Shall not the Judge of the earth do right?

Shall not the Judge of the earth do right? We tend to think that He won’t. We especially think this when something terrible happens to us, or to those whom we love. Like when your friend suddenly dies. We get angry. He didn’t deserve to die. Why did he die now, and so many other, more terrible people, go on living? People like Nicolas Maduro, dictator of Venezuela, who starves and murders his own people, while his military drives armored vehicles into crowds of protesters,[1] for instance. He seems pretty bad, and he is still alive. Or, there are those two people from Crystal Lake, IL who murdered their 7-year-old son and tried to cover it up by making it look like the child was kidnapped.[2] That was definitely evil. Even if they are convicted of murder, they will live out their days in prison. I’m sure you have your own list of evil people forming in your own mind. Our impulse is to get angry and think these, and any number of other people, should be farther up the queue than a man like Ray Bickel, retired Chicago Cop, who was a loving father and grandfather, a Cubs fan, a loyal friend, a faithful volunteer and tenor in the choir at St. John’s Mayfair, and a general, all-around good guy. What’s going on here? Shall not the Judge of the earth do right?

This verse comes from the second half of Genesis 18:25, which is the middle of the passage where Abraham intercedes to God on behalf of Sodom and Gomorrah. God tells Abraham that He is going to destroy the cities because of their great wickedness; Abraham begins his famous negotiation: Suppose there were fifty righteous within the city; would you also destroy the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous that were within it?[3] We know what happens. God says no, and Abraham keeps bringing the number lower, and lower. He ultimately tells Abraham that, for the sake of 10 righteous people, He would spare the city. The angels go to Sodom, they remove Abraham’s nephew Lot and his family, and God destroys the city by raining fire and brimstone from heaven.[4] So, we are to understand that every man, woman, and child in Sodom was deserving of death? The answer is yes. Either that, or God is not righteous.

The point God is making to Abraham is that there isn’t even one righteous person in Sodom. This includes Lot. He isn’t innocent either. Don’t forget, Lot is the man who chose to separate himself from Abraham, through whom God’s promised Redeemer was to come; he is the man whose moral sense was warped in such a way that, rather than distance himself from the wretched hive of scum and villainy that was Sodom, Lot embraced it. This warping manifests itself when righteous Lot offers his daughters up to gang rape by the mob of Sodomites who were seeking to molest Lot’s angelic visitors.[5] In fact,

he had become so attached to what Sodom had to offer that he was reluctant to make a clean break. The angels had to take him and his wife and daughters as one takes little children by the hand and lead them outside the doomed city. They actually had to force rescue on Lot and his family.[6]

Even then, Lot’s wife rejects this rescue; she turns back to look at the city as they flee, and becomes a pillar of salt.

In times of pain, suffering, and loss, we are tempted to blame God for our evil. We lament that an evil dictator is alive, and our friend is dead, and God is unjust. But He isn’t unjust. We deserve the wages we are paid, for we are all sinners, and the wages of sin is death. This is because we are a lot like Lot. We are corrupted by sin; we love this corrupt world, and gratifying the desires of our sinful flesh. We have to be dragged out of our fallen state as reluctantly as Lot was brought out of Sodom. Everyone in Sodom deserved to die, because they were fallen, sinful people. It isn’t injustice on God’s part when men die; we all are fallen, sinful creatures who are subject to death through the one man, Adam.[7] Conversely, Lot did not deserve God’s redemption from the coming destruction, but he was given it as a gift. He didn’t do anything to earn it; he certainly didn’t deserve to be rescued because of how good a person he was. God came to Lot when he was a filthy sinner, and Lot submitted to Him; that is why Peter can call Lot a righteous man.[8]

The point is, that no one is righteous, no, not one.[9] Because of our sin, we all deserve death and damnation; God, the righteous Judge, would’ve been justified in destroying His entire creation and starting over after the Fall, if He wanted. No man, no matter how good, upright, or righteous he is in the eyes of the world, or how loved he is by his family and friends, deserves to be spared death and hell on those grounds. Not you, not me, not Ray, not Nicholas Maduro; Not anyone.

