Prepared for a Reason: Lesson 6

Overview

Worldly Assumptions About Death

The world holds several assumptions about death that Scripture directly confronts. Examining these helps us grieve with hope and live with confidence in Christ.

Death is not God's will. God did not create death; He created life. Eden, before the fall, contained no death. As Romans 5:12 explains, "sin came into the world through one man, and death came through sin." Sinful human beings, not God, introduced death into the good creation. Ezekiel 33:11 puts it plainly: "I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from their ways and live." It is helpful to distinguish God's active will (what He causes) from His permissive will (what He allows as a consequence). Death falls into the latter—allowed as the consequence of sin, yet still under His sovereign knowledge, for "their days are determined and the number of their months is known to you" Job 14:5.

Death is not our friend. Sentimental language can soften death, but Scripture is honest: it is "the bitterness of death" 1 Samuel 15:32, bringing "terrors" Psalm 55:4 and a "sting" 1 Corinthians 15:56. Death is named an enemy. And yet, for those in Christ, it is the doorway into His presence. Paul confesses, "For to me, living is Christ, and dying is gain… my desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better" Philippians 1:21–23. When a believer dies after long suffering, the relief loved ones feel is not wrong—it is mercy. We grieve, but as 1 Thessalonians 4:13–18 reminds us, we do not grieve "as others do who have no hope."

Christians do not become angels. Angels are a distinct, fixed creation of God—rational beings, not omnipresent or omniscient, who serve and praise Him. Humans are not promoted into their ranks. Instead, Christ "will transform the body of our humiliation that it may be conformed to the body of his glory" Philippians 3:21. Our hope is bodily resurrection—glorified bodies like the risen Jesus—not a change of species. As Luther observed, reason struggles to believe scattered dust will rise again, but the God who created from nothing has spoken, and so it will be.

Eternity has already begun. Many assume eternity starts at death, but John 3:16 and John 3:36 speak in the present tense: whoever believes has eternal life. Today is one day in the eternity God has already given His people. This makes the reality of heaven and hell urgent—not as topics to soften or downplay, but as truths that fuel our witness. God takes sin seriously, takes forgiveness seriously, and uses His people to bring His word to those around them. So we mourn our losses honestly, comfort one another with the promise of resurrection, and live each day already inside the eternal life Christ has secured for us.

Transcript

We thank you so much for this day. 6s

We thank you for gathering us once again together to worship you, to be taught by your 9s

word, to be led in love through your spirit. 16s

Lord, we ask that you would teach us today, that you would lead us by your spirit to know 22s

you better, to know the truth that is your word, and to know that we are loved by you. 27s

Lord, be with us and keep us today and always. 36s

This we pray in your holy name, Amen. 40s

Last week, we studied about the worldly assumptions regarding hedonism. 43s

hedonism is the basic principle that good and evil are defined in terms of pleasure and pain. 50s

In hedonism, that which is pleasurable is good, that which is painful is bad or evil. 59s

But a Christian defines goodness in terms of faithfulness to the Lord and his word regardless of consequences. 67s

Have you ever met someone who you look at their circumstances and you go, oh my gosh, they've got to just be in so much pain and their life is just tragic. 75s

And yet they walk with joy, they walk with joy, and they do so because they know the Lord, and they bring that witness everywhere they go. 89s

That is the Christian defining goodness in terms of faithfulness to the Lord regardless of consequences. 104s

Jonathan Edwards, we heard last year, that was the colonial American congregational preacher, theologian missionary had 70 resolutions, one of which is do whatever I think is most to God's glory. 113s

He believed that living so that God would be praised and honored and glorified would bring him the greatest pleasure. 128s

Today, the topic that we're diving into are worldly assumptions about death, worldly assumptions about death. 137s

Okay, so the first assumption that the world makes is that it is the will of God, that death is the will of God. 154s

Let's open our Bibles to Romans, the fifth chapter. This is in the New Testament. If you go to the middle of your Bible, you're going to keep going to the right a good bit. 171s

We're going to go past the Gospels, past the Book of Acts, and you'll find yourself in Romans, the fifth chapter, verse 12. 184s

Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death came through sin, and so death spread to all because all have sinned. 200s

So how do we know, or when and how to death enter into creation, we know that death entered into creation at the fall in the time of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. 211s

We're going to come to this again in a moment, but how do we know that this was not God's will? 227s

Well, first of all, we know that death was not God's will because God did not create death. 234s

God did not create death. Eden was before the expression of God's perfect will, and life in Eden before the fall did not include death. 243s

That was no part of the Garden of Eden, but in Genesis 3, God warns Adam and Eve that if they eat of the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil, then that would bring death. 256s

