Making Sense of Death
There have been many school shootings in the past 10 years. From kindergarteners to seniors and every grade in between it seems. It’s hard to imagine a more horrific thought, sending your child to school and they are gunned down. So sad, so infuriating. The ridiculousness and horror of these shootings has driven me to rethink death.
I pray for the families who have had to endure this and I pray for God’s protection of my family.
But that is not the point of this article.
What about the kids who were killed? Their lives snuffed out so early, death of children seems so unjust.
If all of humanity is lost and if God wants all people to become saved. And if people can’t be saved without hearing the gospel of Jesus then how can God be just and fair with these young victims of murder?
Does God make sure that every child heard the gospel and made a choice?
What about the kindergarteners? are they automatically in the kingdom of Jesus because they are so young?
To really tackle these questions well I think we have to rethink some things.
- Rethink the State of Humanity
- Rethink Death and Hell
- and most importantly …Rethinking the gospel of the kingdom of Jesus Christ.
I’ve learned that when things don’t jive well with Jesus Christ and his revealed nature then we need to rethink them. We need to rethink what we think we know about reality or what we assume scripture teaches.
Think about it, if God thought like we do he has been living with billions of children who are terminally ill since the beginning. This is not the case. Is the death of a 5 year old now seen differently to God then the death of an 85 year old? and if not why?
The Death of Jesus … The Death of All
To accurately understand what happened at the death of Jesus we need expand our thinking.
When Jesus was tortured and killed at the young age of 33, by virtue of substitution we all died. This is true in the realty of God. It should become true in our reality.
So that 85 year old, that 5 year old and you who read this are considered dead, extinct, in the eyes of God. Remember how God told Adam and Eve in Genesis, “in the day that you eat of that fruit you will surely die.” Yet they ate and lived on physically for hundreds of years. Right there is a huge discrepancy in definitions.
God’s definition of our death is different from ours.
To us death means our bodies stop working and they rot. And we don’t get to talk to that person in that body EVER again, we just only have hope at that point. It’s somewhat terrifyingly sad and no one knows what its like.
But to God death is not this, he can resurrect a body as easily as he created them. Think Lazarus, think Jesus himself.
To accurately understand reality, the future in Jesus Christ and to have a healthy perspective about death and heaven. Gods definition of death need to become our definition of death.
The gospel of the kingdom of Jesus then becomes much different. Its not a decision point that determines our heaven or hell.
It’s an invitation of God into the earth which is already dead, essentially humanity was in hell already. He then ended us by substitution of himself, he then resurrected us by substitution and now only rejection of Jesus Christ will screw that up.
So those 5 year olds and the 85 year olds were already dead. They were also already resurrected into new life in Jesus Christ.
Had those 5 year olds knowingly rejected Jesus Christ? No of course not, at worst they may have been parroted their parents rejection of him, unlikely, rare and too young to know what they were saying. So they are fine and alive in Christ.
Did that 85 year old grandparent reject Jesus Christ? maybe? but I don’t know many who have really rejected him. Some of my grandparents never spoke of him, they never lived for him, they never said much of anything to indicate their belief of disbelief in him that I know of. But they attended a church so I’m hopeful they knew who Jesus was and never knowingly rejected him.
The Kingdom of Jesus Christ Is Here in Part and Its Coming In Fullness
My point is the coming kingdom of Jesus Christ, which will never stop increasing, is entered through belief in Jesus Christ. Knowing him as the way to life, not only to heaven but to life again, to the future itself, to an endless life that cannot be snuffed out.
There is a verse in Hebrews that says “It has been appointed for us once to die and then the judgment.”
We all experience death, we should look past it, not allow the circumstances around those death to torment us. Death is not the end, there is a resurrection, there is a future. We also need to rethink the end because Jesus Christ himself is the End (see Colossians 1), and that is infinitely good news.
To accept or to reject Jesus Christ is not some religious decision point. It is the path to life, the path to the future. Finding life of Christ is not difficult or rare and it does not come through some complex sermon and altar call and commitment to a set of religious rules.
It comes from within, after the testimony of his people. The father himself reveals Jesus to hearts so their is no need to torment and to panic over “did this person hear the gospel before their death?” Did God just condemn 20 kindergarteners to hell because he allowed some insane 18 year old to enter a school to kill? NO he didn’t!
Those kids were already dead and resurrected. Those kids had not rejected Christ so they are just as fine as the 85 year old woman who loved Jesus her entire life.
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