God, thankfully, is a merciful judge, as well as a righteous one. He saves mankind the same way that He saved righteous Lot from the destruction of Sodom. He comes to us and rescues us. Jesus, The Second Adam, came into the world to bear our sin and be our savior. He was brought as a lamb to the slaughter. He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth. He was delivered up to death that He might quicken, that is, make alive His people. Jesus was delivered for our offenses and raised again for our justification. He comes to us, individually, through His Word, and delivers to us this salvation He has purchased for us on the cross with His holy, precious blood, and by His innocent suffering and death. He comes to save us in the waters of Holy Baptism.[10] He comes to forgive our sins in the eating and drinking of His body and blood in the Lord’s Supper.[11] He comes to us, to create repentance and faith in us,[12] through the Word preached, read, and meditated upon. He comes to us in the words spoken by our faithful pastor who, in the stead and by the command of Our Lord Jesus Christ, pronounces forgives us our sins, and announces the grace of God to us.[13] While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.[14] While we are sinners, Christ comes to us through His Word and Sacraments, forgives our sins, cleanses us from all unrighteousness, and gives us eternal life. The only way we do not get these things is if we refuse and reject them. In the list of things that Ray “was”, the most important thing was omitted. He was a Christian. These are the promises into which Ray was baptized; these are the things that he confessed before men. And, since he was baptized into Christ’s death, Ray has also been united together with Christ’s resurrection.

This is why, even at the death of a loved one, we can have comfort and be joyful. This is something popular American Christianity, of the Joel Osteen/Joyce Meyer variety, cannot do: teach us, as St. Paul writes, to be content in whatever state we may find ourselves, because of what we have in Christ. They point us to health and wealth in this world. They teach us to live our best lives now. It might work for a while, but eventually, we are confronted with sin, and no amount of “thinking good thoughts” will help. Our faith that Jesus, the God-man, has redeemed us, paid for our sins on the cross and declared us righteous, doesn’t mean we will be free from pain and sorrow in this life. To the contrary, Jesus promises us that in this life we will have trouble.[15] He goes on to encourage us to be of good cheer, because He has overcome the world. Satan thought he defeated God when Jesus died on the cross and was buried in the tomb. God, however, raised Him from the dead.[16] Christ conquered death, and because we are in Him by our baptism, death also has no ultimate power over us. The death of our friend looks and feels like a defeat. Be of good cheer, Christ has overcome the world; In Christ, we have overcome it as well. Because God is righteous, merciful, and faithful, we can have faith that He works all things together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.[17] So, in the midst of death and pain, we can joyfully confess with Job:

I know that my Redeemer lives, and He shall stand at last on the earth; and after my skin is destroyed, this I know, that in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. How my heart yearns within me![18]

A time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear the voice of Christ and come out.[19] Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt.[20] Those sons of God through faith in Christ, who have put on Christ in their baptism, have life everlasting because He is the resurrection and the life, and whoever believes in Him, even though he may die, he shall live.[21] And on that day,

the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.[22]

Ray, baptized into Christ’s death and resurrection, will be raised. You and I, if Christ should tarry until after our deaths, will be raised; all believers in Christ will be raised on the Last Day, in our own bodies, and made to be like Christ’s glorious body, never to experience sin and death again. All this God does for us out of goodness and mercy, without any merit or worthiness in us.

For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him. Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing.[23]

Shall not the Judge of the earth do right? I am profoundly thankful to God that He has given us His mercy, and His unmerited favor in Christ, rather than His justice. Those who wish to have the latter, however, will certainly receive it.

---

[1] Llanozap, Fernando. “Video shows military vehicle running over protesters.” cnn.com. https://www.cnn.com/videos/world/2019/04/30/violent-uprising-in-venezuela-juan-guaido-nicolas-maduro-crn-vpx.cnn (accessed May, 2019).

[2] Associated Press. “The Latest: Illinois couple charged in young son’s death.” foxnews.com. https://www.foxnews.com/us/the-latest-illinois-couple-charged-in-young-sons-death (accessed May 6, 2019).

[3] Genesis 18:24

[4] Genesis 19:12-29

[5] Genesis 19:1-11

[6] Jeske, John C. People’s Bible Commentary: Genesis. St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 1992.

