“Please pray for us. We’ve just been hit by a truck.”
I was in the bathroom using the toilet when I got this text. It could have just been a fender-bender, but something inside me reeled more than normal. I called my sister who had texted me to get a few more details.
“Mom seems to be unconscious,” is what she said over and over. Kristi seems a bit aloof, as if she wasn’t all there. What in the world happened, I wondered.
On our way to the accident site, my mind ran with images of what this could mean for our wedding, four days away. Will I be pushing Mom down the aisle? Is she going to be okay enough to walk at the wedding? What does all this mean?
As we came over the rise and neared the intersection of county roads 67 and 123, all we could see was a cluster of flashing lights. A truck, the front end completely demolished, sat catty-corner just off the road. Our van, way out in a field.
What on earth!
We got out and ran to the scene. Mom and Christopher lay in stretchers, Kristi sat on the ambulance bumper. Carita had arrived on the scene a few minutes before. Kristi seemed to be suffering from a concussion. Christopher had a brace around his neck, but respond well. Mom wasn’t responding. Not much at least. And they were getting ready to load her onto the life-flight and take her to Colorado Springs.
After Dad helped get her loaded, he, Loren, Teresa and I jumped in the car and followed them up. Nearly two hours later, after arriving first at the wrong hospital, we checked in and they ushered us into a quiet room. Moments later a chaplain and doctor came in and explained how they tried to save Mom’s life, but her heart and lungs were too badly damaged. They couldn’t stop internal bleeding. She died moments after taking off from the accident scene.
Mom never walked down the aisle at my wedding. I couldn’t even push her. She was gone. Death had taken her by force, and we, her family, were left reeling.
You can replace the workforce, but you can never replace a person. Life, at its beginning, is full of joy, excitement, intimacy. As one lives, those who know him make memories, the sort that are only special because of who they were made with. Nothing else.
I’ve gotten French Fries many times at McDonalds. But what I remember is that one time Mom took me to get French Fries in payment for cleaning the garage.
Everybody asks, “How are you?” whenever you see them. But only Mom asked it in the already-suspicious-of-how-you-are-so-why-don’t-you-just-tell-me sort of way. And now she’s gone. No more walks with her discussing how to understand the female heart. No gleaning from her wisdom in child training. No emails back and forth about how to handle issues at school.
She’s never coming back. Snatched out of this life forever. And no matter how many people are blessed by her life, it doesn’t bring her back.
My boys will never know “Grandma Witmer.” My wife, will never know what it’s like to have a mother-in-law. Good, meaningful friends I make today, won’t understand who I’m talking about when I refer to Mom. No matter how good they are at listening.
Why did she die??
Why does anyone die?
This past week, I know of two others who have passed on. Their deaths followed months and years of fighting cancer. One, a Mom just entering the stage of Grandmother. Her grandchildren won’t know her either. The other, a renowned apologist whose faith and passion for God was influencing many Muslims for Christ.
Why did they die? And why didn’t God heal them?
Both of these individuals have been prayed over and anointed with oil. Why did cancer finish them off? Why didn’t God intervene and work a miracle?
Someone once said, “miracles are normal for God.” Why doesn’t it seem like it?
Nearly two years ago, we flushed our little baby down the toilet. We never saw its form, although it was eleven weeks old. It died in the womb. Teresa was bleeding horrendously, and it passed in three different stages. We could distinguish nothing but blood and gunk.
If God is in control, and if He is the giver of life, why is that the way this baby was “born”?
Death haunts every one of us. Some experience it more than others. But each of us, at some point in life, experience death. Gut-wrenching, life-snatching, unchangeable, un-miraculous death.
Tragedy is rampant throughout the world. And most everyone goes through some kind of tragic, life crisis during their lifetime. It’s not a matter of if; it’s a matter of when.
Where is God in it all?
Is He in control? Is He causing this kind of pain? Scripture says He is love. But this does not feel like love!
What is the reason bad things happen in life? Is it because we’re not pleasing God? Did we do something wrong? Is that Mom was killed? Did Ann or Nabeel or their families not have enough faith? Is that why they died?
