IF DEATH IS DEFEATED, WHY DOES IT COME?

To be defeated means having been beaten in a battle or contest. It is to be won against, to be overcome, conquered, mastered, and stopped. If all these and more reflect what Christians believe as Christ Jesus did to death, then why does it still come at us, more so, in the often shocking and painful manner it does.

Death comes to us as the vehicle to transport us into the next realm of eternal glory prepared and destined for Christians. In John’s gospel, chapter 14, Jesus promised to go and prepare a place for His followers. When done, He would come and take them to this place. Obviously, Jesus has been coming, He will continue to come, and shall eventually come. Until the rapture, He will interestingly and humiliatingly utilise one of His defeated foes- death, to transport His followers to this glorious place and state.

These believers Jesus comes to take to their finished/prepared mansions certainly will not vanish into thin air to appear there. How else can they inherit their promised place/state- 1Cor.15:50. Their lives on earth must be terminated in order to enter into the glorious next life. Such cessation of life is called death. This death is not a punishment, nor a theft. It is a transition- an exit from one phase (not to be lost, dispossessed, or left wandering) to enter into another better and beautiful phase. No wonder Apostle Paul describes it as GAIN- Phil.1:21. The promised better place or state is only gained and accessed through death.

Again, though defeated, death will come because it is the only means to gain rest from our human toils and labour. Physical ailments, emotional torments, financial stress, psychological traumas, anguish of the soul, pressure upon pressure from all angles can only be ceased by death. Jesus uses the disarmed, dispossessed, immobilised death to give His beloved sleep and rest from all their labour and struggles.

Finally (for now), death will come, only to remind us that regardless of whoever you are or have become, whatever you have or are chasing, wherever you are, live or have gotten to, you are only a homo sapien- human. We are not super beings. We’re temporary, vulnerable, susceptible and depraved. We eat, excrete, respire, sense, move, reproduce, and grow only to die. This means you can’t think of yourself more highly than you ought, or better than anyone. It must again push us to inquire and pursue what truly matters in this life.

Death is a necessary appointment for all humans, whether saved (born-again) or not- Heb.9:27. We must, and shall meet it- when, where and how regardless. (As for the shock and pain, may God give us the requisite “absorbers”). But the truth is, it is better to meet a deafeted death. Imagine what an undefeated death would have done or brought us, especially in an unknown and unprepared time and manner. Jesus is always an advantage, a benefit, a security or insurance, and a blessing. Receive Him as your Lord and Saviour today. Its the best, wise, and safest decision you can ever make while alive.

Written by Pastor Gideon Gyasi-Obodai
APOSA-UCC