[7] Romans 5:12-21

[8] 2 Peter 2:7

[9] Romans 3:10-12

[10] Matthew 28:19-20; Mark 16:16; Acts 2:38-39; 22:16; Romans 6:3-5; 1 Corinthians 6:11; Galatians 3:27; Colossians 1:13-14; 1 Peter 3:18-22;

[11] Matthew 26:28

[12] Romans 10:17; Acts 5:31; 11:18;

[13] John 20:21-23;

At the beginning of each communion service, the people confess their sins, and the pastor responds with the absolution: Upon this your confession, I, by virtue of my office as a called and ordained servant of the Word, announce the grace of God unto all of you, and in the stead and by the command of my Lord Jesus Christ I forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost.

Evangelical Lutheran Synodical Conference of North America. The Lutheran Hymnal. St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 1941.

[14] Romans 5:8

[15] John 16:33

[16] Acts 13:30, 30; Romans 10:9

[17] Romans 8:28

[18] Job 19:25-27

[19] John 5:25-30

[20] Daniel 12:2

[21] Galatians 3:26-28; John 11:12

[22] 1 Corinthians 15:52

[23] 1 Thessalonians 4:9-11

Celebrating a Life

Patrol cars lining up outside the funeral home
in preparation for the procession.

On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. Now Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem, and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home. “Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.” Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” 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?” “Yes, Lord,” she replied, “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world” (John 11:17-27).

As a police officer, part of my job is to sometimes attend civic functions. We are sent to Memorial Day, Veterans Day, and Fourth of July parades. A nearby town has a Pet Parade to which we always send at least one patrol car. In Hodgkins, we have a summer festival the Second weekend of September and the police spend a lot of public relations time there. I usually spend the day driving children around in our parade car, a 1929 Ford Model A Phaeton.

Then, of course, there are the things that are not as much fun to attend.

Officers assembling at the church for the
honor guard detail.

We attend a lot of funerals. This month, there were two funerals for officers who have been killed. I had the privilege of attending the funeral for Steven Smith, the Chicago Ridge police officer who was killed in a DUI car crash on I-294 on September 13. I got to be part of the funeral procession, which included dozens of squad cars from I don't know how many police agencies. I participated in the police honor guard detail at the funeral home, and at the church. We stood at attention on the street in front of Our Lady of the Ridge Roman Catholic Church, along with a detail of flawlessly dressed (and immaculately choreographed) Marines, as the Emerald Society paraded in front of the hearse playing pipes and drums. It was a moving scene, and the police officers with whom I spoke were all, without exception, moved and gratified to see the entire town of Chicago Ridge honoring officer Steven Smith. Hundreds of people lined the streets as the funeral procession passed by. They waved American flags, and blue ribbons were tied to trees and lampposts along the way. There wasn't an empty seat in the church for Mass.

As a civic ceremony, this funeral for a man who had a positive impact on the community in which he grew up and lived will remain in my memory for a long time. It was the perfect way for a community to collectively express gratitude toward one of its sons and loyal civil servants. The religious ceremony, however, disturbed me.

The Emerald Society preparing to play.

Wakes and funerals are curious things, especially the way they are done in America. Rather than being a means to help grieving friends and relatives cope with the death of a loved one, wakes and funerals oftentimes become a celebration of the very thing that took their loved one away – death. They end up, rather than comforting people, reminding them of all the good things they have lost to death. Funerals and wakes, generally and without meaning to, put on display all that the deceased was in this life. It usually happens in the form of photographs, bulletin boards, flowers and personal mementos scattered throughout the funeral parlor. All these things, in effect, tell the living who have gathered to mourn, “Look what you have lost and will never again experience”. The most heinous part of the entire wake experience is, quite possibly, the corpse itself.

The body of a deceased loved one painted and dressed; face plastered with makeup and frozen in an almost-but-not-quite serene expression, made to appear as if asleep. In the hands of the wrong funeral director, a corpse becomes morbid marionette that serves only to focus attention on the “star” of the hour – death. At a wake, what a victory death seems to have won. And, no more awkward a question has ever been asked than, “Boy, doesn’t he/she look good?”

