Aroma of Death vs. Aroma of Life?

For some reason known only to God, the last several months have brought to my attention the painful reality of the frailty of human life. It began with the home-going to Heaven of my own mom just 3 days before Christmas. That was followed quickly one month later with my wife’s dear uncle, long-time friend and co-worker in this ministry, David Virkler’s sudden departure. Then just this last week or so, several people associated with our church had family members die from a variety of causes.

At this point, I was fairly sure that we had seen our share of this kind of thing for a time and could expect a little break. But not so! Just a few days ago, the chairman of the board of this ministry, Dedication Evangelism, saw his daughter die after a long struggle with cancer. Children are not supposed to see death before their own parents. It is a unique pain and somehow seems to go against nature and what should be the normal order of things.

But we still live in a in a sinful and fallen world in which there is not much that is really ‘normal’ - at least in the way God would have wanted. Events take place around the globe every day that are beyond horrible. Ask those who lost family, friends, and maybe all they owned in the tornado outbreak just days ago in the Midwest. Or try to wrap your mind around some third world countries where babies and children die in their mother’s arms daily with numbers beyond what we can fathom.

The reality is this. Death is part of life - and perhaps the most certain part. It cannot be avoided. Even the Bible confirms that and gives a general time frame for it. Scripture mentions about 70 years as the norm. In a place like America, that figure has been increased somewhat by modern medical technology. But in other places around the world, that same number may be the exception to the rule. Perhaps, if it were all averaged out, the biblical number of 70 years is very close.

But the Bible also shares something about death that is so important that it is not even mentioned in the same context with just physical death alone. The writer of Hebrews penned words that everyone should be keenly aware of and seriously act upon. Hebrews 9:27-28 reads, “And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.”

God has given man more than adequate warning here and elsewhere in Scripture, about the reality of a life somewhere in eternity and the great need to be ready to enter it at a moment’s notice. To those outside of Christ, this verse should come across as absolutely frightening – especially the word ‘judgment’. But for a variety of reasons, these words do not seem enough for countless millions to properly prepare for that sobering event – the split second they stand before their Creator and answer for the life they lived and their most crucial response to His Son's sacrifice for them.

But there are also millions that are fully prepared for when they someday take their final breath. These have received Jesus Christ as their personal Savior. Great personal examples would be those mentioned at the outset here like my mom in December, Dave in January, and now Jim’s recently departed daughter in April. These did not fear death or the wrath that can be associated with it as revealed in verses like Romans 1:18. Instead, they and their loved ones can key in on great passages of hope like 1 John 2:1-2. “My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins.”

Although being human means that the grief of physical death must run its course, God’s Word and God’s Spirit provide the supernatural resources to enable suffering loved ones to cope and overcome. He provides them the miraculous ability to realize the reality of the massive difference between those who die ‘in Christ’ and those who do not.

The Apostle Paul penned many of these great words of comfort under the direction of the Holy Spirit. Some are read regularly at almost every Christian funeral service. To Christians, they ring true because they are filled with the reality, victory, joy, and assurance in Christ alone. They provide the all-important truths most desperately needed these most difficult of all days.

 "O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?" The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Corinthians 15:55-57)


Then too, Paul provided an incredible and unmatched description that can and should provide the greatest sense of comfort and hope imaginable to those who can somehow focus and concentrate on the greatest reality of all concerning a believer’s death.

“For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words. (1 Thessalonians 4:15-18)

 Bill Breckenridge