What about the hurricanes and earthquakes? In our church here in LA, we’ve prayed endlessly that God would dissipate the winds and protect the people in these areas. But hundreds have died and lost their homes. No matter how much we rejoice over how God “calmed things down,” those who have experienced death because of it are still left without their loved-ones.
Was it judgment on them?
Did God protect Americans because we prayed more?
I am increasingly convinced we need a compelling theology of death. What I mean by this is that we need to understand so well the story God is writing with this world we have a ready, empathetic, undogmatic, logical, and spiritual answer for those who don’t.
Why is this important? Because if God created the world, and if the world has death in it, then God knows something about death. God has a plan for the world in and through death. And without our understanding of God’s perspective on death, we will conclude something that not only runs contrary to how He thinks, but quite likely, will lead people away from Him.
I’ve heard too many answers for the question of death and sickness that leave people wanting. They feel more like nice ideas than compelling truths about God’s creation. And many of these answers don’t flesh out in real life. And what I’ve seen, is those who experience the flaws of these answers, end up rejecting God entirely.
God has a story for us through death, I’m convinced. In my own wrestling and journeying I’ve begun studying, for myself, to find what God is saying. I’d like to share briefly what I am learning about God and death.
I call it a theology of death, not because I’m trying to sound high and scholarly. I actually hope my writing is down to earth and easily followed. Rather, I call it that because theology means “the study of God.” It was the best title I knew for capturing my desire to know God in the midst of death.
3 Disconcerting Statements
I hear statements made sometimes that really confuse me. Actually, they are verses quoted from the Bible, but I’m not sure they’re always accurately understood.
The first statement is, “God is good.”
Yes, God is good. Jesus affirmed this in response to the rich young ruler in Mark 10. But what does Jesus mean by good. What do we mean by good?
I think of goodness being trustworthy, has my best in mind, won’t cause pain, I can count on to follow through with promises.
If God is “good,” why do bad things happen? Car accidents aren’t “good.” They’re unpredictable and kill loved-ones. In the same way cancer is not “good.”
Why do disappointments happen? Why do friends fail us? Loved-ones hurt us? If God is “in control of everything,” yet life feels entrenched with pain, how can we say He is “good”?
The second statement is, “The heart of the king is in the hand of the Lord.”
Some of the most catastrophic deaths have been caused by kings. Is that God doing it? The verse goes on to say the Lord turns the King’s heart however He wishes.
Did God orchestrate the holocaust? Is He the one behind the massive amounts of unborn babies America has killed? Was it God who led the People’s Liberation Army of China to maul over thousands of civilians at Tiananmen Square?
We need a thoughtful answer to what Scripture means when it says the “heart of the King is in the hand of the Lord” because a lot of evil happens by Kings. Without a rigorous explanation, and Biblical understanding, we make God a reproach by quoting that verse.
The third statement is, “By his stripes we are healed.”
This is a quote from Isaiah 53 when he prophesied of the coming Messiah. Was he really saying that, when Christ died on the cross, we would be healed from all sickness? Should we ask Christians, today, expect healing now? Is Isaiah 53 a prerogative for us to live by?
If so, why did Nabeel Qureshi die? He was prayed over and anointed with oil? Why did God not heal him? If we are promised, in Christ, because we are healed by His stripes, that healing is ours for the taking, where was God when Ann Lapp died on her bed?
Is He a liar? Has He fallen asleep? Was there some kind of sin in their lives that overrode the atoning work of Christ?
These are just a few statements I hear us Christians quoting that don’t line up in reality to what it seems we sometimes think they mean. I realize God’s ways are far beyond our full understanding. He works in many ways that don’t make sense to the human mind. But since God is Creator of all, and I really believe that, logic is His design. Continuity between His Word and our experience is natural. What is fallen, is our understanding.
So, as you can see, we need to work hard, and be careful to, think in line with how God has made things and with what He has said in His Word. If all things were created by God and for God (Col. 1:16), then the closer we get to Him the more things make sense.
