Month: October 2024

Encore Post: In a previous post, I explained that death is the violent separation of our souls from our bodies. The body itself decays and returns to the ground in one fashion or another. God’s sentence on all human beings is fulfilled: “to dust you shall return.” (Genesis 3:19) For the soul of Christians, it has become the gate to paradise. For souls of those without faith in Christ, it leads to hell.

Atheists and many pagan religions see death as the complete end of human life, They believe what our senses and the instruments people have created tell them. They cannot fathom a world without decay and death. “Change and decay in all around I see,” (Abide with me, stanza 2) seems to be reality. Eastern religions believe the universe is god and that souls are reborn until they work off their negative karma. At that point, they believe, the soul ceases to exist, merging into god. Mormons believe souls go to one level of heaven or another, ultimately growing into being gods themselves.

Yet God, who made the heavens and the earth, begs to differ. Souls continue to exist after death. Jesus declared of Christians, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.” (John 11:25–26), “Whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.” (John 12:25–26) The same thing is true of those who do not trust in Christ. (Job 19:25-27, Luke 12:20, Matthew 25:12, 30, 46) So, the souls of Christians, children of God that they are, go to be with Jesus in Paradise, waiting for the day of the Resurrection of their bodies.

Even our bodies, which decay, will rise to life again. When Jesus returns in glory, the souls of the saints will be with him. He will call them from the grave, transform them into a transformed, immortal body. (Philippians 3:20-21, Colossians 3:4, 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18) There is a lot that is a mystery in the intermediate state, which is what theologians call the time when souls are separated from their bodies. We should expect this, since we are sinners and the saints in heaven are purged from sin. The saints in heaven have every tear dried from their eyes and we live in the valley of the shadow of death, filled with suffering and tears. Time no longer exists for them and time is our constant taskmaster. Mostly, they see Jesus and much about him is beyond our understanding. (see John 5:24, 1 John 3:2-3)

Because we love deeply our parents, spouses, friends and children, it is hard for us to be parted from them in death. It is also difficult to be satisfied with what we can understand about their current state. Many of the things we say about them, we cannot find in scripture. Most of the times these thoughts are harmless and comforting. We are better off, however, being content with what we do know. Our Christian dead are with Jesus. They left their sins in the grave, for they were baptized into Christ, who paid for them on the cross. Jesus greeted them home with joy, drying every tear from their eyes. Soon enough, we will join them. Unless Christ returns first, we will rise from the grave with them and be transformed to be like Jesus.

So, then, we are comforted as those who have a sure and certain hope. We grieve, but we eventually receive the peace of God. Their death teaches us to number our days and tighten our grip on his promise that those who believe in him will never die.

Rev. Robert E. Smith
Pastor Emeritus
Fort Wayne, Indiana

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©2022 Robert E. Smith. All rights reserved. Permission granted to copy, share and display freely for non-commercial purposes. Direct all other rights and permissions inquiries to cosmithb@gmail.comy for non-commercial purposes. Direct all other rights and permissions inquiries to cosmithb@gmail.com

Encore Post: This is one of a host of throwaway platitudes we may say at the death of a Christian. We’ve inherited… Or, more correctly, we’ve been infected, by the language of a faithless culture around us. In the absence of the faith, in the absence of the certainty of the resurrection promise of Holy Baptism, the pagan world speaks from ignorance to sloppily salve suffering in grief.

None of these words come from an evil intent. It’s honorable and good to try to speak peace to those in grief. But, we’d do better to stick to the words and themes of the bible.

“Heaven needed another angel.”

No, we don’t become angels when we die. Heaven’s angels are fixed in number. They are created heavenly beings. (Colossians 1:16) They are the messengers of God. The angels are His army, His mighty host. (Joshua 5:14-15; 1 Samuel 17:45) The angels are fearsome in appearance. (Luke 2:9-10) And, God has charged His angels to protect and defend us from the minions of the Evil One.

The Evil One, Lucifer, the Devil was also one of God’s angels. (Luke 10:17-18) He and one third of the angels in heaven rebelled against God. They were cast out. (Revelation 8:10-11; 9:1-3) Satan and His demons (angels) now dwell in hell apart from God and make war to separate us from the Love of Jesus.

