The Gift of Death

Erwin W. Lutzer in his book "One Minute After You Die" has some interesting things to say about death. I am finding some wonderful new things to ponder about what the Bible has to say about it also, with the help of this facinating book.



For those who embrace Christ, the bible presents death as a picture of hope. Lutzer explains in chapter three that "After Adam and Eve sinned, they died spiritually as well as physically. Sending them out of the garden, far from being an act of cruelty, was actually proof of God's kindness." I never looked at it that way. I have always assumed that being sent from the garden was a consequence, in fact, a punishment for the disobedience.



Lutzer goes on to explain that if Adam and Eve had then eaten from the other special tree in the Garden, the Tree of Life, that they would have been immortalized in their sinful condition. They would never ever have been able to qualify for heaven. God wanted them to enjoy His presence. When they disobeyed, they were sinful and no longer able to be in His presence because of the sin. God remedied that by taking them out of the garden, thereby removing the possibility of them gaining eternal life without Him. Imagine never having to face the finality of death although you were condemned to a pitiful existence. God gave Adam and Eve a gift. The gift of death.



"God prevented Adam and Eve from eternal sinfulness by gving them the gift of death, the ability to exit this life and arrive safely in the wondrous life to come." Lutzer goes on to explain that while to many, death appears to be an enemy, it is actually a friend because it is only through death that we can go to God.



This is why Paul classified death as one of the possessions of a Christian in I Corinthians 3:21-23. As we already know, Christians do not fear death, because it is only through death that we receive the gift of eternity.



Most Christians understand that death is the way into eternity, but I have to say, while I don't fear where I will be "One Minute After (I) Die", the actual process does concern me. I mean, I really would rather die just a peaceful death in my sleep or something. I don't like to think about the actual "how" I will go. I'd hate to drown, or suffocate in anyway. I also wouldn't appreciate having to be crushed to death in a trash compactor. I don't know why I fear that, but I do every single time I take cardboard out to the compactor at work! I think it is because one day I heard Paul Harvey tell a news story about a college kid doing something stupid like college kids sometimes do, and he thought it'd be fun to slide down the laundry chute. It wasn't the laundry chute. When the kid got to the bottom, the compactor he fell into was triggered automatically to compress. Lesson? Don't slide down "laundry" chutes. I'm horrified to imagine what the friends were thinking and feeling when all the "woohooooo's" turned into shrills and shrieks of desperation and doom. Then I wonder about what happens "One Minute After You Die"?