4 Contradicting Perspectives
There are at least four contradicting perspectives to the statements above. There are many more, but for the most part, these commonly surface whenever discussed in a general audience. I’m only touching on them, here, as the point of this article is to give my understanding of God in the midst of death (according to the Scriptures). If you’d like to discuss these perspectives further, you may follow-up with me in the comments in a private email.
The first perspective is that God is out of control.
This is generally what agnostics or atheists would say. They typically don’t even admit the existence of God—or at least say you can’t know for sure if God exists. But whatever the case He is not in control.
This article is not a defense of God’s existence, although when one wrestles with the problem of death, His existence is of utmost importance. If that is your struggle right now, I recommend checking out the following books:
- Does God Exist?
- The Reason for God
- The End of Reason
- Evidence That Demands a Verdict
- Unbelievable?
- Cold Case Christianity
Suffice it to say that I am convinced God exists, and not just because my parents taught me He exists. When I consider the explanations of atheists alongside the explanation of the Gospel, the ideal-to-reality seems more consistent with the understanding that God indeed exists.
Furthermore, I disagree that God has lost control. I’ll explain why in a moment.
The second perspective is that God is real and created the world, but has left creation to function on its own and no longer plays an active role in it.
This is a more theistic perspective. Yes, God exists, but he’s just kind of out there sovereignly over everything. He’s not involved in the events of this life. Circumstances, the depravity of man, the reality of evil beings—they’re the cause for death.
While I agree that God exists, and that circumstances, depravity, and evil beings affect the general environment of this world, I also believe this perspective’s answer for death is unthoughtful. What I mean is, it doesn’t answer why circumstances are the way they are. It doesn’t explain the root of man’s depravity, nor the origin of evil beings.
And if God exists, and He created, He has a thoughtful reason for something like death.
The third perspective is that healing is included in the atoning work of Christ.
This perspective believes that sickness and death were defeated on the Cross and that God does not ask us to pray for sick people, but rather, to heal them. Because miraculous signs and wonders followed the disciples when Jesus sent them out, these kinds of miracles will follow true Christians today.
The main substance to this perspective is that Jesus quotes Isaiah 53 in Matthew 8 after healing in Capernaum. Where questions arise, however, is that, as we have already seen, many God-fearing, Spirit-filled, Christ-obeying Christians die, either by tragedy or by sickness.
When someone proclaims healing over another on the basis that God has given physical healing to us through the atoning work of Christ, and that person is not healed, this perspective falls flat. I fear we make a mockery of Christ when we claim things that Jesus Himself never claims because of our misunderstanding of one verse.
I know for a fact that Nabeel Qureshi visited a church known for its miraculous prayers and healings. It was actually his experience with this church that has changed my skepticism of it. He came away blessed by their strong theology. You can listen to him talk about it on his YouTube channel.
Even so, he died. He was not healed. He testified of healings that happened before his eyes (so John MacArthur’s perspective on the nature of Spiritual gifts today has a hole somewhere). I have seen healings take place. I don’t believe people fake healings as often as some would like to think. I do, however, believe Nabeel’s example confronts us with the reality that something else must be truer than the idea that Christ’s atoning work means we can expect physical healing today.
The fourth perspective is that healing is not in the atonement.
I believe it is equally faulty to say healing is not in the atonement. What happens, then, is we don’t even expect it. We quit praying for miracles. And one thing charismatics have right is that we are free to work miracles because of the grace of God through His Son Jesus Christ. Jesus does command to “heal the sick.” (Luke 10:9)
So, I don’t believe it is true that healing is not in the atonement. I just believe we have a misunderstanding of what Scripture says about healing in the atonement.
The Birds-Eye View
What does the Bible say about death? Where is God in tragedies like cancer and car accidents?
While I would love to delve into this more deeply, for the sake of attention and retention (if you’re still with me), I’m going to simply give a birds-eye view of what Scripture says about death. Then I’ll touch on healing, referencing some other works for you to check on your own. I’ll then end the article with seven simple conclusions. (If you’d rather, you may jump to there.)
