The Surprising Mercy of Death

Have you ever thought of death as a mercy? Maybe you’ve had a loved one die after a long battle with a debilitating illness, after years of suffering and decline, so that when death finally comes, it feels like a relief, a mercy, for him or her to be finally free of that pain. In cases like those, death can certainly be a “mercy” of sorts—provided the loved one was a believer in Christ. But the Bible is clear that death is first and foremost an enemy. Death was not part of God’s original very good creation. We were not originally created to die. We die because we sin, we sin because we are sinners, and we are sinners because we are born into original sin. That's what makes the ultimate promise of hope in the gospel all the more glorious: that because Jesus Christ paid the price for our sin as he died on the cross, and then rose again to conquer death, the consequence of sin, so too all who believe in him, even though they die, they will also rise again, and live with him in peace and joy forever.

1 Corinthians 15:56-57 contain those well-known and beloved words of God through the apostle Paul:

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

So have you ever wondered, for those of us who are Christians, if Jesus’ death paid the price for all our sin, why, then, do we still have to die? If God’s wrath against us, the judgment of death which is the wages of sin, is satisfied in Christ (and it is), why do we still experience physical death? Why doesn’t God simply “zap” us into our new, glorified bodies as soon as we become Christians? And believe me, there have been many times when I have asked God that very question. Things would be a lot simpler that way! Life would be a lot easier if, once we placed our faith in Christ, we no longer had to worry about aging or sickness or disease or death! But of course, we all know that that's just not the way it works. Ultimately, that's not the way God has chosen to accomplish his holy will for us, in us, and through us.

The simple answer, beloved, is that we still have to die, even though we’re Christians, because even when we become Christians, we still have a sin nature. In Christ, we’re redeemed; in Christ, we’re forgiven; in Christ, we’re reconciled to God; in Christ, we’re new creations; but we still live with the tension between our new nature and our old, between our sin that's been indwelling us since our birth (since our conception, actually), and the Holy Spirit, who’s been indwelling us since our second birth. We’ve been given a new nature, but we still live with the lingering effects and presence of the old. That tension is what led Paul to cry out in frustration in Romans chapter 7:

For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?

And of course, the answer is that Jesus Christ alone can and will certainly deliver his people from their sin nature, and give them the victory that he achieved.

A few verses before that triumphant declaration in 1 Corinthians 15:57, though, Paul makes a surprising statement about death:

I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.

Look carefully at what he says: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. Do you see what he’s saying? In our current condition as Christians, redeemed though we are, we are also still sinners. We continue to sin even after we accept Christ, because we still have a sin nature. And so in our current condition, we cannot inherit the kingdom of God. We cannot receive eternal life in its fullness―yet. Our bodies are still perishable, and so they cannot inherit the imperishable. In short, what Paul is saying here is that something has to change! Something has to happen to put an end to this body of death once and for all. Something has to happen to our sin nature, and everything that's touched and tainted by it, that will get it out of the way for our new sinless nature to triumph. And as painful and horrible and sorrowful as it is, that something, that necessary change, is death.

This has always been the case. Death is God’s judgment on sin; but from the very beginning, death was also a surprising mercy from God. Genesis 3:22-24 records the entrance of sin and its consequence, death, into the world:

Then the LORD God said, "Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever―" therefore the LORD God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life."

You remember that there were two unique trees in the garden of Eden: the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and the tree of life. God only forbade Adam and Eve to eat of one of those two trees. They disobeyed him by eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. They sinned against God, and because they sinned they were now sinners, and so were no longer able to stand in his holy presence. Their sin was the reason he had to cast them out. But did you notice the other reason why God prevented them from going back into the garden, why he placed the cherubim with a flaming sword between them and the garden? “Lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and live forever.” When Adam and Eve disobeyed God, their natures became fallen, sinful, impure, unholy, unworthy and unfit to stand in God’s unveiled presence. But if, once they had their sin nature, they had then gone back and eaten of the tree of life, they―and all their descendants after them―would have lived forever, without dying, in their sin nature. If death were not the just and right wages of sin, not only Adam and Eve, but every single man and woman who has ever lived, including you, including me, including my wife and my children, would have no hope whatsoever of redemption. We would have no hope whatsoever of life, not merely the state of existence, but life to its fullest as God originally intended it for us: pure, innocent, holy, happy, forever experiencing the fullness of joy found in his presence alone and the eternal light of his countenance. And so while death was indeed God’s judgment for our sin, at the same time, death is also his surprising mercy toward us. Because we will one day die, we will one day be raised. Because we return to dust and ash, we will one day be raised in glory. As Paul said earlier in 1 Corinthians 15, “For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.” 

