It Is Not Painful To Die

My pastor's wife flew home from out of state with the good news. Her dad, himself a retired pastor, is doing fine.

Just days before, her dad suffered a massive heart attack. Through a series of curiously placed events which can only be satisfactorily attributed to God's intervention--which is another story fit for a whole 'nother post--he is now walking and very much alive. That's after flatlining four times and consequently being zapped as many times before finally reviving.

What caught my attention, as the story was related, was what this old pastor said after literally coming back from the dead--clinically, at least. He said, "I just found out that it is not painful to die."

I know I'm a little out of context here, but somehow that statement is so much less startling now that I have been a believer for some time and have become acquainted with what God has to say about death:

"Where, O death, is your victory?
"Where, O death, is your sting?"
(1 Corinthians 15:55)

In what seemed like a near-tragedy, this seasoned servant of the LORD came out doubly blessed with a more profound understanding of what his Father in heaven has said about his experience:

"When calamity comes, the wicked are brought down, but even in death the righteous have a refuge." (Proverbs 14:32)

Truly now, by heart and in the Spirit, this faithful minister has KNOWN exactly what God meant when he said:

"Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him!" (Romans 5:9)

Surely, in his lifelong walk with the Father, he must have preached many times about death thus:

"Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death--that is, the devil--and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death." (Hebrews 2:14, 15)

Or,

"I tell you the truth, if a man keeps my word, he will never see death." (John 8:51)

Or,

"For this God is our God for ever and ever; he will be our guide even to the end." (Psalm 48:14)

But now, having himself been compelled by his failing heart to plunge headlong into that "zone" most of us prefer to push in the periphery of our consciousness as a "bridge we'd rather cross when we get there," with perhaps but memorized verses bouncing back and forth in his fading mind, he comes back with absoluteness in the absolute certainty of what God promised:

"My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever." (Psalm 73:26)

"But God will redeem my life from the grave; he will surely take me to himself." (Psalm 49:15)

"...he will swallow up death forever. The Sovereign LORD will wipe away the tears from all faces..." (Isaiah 25:8)

He understands, these promises pertain to a fulfillment beyond life here on earth. But that he is now gifted with the privilege to still speak about it in this life, he knows with unprecedented clarity:

"...that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life." (John 3:15)

In his innermost conviction, where language is not sufficient for expression, he echoes the apostle's persuasion:

"For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our LORD." (Romans 8:38, 39)

Having endured physical distress of the magnitude that he did, and the equally drastic medical response made necessary, there is still to this day some discomfort in each walking step this loyal man of God takes. Yet, deep in his soul there must be this peace few like him will know:

"Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me." (Psalm 23:4)

Oh, what triumph over death resides in you, LORD! What victory:

"I will ransom them from the power of the grave;
"I will redeem them from death.
"Where, O death, are your plagues?
"Where, O grave, is your destruction?"
(Hosea 13:14)

I pray, Father, that you fully restore this proven soldier. Send him forth some more to proclaim for you how we are to be of good cheer for your Son has overcome the world.

In Jesus' Mighty Name, I ask it, LORD. Amen.