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I was talking to a Christian brother recently concerning the stress and strains of life:  “Well, we get by day to day.  Anyway, God has built us to last ‘threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength … fourscore years’” (Ps. 90: 10). 

Job, the old patriarch, spoke these wise words:  “And said, Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD” (Job 1:  21).  All must die - some at an old age, others in their youth.  Death happens to kings and nobles, the poor beggar on the street as well as the common working people.  Notwithstanding, death is no respecter of persons or status. 

“All are like actors on a stage, some have one part and some another, death is still busy amongst us; here drops one of the players, we bury him with sorrow, and to our scene again: then falls another; yea all, one after another, till death be left upon the stage.  Death is that damp which puts out all the dim lights of vanity.  Yet man finds it easier to believe that all the world shall die, than to suspect himself” – Thomas Adams.

Are we fearful of death?  How do we feel to awake each morning to live another day?  Do we give thanks to the Lord for His preserving hand upon us through the night?  We have heard of some who die peacefully in their sleep.  We have also heard of those who suffer years of debilitating illness before the final end.  No one, however, is exempted from death’s cold clutches.  Few there are who do not fear this overshadowing reality of facing death some day. 

Natural death is described in Scriptures  as 1) a yielding up of the breath:  “Thou hidest Thy face, they are troubled:  Thou takest away their breath, they die, and return to their dust”  (Ps. 104: 29);   2) a return to our original dust:  “for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return” (Gen. 3: 19 cf. Eccl. 12: 7).  The American Tract Society Dictionary defines death  “as  the  soul’s  laying  off  the body, its clothing, (II Cor. 5:3-4), or the tent in which it has dwelt (II Cor.  5: 1; II Pet. 1: 13-14).  The death of the believer is a departure, a going home, a falling asleep in Jesus (Philp. 1: 23; Matt. 26: 24; Jn. 11:11).”

In II Corinthians 5: 1, the apostle Paul used the phrase, “our earthly house of this tabernacle” to illustrate our frail, mortal body.  He compares the body to an earthly house, “because such buildings consist of slight and mean materials, they are soon set up, and as soon taken down” – William Burkitt’s Expository Notes.  Anticipating his death, the apostle Peter earnestly sought to stimulate his readers to spiritual diligence as he must shortly “put off this my tabernacle” (II Pet. 1: 14).

“Born once die twice”

“Born once die twice, born twice die once” is often quoted.  The former phrase, “Born once die twice” is true of the non-believer.  He is once born into the world but has to face death twice.  The first is death in the flesh, the departing out of the world of the living.  The second death is eternal death in the fires of Hell:  “And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.  And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire” (Rev. 20: 14-15).  This judgment of the unbelievers is reiterated in Revelation 21:8: “But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.”

“Born twice die once”

“Born twice die once” is the blessed lot of the believer in Christ.  Like everyone else, the Christian is born of earthly parents.  That is the first birth.  He is born again when he receives Jesus Christ as his personal Lord and Saviour.  This was what the Lord Jesus meant when he answered Nicodemus: “ … Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (Jn. 3: 3).  Note again the words of our Saviour:  “I say unto you, He that believeth on Me hath everlasting life” (Jn. 6: 47).  Hence, the Christian has to face death only once when he departs from the land of the living. 

“Death must be viewed through Jesus, or fear it we shall, if we think seriously.  Death is a separation from the body; the second death is a separation from God.  The former we must pass through, not so the latter” (“Daily Remembrancer”- James Smith).   

(… to be continued) 

- Pastor