And so death, that their disobedience would bring death, and he did not want that to happen. 272s

And so he tells them, don't do this. He does not want death entering into creation. 277s

Sinful human beings, not God, sinful human beings in their disobedience are responsible for introducing the evils of sin and death into God's good creation. 285s

If we go over to the prophet Ezekiel, so if you go back to the left, back into the Old Testament, Ezekiel, chapter 33 verse 11, 299s

Sheds further light on the myth that death is God's will. 319s

So we're going to read Ezekiel chapter 33 verse 11. 322s

Say to them, as I live, says the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from their ways and live, turn back. 328s

Turn back from your evil ways for why will you die a house of Israel? 339s

He's saying he doesn't want death. He doesn't like death. Turn back, turn back. 346s

Death, whether temporal or eternal, is not God's will. It's a consequence of human sin. 354s

We know that if our child disobeys and they know what the consequences are, as parents, we need to follow through on the consequence. 363s

We want for our child to apologize, to seek forgiveness. We want to give them that forgiveness, that reassurance that they are loved. 375s

And you still have the consequence. So sin is in the world. The consequence is death. 386s

We still have the consequence, but God wants us to turn to him, wants us to receive forgiveness, to receive his love. 394s

We still have the consequence of death, this side of heaven. 405s

God knows exactly when we'll die. If you go back just a little bit past proverbs and Psalms, you're going to find yourself in Job. 411s

We're going to go to Job chapter 14, Job chapter 14 verse 5. 422s

Since their days are determined and the number of their months is known to you and you have appointed the bounds that they cannot pass. 435s

God knows every moment of your life. He holds them in his hands. He knows when you are going to die. 444s

There's a distinction between God's permissive will, the things that he does not cause, but that he allows. 454s

And his active will, those things that he actually does, there's a distinction here. 462s

God knows, God did not want for our death. He does not want for death. 471s

But he allows for it because it is a consequence of our sin. 480s

He knows when our death will be. He allows death, but it was not his will for his human creatures from the beginning. 489s

The second assumption that we have is that death is a friend. 502s

Death is a friend. Go to 1 Samuel 15 verse 32. 515s

We're going to go to three different verses here. So 1 Samuel 15, 32. 523s

So this is a total side note, but you know me and my side notes, my tangents. 539s

I love that this is an easy Bible to flip through. I love that because it means that it's used. 545s

And I love that in our church we have used Bibles. 551s

The word of God is used. That is, that's a good, neither here nor there side note, but it's good. 557s

Okay, so 1 Samuel 15 verse 32. 566s

Then Samuel said, bring Aegog king of the Amalekites here to me. 569s

And Aegog came to him haltingly. Aegog said, surely this is the bitterness of death, but Samuel, oh, the bitterness of death, that's where we're ending. 573s

So what descriptive word is used to describe death? 581s

Bitterness. 588s

Death is bitterness. 590s

Let's go to Psalm 55. That's in the middle of the Bible. 599s

Psalm 55 verse 4. 603s

Psalm 55 verse 4. 606s

My heart is in anguish within me. 609s

The terrors of death have fallen upon me. 612s

The terrors of death. 617s

So we've got death being described with bitterness, with terrors. 622s

And then let's go through to 1 Corinthians chapter 15. 628s

This is back in the New Testament. 632s

1 Corinthians chapter 15 verse 56. 635s

The sting of death is sin. 646s

And the power of sin is the law. 648s

So here we hear that death has a sting, has a power. 652s

We might like terms like friend because as believers we have really mixed feelings about death. 665s

It's hard. 674s

We all know this side of heaven. 676s

Death is hard. 679s

It just stinks. 681s

It's hard to miss someone that we love. 685s

But we also know that our loved one, as a believer in Christ Jesus, is in His presence. 690s

And so we have this mixed emotion, mixed feeling about death. 700s

There's a hymn, all creatures of our God and King. 705s

And it speaks of death as kind and gentle. 709s

Bach penned, come sweet death. 713s

The deaths that come after months and months of suffering and pain, years of suffering, they are a relief. 716s

They are a relief because the mourner knows that their loved one is no longer in any pain. 726s

And as one who mourns yet finds relief in the death of their loved one for the sake of their loved one, 736s

you don't have to have regret for having that relief because the pain is over, the pain is done. 747s

That is not wrong. 759s

It's not wrong to want your loved one to have relief. 766s

And in that sense, death can be a blessing. 772s

Not for the ones here. 779s

We mourn, we grieve, we ache. 781s

But we know that those who believe in Christ, when they die, this side of heaven, they are in His presence. 785s

In the case of Christians, death is the doorway through which we enter the very presence of Christ. 793s

So in that sense, we can all consider death a blessing because we know where we are going. 799s

