Ready to Die

Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes 7:2, “It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting, for this is the end of all mankind, and the living will lay it to heart.”

It is wise to consider the reality of death. To put it negatively, it is foolish to live in such a manner that you give no thought to death. The reality that you will one day die and stand before the God of the universe is a sobering thought, and the Bible says we would do well to consider it.

Recently, we have continued to receive news of the beheadings of our Christian brothers and sisters overseas. My heart has been very sorrowful over this. As 21st century American Christians, we are very prone to become disconnected from the reality of martyrdom in the world. We are part of a generation that has been blessed to live in a country very well-insulated by an amazing blanket of geopolitical and military protection -- really to an extent that it is unprecedented in human history. How easily we forget this. We’re prone to read texts like Romans 8:36 as a vague allusion, devoid of any direct, literal, modern meaning. Yet we are reminded that across the seas there are millions of Christians who live Romans 8:36 as an everyday, in-your-face reality.

The peace and courage needed to live our lives as risk-takers for the Gospel cannot be found in worldly strength. The power of the United States military should not be the thing that guards you from anxiety over the prospect of being slain by persecution (Psalm 33:17). Armies rise and fall. Governments and nations are toppled. No, the courage needed to live our lives for the Gospel demands an unshakable foundation. And that’s exactly what the Gospel gives us. “Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God" (Psalm 20:7).

I want to give you solid footing to stand on in the Scriptures -- firm ground that will never be shaken -- that you may be empowered to live fearlessly, by the Spirit of Christ, in the face of death.

Here are seven reasons why Christians are ready to die.


1. Christians are ready to die because they’ve already died the only death that had power over them.

• “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” - Galatians 2:20
  
  
• “We are those who have died to sin.” - Romans 6:2
  
  
• “We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin.” - Romans 6:6-7
  
  

When we came to a saving faith in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of our sins, we died with him. Our old self was put to death with him at the cross. Our old self was buried with him in the tomb. And when he was raised from the dead, we were raised with him to new life in the Holy Spirit. As Christians, we’ve already experienced the only death that had any power over us -- the death we died to sin. We died through the body of Christ. We’ve already passed from death to life (John 5:24), and therefore we have have nothing to fear in physical death. It couldn’t keep Christ down, and therefore it will not keep us down.

• “God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it.” - Acts 2:24

2. Christians are ready to die because death has no sting.

• “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” - 1 Corinthians 15:55
  
  
• “Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.” - Hebrews 2:14-15

Through his death, Jesus changed the nature of death forever. Because Jesus has taken away the sin of the world, the power of death has been nullified for those who believe. As some have put it, “death has been defanged.” The sting of death is sin (1 Corinthians 15:56), and therefore, when our sin was taken away, the sting of death was taken away with it. When we consider the looming of death, we need not fear pain, and the uncertainty of what comes next. We will come safely to the arms of a loving Father, having been cleansed from all unrighteousness through the cross of Jesus.

3. Christians are ready to die because they will be raised to new physical life. Eternal life.

• “If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.” - Romans 8:11
  
  
• “He who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence.” - 2 Corinthians 4:14

Because of the death and resurrection of Christ, and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, we have assurance that we will be raised to new life after we die. The promise of resurrection and eternal life through Christ is the essential hope of the Gospel (Romans 8:23-24). We will live with God in physical bodies for eternity.

• “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live.” - John 11:25

4. Christians are ready to die because there is no condemnation upon them. Nothing now separates them from God.

• “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” - Romans 8:1
  
  
• “Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.” - Romans 8:34
  
  
• “For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.” - Hebrews 8:12
  
  

Because our sins have been washed away by the blood of Jesus, we are ready to stand before God with no shame, and when we are called to give an account to the Father for our lives, we can confidently look to the man at his right hand, and say, “Jesus paid it all. All to him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain; he washed me white as snow.”

No one can bring any charge against God’s elect. Nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:31-38). Therefore, we can face death with confidence, knowing that death is powerless to hold us back from the love of God.

