I was briefly spooked by a website predicting my death. I typed in details of country, height, weight, and birth, then clicked. In a few seconds my appointment slot came up: mid-January 2050, aged 83 and 3 months. This coincides almost exactly with the age my dad died and only leaves me 11,000 days to live.

Definition

Medical professionals define death as the absence of EEG waves. Negative brainstem reflexes let nurses withdraw life support. In Scripture, physical death unnaturally severs body from soul. This truth hit me with force just before I turned 14: my grandpa lay still; he no longer joked or smiled; the “real him” was gone. All that remained was his cold, pale, rigid shell. Physical death is sin’s judicial effect: we have cut ties with God, whom to know is eternal life.

Certainty

Worldwide, over 150,000 persons die each day. In the U.K. and U.S., 90 percent succumb through old age. Even if only a tithe suffer trauma before that, the Grim Reaper leaves his calling card and rigor mortis ensues. Adam started the rot (Gen. 2:17; 3:19), and the death bell tolls for all (Gen. 5). Enoch and Elijah are fire escapes to hint at hope in Christ. All other humans perished, including Jesus, who tasted death for us.

Comfort those who mourn. Go to funeral houses. Neither let fun inebriate death thoughts nor politically correct euphemisms kill death talk. All, without exception, have funerals, coffins, and tombs. It is only gospel faith that carves an honest epitaph: “Better by far! Gone to be with Christ!”

Proximity

Our Creator, not a computer, fixed death days before birthdays (Ps. 139:16). David points to lifespans in God’s ledger, and Moses reminds us of God’s limit on them. With Sinai, Hormah, Korah, Miriam, and Peor (Ex. 32:28; Num. 14:45; 16:49; 20:1, 28; 25:9) the man of God eyeballed, firsthand, life vaporize like steam (Ps. 90:10). Our lifespan is so short: 80 years with longevity—for others merely 70! Redeem the time that is running out fast. Be urgent, fix priorities, choose wisely, attend duties, serve diligently, limit leisure, and be content! Forgo what is good. Embrace what is best. Read Calvin before Chaucer, put relationships before recreation, and scrap carnal bucket lists. If God, tonight, requires your soul, don’t be left with plans for bigger, better barns (Luke 12:16–21).

Safety

Cryopreservation is a testimony to how much sinners fear death. God sent His Son to dispel fear of eternal capital punishment (Heb. 2:14–15). Death’s sting is brought to an end by His atoning antidote. This is the ground of instant gratification offered by Jesus as a death benefit (Luke 23:43). Disciples might vex over how their time will come (suffering metastatic cancer, becoming cardiac cripples, or hurtling to earth in an Ethiopian jet), but God gives grace to cope with whatever love ordains (Ps. 23:4, 6; Rom. 8:28, 38–39). Death for saints is as a passage through a gate and falling into Christ’s embrace. If the cardiogram flatlines, Christ’s blood has put out all hell’s flames.

Elderly

Martyr accounts can sometimes rose-tinge views of death. My dad’s brain metastases impaired his cognitive function. Reading best-loved Scripture only heightened his consternation. I have seen a number of lonely, old saints being targets for Satan’s darts with foul accusations and doubts disturbing them at the last. John Bunyan reminds us Christian floundered when he lost his footing just after he entered the river. If Christ was taunted and defamed at the cross, do not be shocked if believers get a splash. Keep Scripture-arsenals well stocked to repulse the last attack. Ministers, elders, and members: do not neglect the comfort of dying saints.

Glory

At death the believer’s body, still united to Christ, sleeps in the grave and later on decays. Our souls, more awake than ever, are whisked through gates of pearl to gaze on the Father’s glory through the contact lens of Jesus. Choirs of ecstatic prophets, apostles, saints, friends, and relatives, along with true believers from every destination and denomination, stand up to bless the Lord and praise His Son of love. On the judgment day, Christ will unite body and soul, like long-lost friends, in the glorified new world. Rapturous strumming harps of the intermediate state will then be reinforced by the panoramas of glory of the settled, lasting peace of Immanuel’s milk-and-honey estate.

Set your hearts on your concrete, heavenly hope. Such soul-sight emboldens martyrs, sustains the sick, meekly accepts providence, patiently bears trials, and graciously endures foes. Unfading, eternal glory outweighs by far all light or fleeting trials (2 Cor. 4:17–18).

Andrew Kerr | Knockbracken, Belfast, RPC of Ireland