No, they don’t look good. No one looks good lying in a casket.

The priest, in his homily, referred several times to this funeral mass as being a "celebration of life." He eulogized the officer, recounting all sorts of incidents and anecdotes from his life, talking about what a wonderful person he was to those around him. The point he made at the end was, in recalling these things and sharing them with others, we keep him alive, just as we keep Jesus alive when we recall what Jesus has done, and imitate his love for his fellow man.

This made me cringe. It almost sounded as though the priest was denying an afterlife, let alone the resurrection, and saying that the dead - including Christ - are kept alive only in spirit, through collective memory. This emphasis was confusing, particularly since he read from John 11:25:

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die;

He did say that Christ was the only way to access God. But there was no mention of sin, or its forgiveness through the atoning sacrifice of Christ's death on the cross. With a casket in the center of the church, the saccharin words about celebrating life rang somewhat hollow, and you could see it on the face of Officer Smith’s mother.

The second thing that stuck out to me was the celebration of mass. I don’t intend to get into an in-depth comparative study of the Roman and Lutheran liturgies here, or to debate transubstantiation, consubstantiation, and the Real Presence. I have attended other masses in the past, and am familiar with what goes on. I have previously watched the presentation of the gifts, the bread and the wine, and heard the priest call on God to sanctify these offerings, that they may become the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. I have seen priests re-present this unbloody sacrifice and offer it, “in reparation for the sins of the living and the dead and to obtain spiritual or temporal benefits from God” many times in the past (Roman Catholic Church 1994). These works were performed at this funeral Mass as well. Again, when there is a casket containing the body of one of those faithful departed for whose repose the congregation is praying, it gives one a bit more perspective on what is taking place.

During all this my eye was drawn to the family of the deceased. Quite understandably, their faces were the picture of anguish and despair. The only hope which was being offered to them, however, was in the work of performing the Mass, and in praying that their son’s soul would rest in peace. Even the little bit of Gospel given to them earlier in the service during the readings was taken away during the celebration of the Mass, by the lack of certainty that he would “rest in peace.”

Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation (Romans 5:1-11).

Being the obstinate and hateful Confessional Lutheran that I am, I was one of only two police officers who did not participate in the Eucharist that day. With the words of the Augsburg Confession in my head, there I sat, I could do nothing else, God help me! Amen!

Scripture teaches that we are justified before God, through faith in Christ, when we believe that our sins are forgiven for Christ’s sake. Now if the Mass takes away the sins of the living and the dead simply by performing it[1], justification comes by doing Masses, and not by faith. Scripture does not allow this (AC XXIV 28-29)[2].

Because of our disobedient first parents, we have to deal with sin and death. Sin, after the fall, became a part of the human nature. And, while it is true that everyone must die, death does not have the same meaning for those who trust in Christ. This is what all those gathered to “celebrate the life” of Officer Smith desperately needed to hear. This is what I wanted Officer Smith’s parents to hear about their son, a baptized child of God.

St. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians the following, my favorite passage of Scripture:

I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed—in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: "Death has been swallowed up in victory." "Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?" The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15:50-57).

For those who do not know Jesus Christ, who do not believe and trust in him as their redeemer, the prospect is grim. Death, for these people, remains the victor. Scripture says that they will experience eternal death. In the shadow of this prospect, the wake room and funeral service becomes an extremely cold, dark and dismal place.

...He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son. But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death." (Revelation 21:7-8).

The Christian, however, can look death in the eye unafraid. To the Christian, death is more than a consequence of original sin and a fallen creation; more than the cessation of life. It is the portal to life everlasting and a relationship with the Creator as such a relationship was intended to be. No suffering, no pain; only eternal joy with God and all the saints forever.

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." He who was seated on the throne said, "I am making everything new!" Then he said, "Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true" (Revelation 21:3-5).