On that day, when Adam fell and plunged all mankind into the darkness of sin and death, God demonstrated his love and mercy in yet another way. He had told them not to eat of the tree, “For in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die” (Gen. 2:17). And even though they certainly died spiritually that day, they did not die physically that day. God would have been perfectly right and just and holy to strike them dead right there on the spot—but he didn’t. What did he do?

And the LORD God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them. (Gen. 3:21)

God himself committed the first act of violence and death: in a surprising act of mercy, he killed an animal in their place, to cover the shame of Adam and Eve's sinfulness. But of course, the blood of animals cannot truly take away the sins of human beings. Men and women are created in God’s image; animals are not. Right from the beginning, God was telling them that in order for them to be truly forgiven, to be truly restored to life, to be truly allowed back into his presence, a death would have to occur that would really and truly cover their sins, pay the necessary price, and make them worthy and able to return to the light of his presence.

And of course, that death, that all-sufficient sacrifice, would eventually be made by God himself coming as a man, Jesus Christ, the true and better Adam, obeying where Adam disobeyed, triumphing where Adam failed, laying down his own life on the cross, and then rising again from the dead, never to die again. This is why Paul says, back in 1 Corinthians 15:

I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: "Death is swallowed up in victory." (1 Cor. 15:50-54)

This is why death, for the believer, is such a surprising mercy! This is why God said through the psalmist, Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints (Ps 116:15). This is why, for the believer, death, the wages of sin and the judgment of God, no longer holds any fear or terror. 

But as surprising a mercy as death is, that surprising mercy is only for those who repent of their sin and place their faith in Christ. The dead shall indeed be raised, but only those who are in Christ will receive his reward of blessing and joy in God’s presence, without fear of judgment. Daniel 12:2 warns us that those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. Jesus said in John 5:29 that an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment. The author of Hebrews said that it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment (Heb. 9:27). Jesus himself will be the judge on the last day, and only those who are in him, by grace alone through faith alone, will receive the resurrection of life. That state of being from which God spared Adam and Eve, an eternity spent trapped in the darkness of sin with no hope of redemption and no hope of the mercy of death, that state of being actually exists: it's called hell. It's real, and it's God’s just and holy judgment on all who sin against him without having their sins covered by the blood of Jesus Christ.

So what does that mean for us? It means that we have one chance, just this one life, with the certainty of its expiration date, to repent and believe. It means that God, in his kindness, has allowed us however many years we may have on this earth to seek the Lord while he may be found, and call upon him while he is near. It means that God is so loving and so kind that he spared Adam and Eve the hell they deserved. He gave them and their descendants―us―this life to turn to him, receive his mercy and grace in Christ, and be spared an eternal existence with our sin nature with no hope of redemption. He gave us this life to come to Christ and be spared from hell. It means that this life is our gracious opportunity to repent, that our sins may be blotted out (Acts 3:19). It means that we as believers are to exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today” (Heb. 3:13) It means that behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation (2 Cor. 6:2). If we confess our sins, Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). 

Do you have that confidence today? Does death hold only fear and terror for you, or can you face death with the surety, the absolute certainty, that because of Jesus Christ, death is no longer only God’s judgment on sin and the gateway to his holy judgment, but instead a surprising mercy, the final end of your sin nature, and the gateway into the blessedness of his presence and eternal life with him? If not, then don’t waste this season of Lent. Don’t miss this opportunity to have your fear taken away. Come to Jesus Christ in repentance and faith today. Taste and see that the Lord is good. Through Christ, and Christ alone, the sting of death and the power of sin are swallowed up in triumph, hope, victory, and mercy.