We know in whose presence we will be. 808s

And we know, as little as we know of the afterlife, we know that it is good. 812s

And to be in the presence of Jesus, that has to be good. 818s

That has to be good. 823s

The hymn, all creatures of our God and King, verse 5 says, 825s

and you, most kind and gentle death, waiting to hush our final breath, O praise him, Alleluia. 830s

You lead to heaven, the child of God, where Christ our Lord, the way has trod. 838s

We know that Christ has gone before us, before us, that Christ is the one to hold us. 843s

Not only today, but He holds us in death, but He holds us up close and personal in His very presence, in death. 850s

And so we know, we know He leads the way and we know that we go into the eternity, into eternal life, with Him, facing Him, in His presence. 860s

Still, the scriptures reveal that death originated as a consequence of sin and not as a part of God's original perfect will for His people. 874s

The verses from 1 Corinthians called death and enemy. 886s

Death is an enemy. 890s

Let's look at Isaiah, chapter 15. 892s

So this is the first book of prophecy that we come to right after the book of Psalms and Proverbs will come to Isaiah chapter 15. 896s

Oh, I'm right there. 907s

Verse 15, verse 26. 909s

I don't see a verse 26 in chapter 15. 913s

So, wow, again, we're coming back to Jesus loves you. 924s

Wow. 931s

Okay, so we're not going to search in Isaiah right now. 935s

I'm not going to spend our time. 943s

Oh, my gosh. 944s

In the truest sense, in the truest sense, and on the authority of Scripture, we can say that death is not our friend. 948s

It is the gate through which we pass to be in the presence of Jesus, but it is not our friend. 956s

It was not created as a purposeful intention for God's human creatures. 962s

It was created as a consequence. 971s

God's people can face death differently than unbelievers, though. 975s

If we go back to the New Testament in Philippians, so this is going to be right after Galatians, Ephesians, we're going to find ourselves in Philippians chapter 1, verses, or beginning in verse 21. 980s

We're Paul under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit rights. 999s

For to me, living is Christ, and dying is gain. 1004s

If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me, and I do not know which I prefer. 1009s

I am hard pressed between the two. 1015s

My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better, but to remain in the flesh is more necessary for you. 1017s

So Paul says it would be better for him to be in the presence of Christ. 1026s

Yet while he is present this side of heaven, it is for the benefit of those that he gets to serve and gets to preach to and teach. 1035s

So whether we live or die, we live in Christ, we die in Christ. 1049s

As Christians, we have that assurance, that hope and that security and that peace and comfort knowing that our lives, this side of heaven and in heaven are in Christ, in Christ Jesus. 1053s

Let's keep going to the right to 1st Thessalonians, chapter 4, beginning in verse 13. 1072s

But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who have died, so that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. 1084s

For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have died. 1094s

For this we declare to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord will by no means proceed those who have died. 1102s

For the Lord himself, with a cry of command, with the archangel's call and with the sound of God's trumpet, will descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 1112s

Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up in the clouds together with them to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will be with the Lord forever. 1122s

Therefore encourage one another with these words. 1132s

It is so true that those who are in Christ and those whose loved ones die in Christ, we grieve, we grieve, but we grieve differently than Jesus. 1136s

And those without hope, because we have that assurance, we know exactly to whom they belong, we know in whose presence they are, we know to whom we are going. 1152s

A third assumption is that at death, oh gosh, this one, I tell you what. 1169s

Every time a bell rings, an angel gets its wings. 1179s

Okay, so. 1185s

So the third assumption is that at death, Christians become angels, members of God's heavenly hosts. 1191s

And old Christian poem says, I want to be an angel, and with the angel's sing, well that poet is headed for bad news because he or she is not going to be an angel. 1200s

Angels, in scripture, we find that angels are a separate and unique creation of God. 1214s

An angel is not a human elevated, an angel is a separate creation of God. 1223s

Angels and human beings are eternal creatures, but in heaven, humans will not become angels. 1233s

Instead, or rather, God will give us glorified bodies. 1240s

God will give us glorified bodies. 1246s

Jesus promised to transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body. 1249s

In Philippians chapter 3, we were just there. 1255s

Philippians chapter 3 verse 21, it says he will transform the body of our humiliation that it may be conformed to the body of his glory. 1260s

Our bodies will be like the body of Jesus after his resurrection. 1274s

Jesus was not made an angel. 1280s

We will neither be made angels, or neither will we be made angels. 1283s

We don't become angels, but we have the glorified body because angels are a distant creature and spiritual force which God created. 1291s

They don't grow, they don't propagate, they don't have baby angels. 1307s

The set number of angels are created at the beginning and it neither increases nor decreases. 1314s

