It’s been a
rough 26 days that ended on the 21st. Six deaths: two of them under the age of
17. At first I was very angry, not at
God at all, not railing ‘Why?’ but rather angry at the devil whose kingdom of
darkness consumes, steals and destroys life.
At each successive death, the anger grew until it turned into resolve:
to do anything and everything possible for our Lord and His kingdom of light,
to spread His truth and bring people to His life. While the devil wished to crush me with
sorrow and tragedy, the Lord used it to open my eyes to the realities of the
life and death choice every man has.
Who were all
these people? One was a dear sister in
the Lord who left this life far too early, but was rejoicing in the end to see
the Lord soon. Another was the parent of
my bro-in-law who was a kind, funny man and who at one time housed my daughter
and I and drove us to the airport to catch a flight very early the next
day. Next was my good friend’s mom who
was always kind to us. Then a neighbourhood
child lost his battle with cancer. Next,
my cousin’s son who went to emerg but never left. And lastly, an uncle whom I’ve known all my
life, even if he was a little annoying…
It’s all blood relatives, really.
-One related by
adoption into God’s family by Jesus’ blood.
-One related by
marriage into my family I was born into.
-Another
related by adoption into God’s family.
-One related
through the blood of mankind- We’re all from Noah after all.
-Another
related by my mother’s bloodline.
-The last related
by my father’s bloodline.
Sure, death
is a part of life, but it wasn’t meant to be that way; it just became that way
because of man’s sin. No matter who the first
man and woman were, they would have made the same choice as Adam and Eve. We can’t even go one day without sinning:
active sins and sins of omission. Either
we are doing wrong or failing to do right or both. God didn’t want Adam and Eve to sin, but He
did allow them the choice, and they chose wrong, as would we.
Therefore, even as through one man sin entered into
the world, and death by sin, and so death passed on all men inasmuch as all
sinned: Rm. 5:12
For since death is
through man, the resurrection of the
dead also is through a Man.
For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all will be made alive... The last
enemy made to cease is death. 1Cr. 15:21,22,26
And death and hell were cast into the Lake
of Fire. Rv. 20:14
This is why
God sent His Son to die for our sins (Jh. 3:16),
because there was no more perfect way to restore our relationship with Him than
through Jesus. Adam brought sin,
therefore death to mankind, but Jesus (a Man) brought new life and resurrection
from the dead and so we (those of us who choose to follow Jesus Christ), will
be made alive to be forever with Jesus (Jh. 14:3) in the New Heaven and Earth
(Rv. 21:1), the place God has prepared (Jh. 14:1-4) for those who trust in Him
(Jh. 6:40).
We have the promise…
In the end, the great ‘I AM’ redeems both man and the
world from sin and death:
He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord
Jehovah will wipe away tears from all faces… Is. 25:8; 1Cr. 15:54
And God will wipe away all tears from their
eyes. And there will be no more death,
nor mourning, nor crying out, nor will there be any more pain; for the first
things passed away. Rv. 21:4
And he said to me, These sayings are faithful and true. Rv. 22:6