If we’re going to discuss death, we must look at where death first enters the world. In fact, we need to start with how the world entered the world (how’s that for mind-blowing?).
Gen. 1:31 – life is good
God saw all that He had made it was very good. God created everything. And it is good.
Gen. 2:17 – the warning of death
God told Adam and Eve not to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. They could of any other tree; just not this one. If they did, they’d die.
Gen. 3:1-7 – Creation is broken
Lucifer exaggerates and places suspicion on God when he asked Eve, “Did God really say you can’t eat of any tree of the Garden?”
Eve responds with an exaggeration of her own, “We can’t even touch it or we will not die.” Perhaps Adam hadn’t relayed the command correctly, or perhaps she was just kind of miffed. Whatever the case, this exaggeration led to Lucifer honestly telling them they will not die. (At least, we could say it’s honest since God hadn’t actually told them they’d die for touching it.)
He goes on to tell them that God is holding out on them. He knows they’ll become like Him, knowing good and evil. And so, since Eve is already flirting with truth, having lost a sense of grounding, she believes the serpent. Adam, standing with her, partakes as well.
In one moment, God’s good and perfect creation spirals out of order. They chose to function in a way God did not design, and so, as God had said, death entered the world. Not the least of which was the death of innocence.
Does there need to be a villain?
Now, often at this point in the Scriptures, we begin asking “where did Lucifer come from? Why did God allow Lucifer to tempt Adam and Eve?”
I’m going to posit a question I want you to ponder as we go through the rest of the Bible: Does there need to be a villain in God’s story?
What I mean is, God has designed everything, right? Would that not include the elements of story and how humanity’s attention is wired to be grasped? And did you know that universally if a story is going to grasp anyone’s attention, there has to be a villain. There must be someone or something trying to distract or destroy the main character. It doesn’t always have to be vicious; just enough “conflict” that the character must overcome something in order to get what he wants.
Go check it out. Every story that interests you will have some kind of “villain.” And if you ever hear a story and feel it’s incredibly boring, when you look into it you will realize there is no element of conflict.
Furthermore, the greatest commandment of all is to love God with everything we are (Matt. 22:37). If God was the only option for our love, would it be love for us to choose Him?
Would it have been love for me to choose my wife if she was the only girl available? It would have been a default, not? What makes our love meaningful is that we could have chosen other people. No one forced us to marry each other. And even if someone had, we cannot love each other with much depth until we each choose to love each other.
Let’s amp this up even more. Is there any glory in placing our love someplace (even if there are other options), if there isn’t someone else wooing us with as equal passion?
I’m wrestling with a passage of Scripture I have yet to hear a compelling explanation for: Romans 9. If you haven’t already noticed, I love the word compelling. When I think of something that is compelling, I think of truths with such rich meaning they have overwhelming implications in reality. What we see, feel, hear, smell. When ideal and theory mesh cohesively with experience to the point I am drawn up in wonder and worship of my Creator—that is compelling to me.
Romans 9 is puzzling! It’s the passage that talks about God creating vessels for destruction. My Arminian upbringing lacks a compelling explanation of it. At least, of all the ones I’ve heard. But my Calvinist counterparts don’t necessarily do any better. Their explanations make sense within the passage itself, but don’t entirely jive with the rest of Scripture.
Now, maybe I have a bunch of things wrong (that very well could be). And maybe someone has explained it in a way that sounds compelling to me, but I haven’t discovered it yet (that is likely true). But when I read, “For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, ‘For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth’” (emphasis added), I can’t help but wonder if the working of evil in the world isn’t an intentional part of God’s story in order to magnify His glory.
Without a Pharaoh, God has little glory in delivering Israel.
Paul goes on to say in Romans 9, “What if God, desiring to show His wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory…?”
What I am wondering is has God specifically designed within the story of redemption there to be a Lucifer wooing us away from Him? And has He intentionally given us the freedom to choose to place our love in something other than Himself (and end up being vessels of destruction). And has He done so, so that His glory is made known when He brings salvation?