These are God's angels created done. 1322s

Let's see here. 1329s

They are not omnipresent, but present only in one particular place at a time. 1331s

We see this in scripture when the angels come at the birth of Christ, when the angels come to proclaim that he has risen. 1337s

We see the angels coming to speak and to minister to various people. 1347s

The angels come to minister to Jesus when he is in the wilderness and he had been tempted. 1353s

They come to minister to him, to care for him. 1358s

They are rational beings that rejoice over the sinner's repentance. 1362s

I love those verses that Jesus tells about how heaven rejoices over one repentance sinner that you can imagine the multitude of angels singing and praising God when there is a repentance sinner, when there is one who turns to the Lord. 1368s

They are neither Almighty nor omniscient. 1390s

They cannot read our minds, they don't know what we are thinking. 1393s

They are not idle. 1399s

Angels are not idle, but the joy and the bliss that they have as God's created beings is that they get to serve the Lord. 1402s

When we get glimpses into the throne room, we hear the angels proclaiming holy, holy, holy Lord, holy God, and they are praising God. 1413s

This is their service and they are joy-filled for that. 1429s

Luther said, thus about death, he says, thus we honorably carry the dead to the grave. 1434s

And we together with them will rise on judgment day and the bodies will not be different bodies, although they will be constituted differently and transfigured. 1442s

This article has suffered and still suffers the most opposition and is most difficult to believe. 1452s

Hence, it is difficult to believe that man who dies and perishes in so many different ways is to live again. 1459s

That his members, so widely scatter, reduced to dust and ashes and fire, water and soil are to be gathered again. 1466s

That his soul is again to live in the same body in which it lived before, and that he is to have the same eyes, ears, hands and feet, except that the body together with its members is to have a different manner of existence. 1475s

If you ask reason to explain this, you will never believe it. 1492s

But then God will prove his divine power and majesty, thus he did when he created heaven and earth out of nothing. 1497s

He spoke only one word and immediately they stood there, so it will be at the time of the resurrection. 1504s

The final assumption that we are going to look at is that eternity begins when we die. 1514s

Let's go to John chapter 3 verse 16. 1538s

This is the Gospel of John. It is the fourth book in the New Testament. 1542s

Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, John chapter 3. 1547s

First we are going to read verse 16. 1552s

For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. 1558s

Then we are going to go turn the page and go to verse 36. 1568s

Whoever believes in the sun has eternal life. 1572s

Whoever disobeyed the sun will not see life, but must endure God's wrath. 1576s

Both verses from John chapter 3 clearly state that anyone who believes in Jesus has and note that present tense of the word has, not will have or had but has eternal life. 1582s

You will hear Pastor Ibel or myself talk about how today is but one day in all of eternity because it is. 1601s

Our eternity does not begin at the point of our death. Our eternity has started. Our eternity began at the point of our life for us. 1613s

We are created to be eternal. 1627s

Adam and Eve were created to be eternal, immortal in the Garden of Eden. 1633s

They sinned. The consequence of their sin is death. 1641s

Death enters in. We are all born in the image of man in that nature of sin. 1646s

And so the consequence of our life being born with a sinful nature is that we must die. 1652s

We are called to turn to the Lord so that our eternal life is in Him. 1664s

We have an eternity. Our eternity is heaven or hell. 1676s

Hell gets really downplayed. The fact of hell that there is a hell gets really downplayed. 1681s

I had a classmate in seminary that said he was just shocked. 1691s

He was doing an internship and he was preaching and he said in the response he got from people was kind of like, oh the devil, like that guy is still around? 1697s

Oh hell, that's still a thing. Like they were shocked. And this is church people. 1710s

Hell is real. Which goes back to why we find it so important that we are called as disciples to share Jesus. 1717s

Because Jesus is real and salvation in Jesus is real. 1731s

God takes sin very seriously. God takes forgiveness very seriously. 1739s

And he uses us to bring that word to people around us. 1751s

Over the past several weeks we have looked at a variety of topics. 1761s

We have looked at epistemology, ontology, anthropology, axiology, hedonism and death. 1767s

We saw how the world has various assumptions about each of these things. 1774s

Where the world looks for finding value, for finding priorities, for finding thoughts and doctrine. 1780s

Worldly assumptions in this class have been addressed by scripture because scripture is the source to address all worldly assumptions. 1794s

As you all know, or probably know, Pastor Ibel's mother was called home to the presence of Jesus this past week. 1807s

And so we have all experienced death of loved ones. 1817s

And right now I want you to keep that family, keep the family in your prayers because we know that death is not a friend. 1824s

We know there is a sting, but we also know that death is that gate in which we pass to be in the presence of Jesus. 1835s