For the unbeliever, the traditional wake is appropriate. An entire life summed up by a bulletin board full of old photographs and a coffee room filled with sad, frightened people discussing everything but that which is in the parlor. For the Christian, it is inappropriate, as they have, in their baptism, passed from death to life. By their physical death, the deceased Christian has passed from this life to life eternal. The Christian wake and funeral, though an outlet for grief and mourning is, and rightly should be, also a celebration of Christ’s victory over death and the grave by his resurrection - the anticipation that those who trust in him as the atonement for their sins will live forever as well. The Christian funeral can be called a celebration of life. It is a celebration of the life Christ has won for us on the cross, without any merit or worthiness in us.

Death is not good. God, however, has taken what is evil and turned it to our benefit, by the suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus. The resurrection of the body and life everlasting are sure and certain to those who trust in him; to those who remain faithful unto death. Therefore, for the Christian, especially when confronting death, the words of St. Paul should provide us strength, consolation and comfort:

Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain (1 Corinthians 15:58).

Works Cited

Concordia Publishing House. Luther's Small Catechism. Translated by Concordia Publishing House. Saint Louis, Missouri: Concordia Publishing House, 1991.

McCain, Paul Timothy, Robert Cleveland Baker, Gene Edward Veith, and Edward Andrew Engelbrecht, . Concordia: The Lutheran Confessions. Translated by William Hermann Theodore Dau and Gerhard Friedrich Bente. St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 2005.

Roman Catholic Church. Catechism of the Catholic Church. Rome: Urbi et Orbi Communications, 1994. 

End Notes

[1] Ex opere operato – by the outward act. Scripture certainly teaches that the Lord’s Supper is a means of grace and that the chief blessing of it is the forgiveness of sins, which Christ’s body and blood have won for us on the cross. Forgiveness of sin, life and salvation are certainly not given simply by the eating and drinking (the outward act), but by believing in the words, “Given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins,” along with the eating and drinking. Whoever believes these words has exactly what they say: “forgiveness of sins” (Concordia Publishing House 1991).

[2] McCain, Paul Timothy, Robert Cleveland Baker, Gene Edward Veith, and Edward Andrew Engelbrecht, . Concordia: The Lutheran Confessions. Translated by William Hermann Theodore Dau and Gerhard Friedrich Bente. St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 2005.

"He looks so natural..."

Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lord's own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep (1 Thessalonians 4:13-15).

Wakes are curious things, especially the way they are done in America. Rather than being a means to help grieving friends and relatives cope with the death of a loved one, wakes oftentimes become a celebration of the very thing that took their loved one away – death. They end up, rather than comforting people, reminding them of all the good things they have lost to death. Funerals and wakes, generally and without meaning to, put on display all that the deceased was in this life. It generally happens in the form of photographs, bulletin boards, flowers and personal mementos scattered throughout the funeral parlor. All these things, in effect, tell the living who have gathered to mourn, “look what you have lost and will never again experience”. The most heinous part of the entire wake experience is, quite possibly, the corpse itself.

The body of a deceased loved one painted and dressed; face plastered with makeup and frozen in an almost-but-not-quite serene expression, made to appear as if asleep. In the hands of the wrong funeral director, a corpse becomes morbid marionette that serves only to focus attention on the “star” of the hour – death. At a wake, what a victory death seems to have won. And, no more awkward a question has ever been asked than, “Boy, doesn’t he/she look good?”

No, they don’t look good. No one looks good lying in a casket.

Families act brave at the wakes of their loved ones, saying standard, rehearsed lines like, “Death is a part of life,” and “We will all have to face death sometime,” or “I’m just glad to see their suffering is over.” And all the while, friends and relatives help with the charade in order to spare feelings. No one really comforts, no one truly consoles. Standing in the shrine of death, mourners immediately begin to ignore that which they have gathered to view.

It is true that the death rate, as one preacher noted, is still 100%. Everyone will, at some point, die, and there is no escaping it. Death, however, is by no means simply a “part of life”. Death is not good. Death is not even o.k. Death is certainly not our friend nor should we stoically accept it. Death is the enemy of humankind. To put it bluntly, death sucks. We should not act as though it did not.

In order to cope with death, which happens all around us every day, we must understand what it is. We must understand why and how it came to be.

And 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" (Genesis 2:16-18).