Paul ends Romans 9 explaining how even Jews (God’s chosen people) who come to the Law (which was designed to lead them to the Messiah) without faith will end in destruction. Paul then begins Romans 10 saying that his heart’s desire is that they may be saved (even those who are headed for destruction in their unbelief). The implication is they could be saved. If they would submit to Christ, seeing Him as the end of the law for righteousness, they could be saved. (Ro. 10:1-4)
Romans 10 goes on to give the message of hope: “Everyone who believes in him (the Messiah) will not be put to shame. For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek.” (10:11-12 emphasis added)
So, the idea that God appoints some for salvation and some for death seems equally lacking as not having any explanation for what God is saying here. Could it be that Paul is giving us a picture into God’s purposes for the devil in His story of redemption? And could it be that herein we glimpse a reason for death in the world today?
Without someone seeking our affection, and without our ability to give our affection to that someone (who would ultimately destroy us), and without the reality that some will indeed give their affections to him, would the “riches of Christ’s glory” be made known?
Again, I’m wrestling with a passage. I could be wrong. Correct me with countering interpretations and perspectives. For now, let’s get back to the scriptures on death.
Gen. 3:21 – first recorded death
Here is the first death alluded to in Scripture: an animal for skin to clothe Adam and Eve. Why did they need clothes? Because they had disobeyed God. Because Creation was broken, something had to die.
What is the reason for death in the world? Humanity chose to love something other than God. We walked away and lived outside of God’s design.
Gen. 4:8 – first recorded human death
The first recorded human death when Cain rose up in jealousy toward his brother Abel and killed him. God accepted Abel’s sacrifice; but Cain’s did not please Him.
Again, questions arise. Why did God accept Abel’s, but not Cain’s? While this is somewhat speculative, some scholars believe Abel’s sacrifice represented what would later be instituted as a blood sacrifice. And blood sacrifices essentially expressed that “I am a sinner in need of a Savior.” They also bring to remembrance the need for God to slay an animal in order clothe His people after their sin.
While Cain’s sacrifice of first fruits of his land (no blood involved), simply gave thanks to God for His blessings without any real recognition of his own sin and need for a Savior. Remembering our fallenness seems significant to God. Later, Jesus would say the “poor in spirit” shall inherit the Kingdom of God (Matt. 5:3). Those so aware of their inner inability to be good—theirs is the Kingdom.
Gen. 6:7 (Ro. 8:2) – death is the consequence of sin
In this passage, God is getting ready to destroy the world with a flood because He saw the “wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” (6:5)
We see here that death is the consequence of sin; later affirmed by Paul in Romans 6:23. And in chapter eight of Romans, Paul says that in Christ, there is no condemnation because the Spirit’s law of life has set us free from the law of sin and death. (8:1-2)
So, does that mean in Christ death is removed from us? We’ll get to that in a bit…
I’ll jump now to the New Testament because, for the most part, throughout the rest of the OT, death comes as the result of sin. But death takes on a new twist when Jesus shows up.
1 Pet. 3:18 – death connects us with the Father
Peter says that Christ’s physical death brought life spiritually. His death (and resurrection) was the means by which we are reconciled with God. Because of His atoning work on the Cross, we have spiritual life. A life that surpasses this broken world.
And I’ll simply note, there is nothing about physical life in this passage. Physical life (or health) is not promised; just spiritual life.
Ro. 8:18-25 – creation itself waits to be set free from its bondage
Paul considers the sufferings of this present time not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed. There is an age to come where all of creation will be set free from corruption. But for now, the earth, and all that is in it, groans in pain.
Paul writes this after Christ has defeated the grave.
This life is broken. Spiritually, physically—in every aspect we are broken. And while God’s spirit works to restore our inner man even now, we are not promised physical restoration until Christ returns.
