I had a thought provoking conversation with a few friends over facebook and it led me to consider the biblical position on the matter of death, and how we reconcile the pain associated with death to the Sovereignty of God. The particularly thorny passage under consideration was Job 1:27 “The Lord gives and the Lord takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord” spoken by Job just after he has received debilitating report after debilitating report about the death of all his children and all his property. The matter under discussion was whether or not God indeed does “take away” life or whether this is more the work of evil powers at work.
I think the angles I'd like to approach the question of whether God 'takes away' would be the following, The goodness of God, the Sovereignty of God, The reality of the evil of Satan and his restraint by God and the place of life and death in the scheme of God. So, on the matter of the goodness of God, i feel that thats a vital starting point for appreciating his sovereignty. Whenever the issue of God's sovereignty presents us with problems like the one above, i.e. how can God "Take people he loves away" we have to step back and see that God is the greatest good there is. Psalms 107:1 urges us to "give thanks to the Lord for he is good" Psalms 31:19 asks, almost incredulously, "how great is your goodness that you have stored up for those who fear thee, which thou hast wrought for those who take refuge in thee". So in his love, and his goodness, he is without comparison. And since he does not change, then nothing he can do can be a deviation from these his holy attributes. So even when it appears that his actions, or his lack of action results in unpleasant consequences, i would submit that we shall soon find out when we see the king that he has not shifted neither to the right or the left from the greatest of outcomes in all his actions, his glory and that of his Son, slain for us. And even this is not an act of pride, for pride is sinful, and God cannot sin, the greatest good is indeed his glory, its the greatest good that we or he can work towards. Samuel mentions how the Israelites, are beneficiaries of God's great work in creation, the display of his glory "For the sake of his great name the LORD will not reject his people, because the LORD was pleased to make you his own" 1Sam 12:22.
Regarding the sovereignty of God, i recently read some challenging verse, still in the book of 1Samuel, Hannah, Samuel's mother prays what is probably the most revealing prayer unto the ambit of our Lord's power and control. 1Sam2:6 says "The Lord brings death and makes alive; he brings down to the grave and raises up." Jesus lays down his own life, only to take it back again, he stresses that no one takes it away from him, but he has the authority to lay it down himself, and take it up (John 10:18). The fact that he brings Lazarus back to life (John 11) as well shows that he “brings up from the grave” as the Hannah prayer states, I submit that the 1st part of the verse also gives a literal meaning to the power, and possibly the actions of our Lord.
Again, even in this, where our understanding starts to let us down, we have to return to our foundational truth. There is no greater good than God and his actions, so even in his bringing death and making alive, his intentions never have a shred of malice in them.
Job, in his final response to the LORD after questioning why calamity has befallen him, admits to God's sovereignty with one of the most morally challenging quotes of the whole bible. “I know you can do all things; no plan of yours can be thwarted”. The difficulty in this statement is that, if true, will immediately lead to the qn of why bad things actually happen, why death happens if God's plans cannot be thwarted, and if he can do all things. My humble thoughts on this follow, and they are open to criticism and correction. In fact, such are more than welcome.
The tragedies we face, the pain, suffering and death are a consequence of our fall from grace, and the groaning of the earth that resulted from the curse it was put under in Genesis 1:17. At some point as well, Satan, after being hurled to earth following his battle in heaven, was given authority over this world. 2 Cor 4:4 calls him the god of this earth. Rev 13:7 states that all authority over every tribe, nation, language and nation was given to him. If this rings true, then what happens on earth is probably more accurately seen as the interaction between God's goodness and sovereignty and Satan's evil scheming and actions. We may ask where God is when Tsunami's hit Japan, but if we consider the real power and real evil of the ruler of this world, then maybe we should start to ask how it is that the very ground beneath our feet is not disintegrating this very moment. I'd submit that the mere fact that we live is because God restricts the power and evil of Satan over the earth (Hebrews 1:1 tells us that the whole universe is upheld by the word of Christ's power). Satan HATES man, he is the anti-thesis of God, he wants nothing but our destruction. John Piper put it as “Satan is on a leash”, controlled by God. That being said, I would understand the evil of Satan, and the sovereignty of God to mean that while only God can allow death,only he brings to the grave and brings to life, then God, for a time, allows Satan, in some cases to bring death, destruction and pain unto this world. So we could say, indirectly that God is taking ppl away, if he can surely stop Satan. But Why? How? Again, my understanding fails, and I run to my foundation of comfort.
I think a helpful perspective in understanding this matter is in consideration of the true place of death and life in God's plan. The gospel of Christ is simply stated in Romans 6:23 “For the wages of Sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” The worst thing about death, is not the physical pain, or the mourning of those left behind, but that death, in a world without Christ, is a final, ill-fated separation from God. Our world is fallen, and imperfect, but the Lord still acts to keep this short life bearable, in the least. Death, without Christ spells judgment for man, which means that God not only holds back the devil on a leash, but God unleashes his wrath on the rebels that we are. All this flowing from his perfect justice and holiness, he cannot tolerate sin, indeed Habbakuk 1:13 tells us that his eyes are too pure to even deign to look upon evil. Hebrews 10:31 gives a frighteningly clear expression of what a death without Christ spelt for man “It is a frightful thing to fall into the hands of the living God”
But what does life, and death mean for the Christian? Relying on the perfect sacrifice of Christ means that the Christian life is devoid of the guilt of sin, since the sacrifice has been paid in full. Satan is called the accuser of men, who accuses them before God day and night. (Rev 12:10) But we have a high priest who lives to intercede for us before God every time we sin (1John 2:1). The Christian life is a life without guilt before the holy God. Life on earth is a continual pursuit after personal holiness as we seek to know God more intimately, eagerly awaiting our final adoption as sons (Romans 8:23).
What does death mean for a Christian? Before Christ, death was the judges gavel banging down condemning man to a fiery grave of the wrath of the holy God. But he is good, oh so good, and he is loving. So much so that he came down, took on the form of a poverty stricken man, and died our death, suffering the wrath of God, multiplied countless times over for all the sins of the believers the world-over. He came down, to suffer more than any sinner shall ever suffer in hell. And he rose again, so that we are justified, fully. (Romans 4:25). So now, death to the Christian, is the passageway to our true home, our true citizenship (1 Peter 1:1). Death has turned from being a certain condemnation to being the greatest transition for the Christian, talk about being more than a conqueror! Paul says that he “desires to depart and be with Christ which is better by far” (Phi1:23) and the saints in Hebrews 11 were willing to go through gruesome suffering and death for God. They were “stoned, sawn in two and put to death by the sword – in a world not worthy of them” The book continues to say that “these were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised [as Christ was yet to come] God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.”
So death is indeed a time of grieving, but like all things pertaining to the saints, God has used it for the greatest good (Rom 8:28). If we want to see the perfect outworking of God's plan for his people, unaffected by the evil of Satan and the imperfection caused by our sin, Revelations 21:4, the happiest of endings gives the full picture of what we hope for. And is the hope that we should all hold on to, “Now the dwelling of the Lord is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people and he will be their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There will be no more crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away. He who is seated on the throne said “I am making all things anew.”
Blessed be the name of the Lord. Can't wait to worship alongside you Mark, and all those who have gone before me. I shall surely mourn now, but I shall rejoice that you lived in Christ, who has conquered the grave, and thus, so shall you.
Dedicated to Mark Roux, can't wait to see you again brother
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