-father in what would be his final hours, Paul’s teaching on life, death and resurrection came to mind. “What you sow does not come to life unless it dies,” he said, “When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed…”² The apostle went on to conclude, “So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.”³ Though we would miss my step-father in the years to come, this was his appointed time of stepping away from the old and into the new. Perhaps Solomon had this in mind as he mused, “the day of death better than the day of birth.”⁴

Then for us who are born into new life in Christ, our eventual maturity into wisdom is not mockery at all, but rather preparation and assurance for a dying seed about to burst forth into its eternal destiny of unimaginable splendor. For our God is good, even in death. We, the living, can take this to heart.

Father, you have made us for yourself, and you desire us to be with you and in you through Christ Jesus, our Lord. Thank you. Fill us, that we would glorify you here as we await your glory in the unending age to come. In Christ we pray. Amen.

¹ Ecclesiastes 7:2
² 1 Corinthians 15:36, 37
³ 1 Corinthians 15:42-44
⁴ Ecclesiastes 7:1