2 Cor. 4:7-12 – the glory of the Gospel is that God dwells in jars of clay
While we are fully justified before God when we believe in Jesus as the anointed Son of God and One who bore our sins on the Cross, we are not fully sanctified. God’s Spirit comes and dwells in us, even though we still tend to function according to our flesh. Furthermore, our bodies are “wasting away,” and Paul says we carry death in our bodies so that the life of Christ may be made known in us. (2 Co. 4:10)
Again, if this world was not broken, if our bodies did not face death (and the symptoms of it), would Christ’s life be magnified? Would God’s glorious riches be made known?
The reason for death in the world, I believe, is so that God be made glorified. That His power be made known. In the midst of cancer, the life of Christ shined through Nabeel and Ann. And by the grace of God, in the midst of grief, the Life and Glory of Jesus can shine through all of us who mourn the loss of our loved-ones.
You may have noticed I left out the example of Job in the OT. Job is a unique story and deserves a blog post of its own. The death of Job’s children and the destruction of all that he had seems to have been for the express purpose of astonishing Satan with Job’s undying commitment to and joy in God.
Job also had everything restored to him, and we aren’t promised that same experience. At least no this side of Heaven. Because of the uniqueness of the story of Job, and because of the various implications within the story of Job, I’m not going to take time to go into it further, here.
One more puzzling example of death in the NT
There is one more reason for death, according to Scripture (at least of all I’ve found so far).
In 1 Co. 11, Paul says that because they are coming together for the Lord’s supper and partaking unworthily, some among them are getting sick and dying (11:30). Paul says if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged [by God]. But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined (getting sick and dying?) so that we may not be condemned along with the world. (11:31-32)
I puzzle over this. What is Paul saying? It sure appears as if he is suggesting that sickness and death are disciplines of God. A gift, of sorts, from God to those who partook of the Lord’s supper in an unworthy manner so that they are not condemned with the world.
I’ll continue mulling over this passage, for sure. But could death because of sin, in this way, be God’s protection? A manifestation of His grace?
What about healing?
So, what about healing? Christ healed many people while on this earth, and commands us to do the same (Matt. 10:7-8, Luke 9:1-2 & 6, 10:9, Mark 16:14-20).
Because this article was primarily geared at developing a theology of death (not healing), I’m not going to go into this in-depth. I will, however, give three brief points and then reference some other works to look up.
Following are three points in response to the question, “Is healing in the atonement, in that, because of Christ’s finished work on the Cross should Christians expect physical healing, today?
My first point is that healing is not new only after Christ.
If healing is made possible simply because Jesus bore our stripes and “by his wounds we are healed,” then it should only have happened after He died and rose again, not? But healings happened before Christ, as well.
Abimelech and his household was healed (Gen. 20:1-18). Hannah was healed from barrenness (1 Sam. 1:9-20). Jeroboam’s hand was restored (1 Kings 14:3-6). Namaan was healed of leprosy (2 Kings 5:1-4). Hezekiah’s life was extended after extracting a terminal illness (2 Kings 20:1-7, 2 Chron. 32:24-26, Isa 38:1-8). And there are about nine other recorded healings and miracles in the OT that I don’t have space to mention here.
Divine intervention on behalf of physical sickness (even death) is not limited to the atonement. God will heal whomever He wishes, whenever it brings Him glory. He may also let someone remain sick if His life is shining so brightly through them in their illness that His power is being proclaimed.
My second point is that we only have indirect reference to the possibility of Christ’s atoning work on the cross including healing for the Christian in the here and now.
Matthew 8:16-17 clearly connects Isaiah 53 with Christ’s healing of sick people:
When evening came, they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed. He drove out the spirits with a word and healed all who were sick, so that what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled:
He Himself took our weaknesses and carried our diseases.
But what this passage does not answer is whether every believer whose sins have been cleansed should expect not to get sick. Neither does it answer if those who are sick should consider themselves as having fallen short of the will of God for their lives through neglect, sin, or unbelief.
There is a promise of full restoration because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. But we do not have Scripture that promises that full restoration this side of second coming of Christ. Is healing in the atonement? Yes, if we’re asking whether the resurrection of Christ promises full spiritual and physical restoration. But when we can expect to experience that restoration is what is not clearly stated in Scripture.
