Your laws endure to this day, for all things serve you. (Psalm 119:91)
Did you know that God’s greatest servant is also our greatest fear? At least it is the greatest fear for those who know not the Christ, and that fear is . . .
DEATH!
What is death? First, it is the promised consequence of disobedience that God made to Adam in Eden. And God made good on His promise after Adam and Eve sinned. They died spiritually immediately, just as God had warned, and they would die physically years later. Along with humanity, all of creation was affected by their sin and it still groans today (Romans 8:22).
But death is more than just the promised consequence of disobeying God; death is God’s servant. In fact, death is God’s greatest servant. Why? Because death brings every child of God home to that place that the Savior has been preparing for us (John 14:2).
For unbelievers, death is a terrifying thing. Whether they believe it or not, death apart from Christ is the doorway leading into hell, an eternity of separation from the love of God, where “the fire is not quenched” (Mark 9:48). Death for the unbeliever is the awful entrance into the eternal wrath and judgment of God. To be sure, death is fearful beyond words for those who have not surrendered control of their lives to Christ, but for the Christian believer who has transferred trust from self to the Savior, death is God’s greatest servant.
Marinate for a moment on what the apostle Paul said about God’s greatest servant:
To me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. (Philippians 1:21)
Death is gain for the believer; it is unimaginable gain—so much so that it is too great for our finite minds to comprehend. Scripture tells us, “Eye has not seen, ear has not heard, and the mind has not conceived the things God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Corinthians 2:9). Every day on this side of the grave is pointing to that day, the day when we will be welcomed home into glory.
Death comes to all of us. But it comes to the believer as a minister of the Master, doing the Lord’s bidding in bringing us to our real home, a glorious home where we will live forever and ever with our Lord and all of His people.
Let me close with some lovely words from C. S. Lewis. This is the conclusion to The Last Battle, the final book in The Chronicles of Narnia series:
All their life in this world and all their adventures had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has read: which goes on forever: in which every chapter is better than the one before.
This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!
Grace for the Race 