How God Took Away My Worst Fears (Part 2)

God showed me that death is an enemy, in His mind an abnormality.  It always has been and always will be.  Abel's life and death to God were infinitely precious.  Abel didn't die for nothing, nor did His death go unrecorded in the mind of God, from the very beginning to the end of scripture.  As I read on, continuing to see how God's people died in scripture, I found that none of their deaths were random, meaningless, or even "before their times."  As it is written,

The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away. Psalms 90:10

 

Even unbelievers expect a normal life span of 70 years.  And the scriptures says this about children,

"Honor your father and mother, so that your days will be long on the earth."

 

So I had to ask God what it means for our days to be "long" on the earth.  What God showed me is that if we honor Him, our parents, and our purpose, we will fulfill that purpose for which He gave us to live. We will live out our full number of days, whether 70 to 80 years, or the number of years necessary to fulfill God's call on our lives,  like Jesus and John the Baptist, who only lived to their 30's.  But Jesus and John the Baptist did not, yes even COULD NOT die until they fulfilled their purpose. 

 

As I read the Bible, I continued to see this over and over again.  None of God's children seemed to die "before their time." They fulfilled their purposes, and were even prepared for the day of their death, so much so that they could call their children and grandchildren in to give them blessings before their deaths. In the Bible, the children of God didn't need to fear death, but the those who didn't believe in God had every right to live in dread and terror of dying unexpectedly. 

 

Those who believe in God have two hopes concerning death, in the words of Jesus our Savior:

 

Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?"

John 11:26

 

I, my wife, and my children, as God's children, have the hope of resurrection or "rapture."  We will either die for Christ, having fulfilled our purpose in Christ, or we won't see death at all!  We'll all meet Jesus in the sky, triumphing over death together. 


I can expect my wife and children to live out the fullness of their days:  70 to 80 years, or the full life God gives them to fulfill the purpose for which He made them, even if it is less that70 to 80 years.  I know their lives will not end randomlessly or meaninglessly, and that I should resist death as an enemy, not seeing death as an inevitability or tragedy or normality.  I can know that God is for life and not for death.  I can see in the Bible that God doesn't take death lightly or let it happen lightly.  And I can see that "the norm" in God's kingdom, with God's children, is long life, purposeful life, and purposeful death.  (Click HERE for the conclusion.)