I know the title sounds a little strange. We, typically, have a hard time with death. Even for Christians – a group that, by rights, should welcome the passage from this life to the next – it is a difficult reality to deal with.
As a pastor I am called upon to help grieving families as they deal with the loss of loved ones. Recently it was my turn to deal with loss. Not that I haven’t lost loved ones in the past but it had been a while since the last funeral service for one of my family members. That changed July 11 when we lost one of my uncles. Paul lost a year and a half long battle with lung cancer (oddly enough he had never smoked anything and took good care of himself – cancer doesn’t discriminate).
Let me get to the point. As I said at the beginning the title “Death: a Demonstration of God’s Love?” sounds strange. Let’s face it – we know from a quick reading of the first few chapters of Genesis that death became a reality for us because of sin. It was the forewarned punishment for sinning. Genesis 2:16-17 puts it like this: “…the Lord God commanded the man, ‘You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.'” (NIV)
If you’ve taken time to read through Genesis chapter 3 or, if you paid attention in Sunday school, you know Adam & Eve didn’t do so well following the rules. They ate the fruit and got the boot. They were exiled from Eden and then subject to death (both physical and spiritual – but that’s another topic for another time).
The story doesn’t end there and that’s really what I want to look at. Go back to Genesis 2:9. it tells us that there was another tree in the middle of the garden. One that they were free to eat from as often as they wanted. It was the tree of life. When Adam and Eve were driven out of Eden God posted a guard – a “…cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.” (Gen 3:24) The reason for the guard? 3:22 “…the Lord God said, ‘The man…must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.'” (NIV)
Some might think that sounds a little harsh. I mean, not only did the young couple have to leave the honeymoon suite, start wearing clothes and working for a living but their diet had been restricted – and God wasn’t about to trust them to not cheat on their diet.
This, I believe, was a true kindness by God. A demonstration of His love for His most prized creation. God was literally saying ‘I love you far too much to allow you to live forever in a fallen, hurt-filled world’! This is why the Psalmist writes, in Psalm 116:15, “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.” (NIV)
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