Word of Encouragement (11/5/2020)

Today, let’s think of God’s promises that prepare us for death. Death may not be the most pleasant thing to talk about but it is a necessary one. The only thing that is 100% certain in life is death (except for those who will be alive at the time of Christ’s return). It is foolish for us, then, to avoid talking about it or thinking about it. And no one can be truly wise if he lives as if he would not die someday. “The shortness of our days, the certainty of death, and the length of eternity make it necessary to die well, the Puritans used to say” (p. 156). How do we die well?

“Spurstowe says the only way to ensure that we will die well, enjoying the comfort of God’s promises in death, is to lie well in the application of the promises and faithful use of the means of grace. These are God’s means to our holiness, with which we will not be ashamed or afraid to die. The only comfortable death is that of a saint, for the saint has lived his life walking in the ways of God and therefore has nothing to fear in death. His sins are forgiven, the Judge is his Elder Brother and Friend, and his eternal abode in God’s kingdom has already been prepared for him. Death will be the entrance to eternal life, of which he has had a foretaste in his Christian days” (p. 156).

“But to expect to die like a saint without living like a saint is foolish presumption. Spurstowe says to expect to die comfortably after failing to live a holy life is as vain as looking for stars on earth and trees in heaven; to waste the oil of grace and yet think to be anointed with the oil of gladness is the fruit of presumption, not of faith. When servants idle away the light their Master gives them to work by, they may well conclude that they must go to bed in the dark. Even so, when Christians neglect in life to work out their salvation with fear and trembling, it is no wonder that in the night of death they lack the light of comfort and have a dark exit out of the world” (p. 157).

Here, we are not talking about the matter of our eternal salvation. It is only by grace through faith, ultimately by what Christ has done, not what our hands have done. We are talking about our experience of “the light of comfort” on our deathbed. We can enter into heaven without it but our last moments may be plagued by regret rather than filled with joyful anticipation of the life to come in heaven with God.

Even so, we will not be totally devoid of “the light of comfort” when we believe that Jesus came to save sinners like us and entrust our souls to Him. Here are God’s promises of comfort in death for us: “For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 8:38-39); “then shall come to pass the saying that is written: ‘Death is swallowed up in victory.’ ‘O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?’ The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 15:54-57). Amen!