BEAUTY AND BENEFITS OF DEATH

According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. But if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labour: yet what I shall choose I wot not. For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better…. Philippians 1:20-23

“For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain” – Philippians 1:21.

One day LIFE and DEATH came into contact with each other. LIFE asked DEATH, “Why do people love me, but hate you?” DEATH looked at LIFE, laughed and responded: “Because you are a beautiful lie, but I am the painful truth.”   

Everyone of us here today love life, but hate death. Whenever and wherever death strikes we weep and wail, calling Mr. Death all manner of unprintable names. I do not like death because he is wicked and lacks compassion.

A story was told of how death became uncompassionate: One day God sent Death on a mission to pluck the life of an elderly man. When he arrived, the people wailed and pleaded asking him to allow the old man to at least enjoy the fruits of his labours having suffered to raise his children. Death listened and went back and reported to God. Another day, he was sent to pluck the life of a young person. When he arrived, the people cried and pleaded, asking him to be compassionate having seen that this young person was still full of life and should be allowed to enjoy life a little more. As before, Death listened and went back. This scenario kept playing until one day God asked Death to draw near because He had a message for him. When Death came, God pierced through the eyes of Mr. Death and blinded him. He also dug His fingers into his ear drums causing him to become deaf. Therefore, whenever and wherever Death arrives, and whoever he lays his hands on, no matter how much we cry and plead, Death would not listen.

At Philippians 1:21 Apostle Paul enthused, “For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”

    

Each time I read this passage or hear it read, I always ask myself, “What gain is there in death?”

Without mincing words, I affirm that Death is both beautiful and beneficial. Without death, earth would be a terrible place to live in. Imagine living with all the Adolph Hitlers, Idi Amins, Osama Bin Ladens, Sani Abachas’ etcetera of this world. Earth would be a living Hell. This is why Hell is a terrible place for anyone who goes there because in Hell you would not find one single good person. Unlike Heaven, there will be no single unrighteous person there.     

If there is no death, Mama whom we have gathered today to bid farewell to would still be racked by the sickness that took her life. My own mother died of stroke almost five years ago. If not for death, she would still have been plagued by that terrible malady.

Earthly life is a journey which terminates at physical death, but continues in another conscious realm of existence in eternity. Man is a being whose origin transcends time. He is created in eternity, born in time and returns back to eternity. Time is the period of tests and transition in which the soul’s Heaven’s worthiness is ascertained or its unworthiness revealed.

Death is not the end of man, but the unclothing of mortality and encasement of immortality in eternity’s two great divides of either joy or sorrow bespeaking of the need for man to carefully moderate his activities in this realm, aware that the good or ill that defines his activities are what determines his place in eternity. Those who are wise use time to prepare for eternity, not to jeopardize it.     

In Divine order of things, man is to be born and man is to die (Ecclesiastes 3:1). His days are numbered, so much so that not even one day of his life will be extended (Job 14:5). For every birth, there is a death.

Death is not the end of life in its entirety. It is the end of one chapter and the beginning of another chapter in another continuous conscious existence.

HOW IS DEATH GAIN?

1. Death is a Cleanser

a.     This is in consonance with the natural order of things. It clears off the old to make room for the young.

b.    If there is no death, there will be no birth. In my community, there was a time when the community was losing too many of her indigenes to death. So, a “powerful” juju man was commissioned to prepare a strong medicine that would stop death. He did. For years no one died, but no child was born! The medicine had to be destroyed. People began to die and births were recorded.

2. Death is Rest (Revelations 14:13)

    a. Imagine what would have happened if we are to live

forever in a world tainted by sin – what would happen to our pains and sicknesses? At death, all these are terminated.  

b. To Christians, death is rest. Revelations 14:13 says:

And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, “Write, ‘Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth:’ Yea, says the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.”   

3. Death Unravels the Treasure God has in Store For

    us (I Corinthians 2:9)

a.     To unravel what God has laid in store for each of us requires that we should first die to be able to access them. I Corinthians 2:9 says:

But as it is written, “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”

b.Jesus envisages our individual death when He said:

“Do not let your heart be troubled: in My Father’s House there are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you that where I am there you will also be.”(John 14:1-3).  

c.     Any time any of us dies, Jesus has come to take such to be with Him in that Holiday of Glory. Luke 16:22 says,

“And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom....”

4. Death is the only passage to Heaven.

   a. It was Peter Tosh who sang, “People want to get to Heaven, but no

       one wants to die.”

b.    Righteous people are not afraid to die, but unrighteous people do. Righteous people look forward to dying because they know that death is the only avenue through which they will enjoy eternity with God in Heaven. At Numbers 23:10, Prophet Balaam said:

Who can count the dust of Jacob, and the number of the fourth part of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his!

c.     Truly, righteous people know that what they experience when they “die” is nothing but the “Shadow of death” (Psalms 23:7). Those who suffer Death in the real sense of the word are the unrighteous.    

   

 5. Death is a Leveler.

    At death, a poor man in time can become a wealthy man of eternity while the wealthy man in time can become the poor man of eternity (Luke 16:19-31).   

   6. Death Wipes Away our Physical Deficiencies and

       Enables us to Put on New Natures

a.     At death, we exchange mortality for immortality. I Corinthians 15:53-55 says:

For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?

b.    When I die, my physical disabilities will become a thing of the past.  

   

WILL YOUR DEATH BE A LOSS OR A GAIN?

When Christians die, Earth loses, but Heaven gains. When unbelievers die, Earth’s loses and Heaven loses. The question that we should ask are: “If I die today, will Earth lose and Heaven gain?” or, “If I die today, will Earth lose and Heaven lose?”

If my death is gain to Christ (because He has harvested me), how is my life beneficial to Him? Am I living to bring glory to God?  

Why is the death of Christians a gain to God?

1.    Their death are precious to Him. “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints” – (Psalms 116:15).

2.    They did not bring shame to Him while they lived (Hebrews 11:14-16)

What we do in time will affect us in eternity. How we live here on Earth determines our fate in the great beyond. 

When we talk about death, we are talking about eternity. Eternity matters are serious matters, which require urgent action. Eternity is that period in our respective histories when time ceases to exist.

How would you enter eternity – in a state of grace or disgrace? The best way to prepare for eternity is to enter into a covenant relationship with God in Christ.

Why not now?