God didn’t send His Son to suffer and die to redeem the fallen angels. He did that for us. We are loved and have been redeemed and forgiven in a unique way. Saying that we will become them denigrates the angels. It diminishes God’s love for us to deny that our path to eternal salvation remains human and regains our flesh on the last day. Not angels–fully perfected human beings.

“He’s gone. She’s in a better place.”

Where’d he go?! Is she in a better place, like Antigua? He was hooked-up to an awful lot of machines the last time I saw him.

The science-y view of nothingness beyond death leads to language like passing away. They are “gone” in that there’s nothing more. When we say someone has gone to a better place. We’re agreeing that we don’t know where. It’s a grief-softening move for those without hope. But, we have great hope and a tremendous promise.

We Christians have more to say than that. We can speak the Words of the scripture to console and correctly locate our loved ones. The blessèd dead in the faith are at rest in Christ. The better place to which they’ve gone has a name. They have gone to heaven! We should leap at the chance to name the place where they are. That’s true, consoling, faithful, and beautiful.

The scriptures say that someone has died. (see all of Genesis 5). If we’re still uncomfortable saying someone has died, the scripture still gives us softer words. These softer words contain and still confess the hope we have.

Gained Heaven

We can say that they have “gained heaven.” “For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” (Philippians 1:21)

At Rest

We should say they are “at rest.” “Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been.” (Revelation 6:11)

“And I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.” “Blessed indeed,” says the Spirit, “that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them!” (Rev 14:13)

If you go through an old Lutheran church yard (cemetery), you’ll see a curious thing. When the grave stones switch from English to German, the common phrases switch too. “Loving mother/father and beloved child” give way to something else. You’ll see things like: “Hier Ruhet.” “Ruhet in Gott,” or “Ruhe’ in Christi.” These mean: here rests, rest in God, and rest in Christ.

Let’s stick with the language and imagery of the Bible.

Hang on tight—What does happen when we die? comes next.

Rev. Jason M. Kaspar
Sole Pastor
Mt. Calvary Lutheran Church & Preschool
La Grange, TX

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©2022 Jason Kaspar. All rights reserved. Permission granted to copy, share and display freely for non-commercial purposes. Direct all other rights and permissions inquiries to cosmithb@gmail.com.

Encore Post “In this world, nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes,” quipped Benjamin Franklin. He was right about death, at least. In 1997, a satirical online newspaper ran this headline: “World Death Rate Holding Steady At 100 Percent.” They were right. All but two people in the world’s history have died — including God in the person of Jesus Christ! Yet all people fear death because it means that, in the end, they will lose control of everything. We do everything we can to extend life and in our age, we have done quite well at it. Yet still all people will die and some quite young.

Physically speaking, death is a process that happens as our vital organs cease to function. Practically speaking, medical science pronounces death when the heart stops without the possibility of reviving it or when brain waves cease.

Yet, death is much more than the end of our physical life. It is the judgment of God on sin. Since sin cuts us off from the source of our life, God himself, we will die. When God forbid Adam from eating the Fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, he warned: “in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” (Gen 2:17). When Adam fell, he pronounced his sentence, — and ours. “you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” (Genesis 3:19)

There is also another aspect of death that is not about the end of physical life. The essence of our life, our spirit — our soul is violently separated from our bodies. For Christians who are redeemed by the atoning death of Jesus, the soul separated from its body by death is cleansed of its sin, relieved of pain and grief, lives in paradise with Christ and the souls of all who are redeemed. There, they wait for the second coming of Christ. On that day, the Lord will call their bodies from the grave, reunite their souls and bodies, transforming them to be fit for eternal life.

Rev. Robert E. Smith
Pastor Emeritus
Fort Wayne, Indiana

Last Things #2 | Last Things #3 | Last Things #4 | Last Things #5

©2022-2023 Robert E. Smith. All rights reserved. Permission granted to copy, share and display freely for non-commercial purposes. Direct all other rights and permissions inquiries to cosmithb@gmail.com