5. Christians are ready to die because they know that all things work together for good. Even death.

• “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.” - Romans 8:28-30

These verses give one of the most outrageous promises in the Bible, and it should be a massive source of confidence for us in every aspect of our lives. God is working all things, all events, all circumstances, all victories, all sufferings, all defeats, even death itself, together for your good. Even the things that the devil and sinners mean against you for evil, God means it (Genesis 50:20, 45:5-7) for your good. God has sovereign, deliberate, intentional, good design for all things that happen in the entire universe. No sin or calamity happens outside of the dominion of his power. No ant is crushed underfoot, no baby sparrow falls from its nest, and no Christian is beheaded apart from the wise counsels of God to work glorious good for his children.

Not only will nothing stand in the way of God’s plan to conform his children to the image of his Son, but rather all things shall serve in accomplishing God’s plan to conform his children to the image of his Son. Having this kind of sovereign authority is what it means to be God.

• “For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose.” - Isaiah 46:9-10
  
  

6. Christians are ready to die because they know that Christ will avenge every wrong.

• “He will not grow faint or be discouraged till he has established justice in the earth; and the coastlands wait for his law.” - Isaiah 42:4
  
  
• “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” - Revelation 6:10
  
  

When it looks like sin and the works of the devil have gained an upper hand on the face of the earth, we know beyond the shadow of a doubt that the Lord Jesus reigns over it (Matthew 28:18), and darkness will never succeed. When the King of Kings and Lord of Lords comes again, riding on a white horse, his eyes aflame, and the armies of heaven with him, a sword shall extend from his mouth, and he will establish justice on the earth. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God, and in an instant, every wrong will be righted (Revelation 19). Up until that very moment, it may very well look like evil has prevailed upon the earth, but it will not stand. The blood of the martyrs cries out from the earth (Genesis 4:10), and it will be avenged by the Lamb (Revelation 5:5, 2 Thessalonians 1:7-8).

• “Vengeance is Mine, and retribution, In due time their foot will slip; For the day of their calamity is near, And the impending things are hastening upon them. For the LORD will vindicate His people.” - Deuteronomy 32:35-36
  
  
• “Truly you set them in slippery places; you make them fall to ruin. How they are destroyed in a moment, swept away utterly by terrors! Like a dream when one awakes, O Lord, when you rouse yourself, you despise them as phantoms.” - Psalm 73:18-20
  
  

7. Christians are ready to die because death is gain.

• “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” - Philippians 1:21

We have a treasure in Christ that is immeasurably superior to anything this life has to offer. While we do experience, through the Spirit, the amazing swell of joy and satisfaction of knowing Christ in this life (1 Peter 1:8), we know that it’s merely a down payment of what is to come. Therefore, what becomes a central longing to the Christian heart is the desire to be with Christ (Phil. 1:23). Like Paul, we can glory in our present calling to be the body of Christ on this earth, and we can live in this world unto Christ, and know him, and enjoy him! However, at the same time, in a completely non-masochistic way, we look forward to the day when we will be with Christ in the full splendor of his presence (Psalm 16:11, Psalm 84:10)!

Therefore, when death whispers to the Christian, “I’m coming for you,” the Christian can smile back and utter, “Gain.”

Ready To Live

I think about the images I have seen in recent months of Christian men beheaded at the hands of ISIS: Men in orange jumpsuits, heads shaved, hands bound. Their heads sliced off as if by a butcher cutting a piece of beef. Blood everywhere. Their heads cast carelessly upon the back of a lifeless corpse. Mocked. Laughed at. Celebrated over. These were men of whom the world was not worthy (Hebrews 11:38), and their murderers believed they were doing service to God (John 16:2).

Few images I can think of look more like shame and defeat than the gruesome deaths of these men. Yet we know that shame and defeat is exactly the opposite of what really happens when a Christian is killed: the perishable puts on the imperishable; the mortal puts on immortality, and then it comes to pass, “Death is swallowed up in victory.” (1 Corinthians 15:54-55).

Since we have such assurance in Christ Jesus that death has no power over us, we are set free to live emboldened lives, unafraid of death. We are free to lay our lives down for the cause of the cross -- to fill up what is lacking in Christ’s sufferings (Colossians 1:24), as we push the unstoppable work of the Gospel forward into redemptive history by the power of the Holy Spirit. The Great Commission will succeed. The Gospel will prevail. Death cannot stop it. No threat of terrorism, no threat of execution, no threat of loss -- nothing can stop the love of Christ from penetrating the nations. The earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the seas (Habakkuk 2:14).

Let these promises be the things that give you comfort as you live your life fearlessly for the glory of Christ.

“For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” - Romans 8:38-39