Most of the language of Isaiah 53 refers to “iniquities,” “transgressions,” and “sins.” The implications being that Christ’s death is doing a healing work at the soul level that may not always be physical.
James confirms this when he tells those who are sick to ask the elders to come and anoint them (5:14-16). He says, “the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.”
This leads us to my third point.
My third point is that the request for healing bears spiritual fruit even beyond physical healing.
As we see in James, there seems to be something about asking for anointing and having prayers of faith prayed over us that will restore us if we have committed sins. God’s concern seems to be more with our sinful hearts than our suffering bodies.
One More Thought on Healing
Jesus did not heal everyone He had opportunity to heal. He had a specific purpose for being on earth. Sometimes it meant healing people (and He always healed those who came to Him). Other times, the disciples wanted Him to heal, but He chose to move on to another town. Still, in other situations, the people’s unbelief caused Him to be unable to work on their behalf.
I think we grossly misunderstand the life and work of Christ if we limit it to physical healings and works of miracles.
In John 9 Jesus healed a man from blindness who had been blind all his life. People wondered who had sinned, that this man became blind? Jesus responded,
“Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.”
After Jesus healed, the Pharisees went after Him for doing it on the Sabbath. They wanted to find fault with Him, so they investigated the healing in hopes, it appears, to find reason to write Him off as a fake. However, the young man answers the Pharisees, “I was blind, and now I can see!” They couldn’t prove Him as fake.
The Pharisees kick the young man out and, after Jesus found him alone, He asked him if he believes the Son of Man. They young man replied, “tell me who the Son of Man is and I’ll believe him” and Jesus said He is. He told the young man he has seen the Son of Man with his eyes, and the young man believed.
John goes on to recount,
Jesus said, “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.”
Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, “What? Are we blind too?”
Jesus said, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains. (John 9:39-41)
Christ’s goal on earth was to help people see their sin so they recognize their guiltiness before Him and believe on Him, the Son of Man. Spiritual blindness is God’s greatest concern. And the reason God came to dwell among His Creation was to help them truly see again, ultimately being fully relationally restored to the Father.
7 Simple Conclusions
If you’re still with me, let me summarize my theology of death:
1 – God created a beautiful and perfect Creation that would bring Him glory. The crown of which is humanity, with whom to love and be loved by.
2 – Humanity chose another lover.
3 – Death entered the world as a consequence of sin, as a symptom of a broken world.
4 – God suffers for us as He pursues full restoration with us. He endures “vessels of wrath” so that those who do turn to Him do so from true hearts of love and worship. And He created a way for us to turn to Him through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Death became the means by which He reconciled us back to Himself.
5 – In turning to Him, we gain His presence. He promises to be with us. And we are invited to put our total dependence on Him. He is with us, everywhere.
6 – Physical healing is not promised for the immediate, but we are commanded to ask for it. God wants to do something in us that can only happen in our coming humbly and broken before Him and being prayed over.
7 – One day God will make all things new and there will be no more death.
My concern is that too often we eagerly look for God’s blessings and care little for Him all the while He continually promises to be with us in the middle of whatever is going on in life. His power, His life, His presence is constant in life and death, pain and joy, luxury and poverty. We aren’t happy unless things as we see and experience them are going well. And we all too often fail to realize the shallowness of such focus on externals.
There is something far greater promised to us. Something far more glorious taking place then everything working out well. God has overcome the villain, and He is restoring all the broken things that fell apart when we gave the villain our hearts.
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea no longer existed. I also saw the Holy City, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared like a bride adorned for her husband.
Then I heard a loud voice from the throne:
Look! God’s dwelling is with humanity, and He will live with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will no longer exist; grief, crying, and pain will exist no longer, because the previous things have passed away.
Then the One seated on the throne said, “Look! I am making everything new.” He also said, “Write, because these words are faithful and true.” And He said to me, “It is done!” (Rev. 21:1-6)