Death is the result of sin. In the beginning, when God created man, death was not part of the equation. We were not meant to die. God wanted the beings he created to live forever with him. Of course, scripture tells us why this is no longer the case. Because of the disobedience of our first parents, Adam and Eve, sin and death were introduced into God’s perfect creation, and what God had created was changed utterly. We see the results of sin every day in the world around us, and even in our own selves, and it is not pretty. It is so disgusting, in fact, that many people either choose to ignore it, or blame the Creator for what we brought on ourselves.

Why would God allow this? If he wanted people to live forever with him, why did he not just ignore what Adam and Eve did? Why did he not just forgive them right there in the Garden instead of requiring atonement for sin that man was unable to make for himself, necessitating Messiah do it for him? Surely it would have been much less of a hassle to simply wipe the board clean and start over from scratch…

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life...For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God (John 3:16; 1 Peter 3:18a).

This side of heaven we will never fully understand God’s motives for creating man in the first place. Some theologians believe that God did it because he wanted to have fellowship with beings who possessed the capacity to reject him, making the relationship, therefore, meaningful. Of course, he could have just needed a cool science fair project…we won’t know until we meet him face to face and ask him. However, anyone who has a child could probably understand, on some level, why God dealt with his disobedient creation as he did.

And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons: "My son, do not make light of the Lord's discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son." Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? (Hebrews 12:5-7).

Good parents who are effective in disciplining and instructing their children will tell you that abrogating the consequences for exceeding established guidelines is a sure way to create a selfish, disobedient child who is manipulative and tests their parents at every turn. Parents who set limits and enforce them in a loving way stand a better chance of raising respectful, obedient children who understand how to follow rules and get along well with those around them.

Scripture tells us that God is holy and just. In other words, he hates sin, or disobedience, and is fair and impartial. In the Garden of Eden, God set a boundary for Adam and Eve, just like a parent who limits the number of cookies their child may eat. Like a good parent, God set a consequence for violating that boundary (for being disobedient), “…or you will surely die.” Since God hates sin and is just, there is no possible way for him to simply forgo the consequences.

God cannot exist contrary to his nature, just as we cannot.

Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under his wings. Day and night they never stop saying: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come."...But the LORD Almighty will be exalted by his justice, and the holy God will show himself holy by his righteousness (Revelation 4:8; Isaiah 5:16).

God is holy, just and righteous. To ignore what Adam and Eve did, God would have had to ignore sin – something which it is his very nature to abhor.

Another attribute of God, though, is mercy. God is gracious and merciful. Scripture describes a God who is full of pity, forgiving; who shows undeserved kindness.

Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy...But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved (Micah 7:18; Ephesians 2:3-5).

God's mercy was good news for Adam and Eve, just as it is for us today. God, though he had to follow through with his punishment, provided a way for his wayward children to be redeemed. For Adam and Eve, and all those who lived during Old Testament times, the way of redemption was faith in God’s promised redeemer. It is the same for we who live under the New Testament. Those who came before us only had God’s promise to hold on to – though that is certainly enough. They did not know the redeemer’s name. We do – Jesus of Nazareth, the promised Messiah, Son of David. He is the Christ, God in human flesh.

He [Jesus] went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read. The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written: "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, and he began by saying to them, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing" (Luke 4:16-21).

Because of our disobedient first parents, we have to deal with sin and death. Sin, after the fall, became a part of the human nature. And, while it is true that everyone must die, death does not have the same meaning for those who trust in Christ.

I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed—in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: "Death has been swallowed up in victory." "Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?" The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15:50-57).

For those who do not know Jesus Christ, who do not believe and trust in him as their redeemer, the prospect is grim. Death, for these people, remains the victor. Scripture says that they will experience eternal death. In the shadow of this prospect, the wake room becomes an extremely cold, dark and dismal place.

...He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son. But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death." ( Revelation 21:7-8).

The Christian, however, can look death in the eye unafraid. To the Christian, death is more than a consequence of original sin and a fallen creation; more than the cessation of life. It is the portal to life everlasting and a relationship with the Creator as such a relationship was intended to be. No suffering, no pain; only eternal joy with God and all the saints forever.

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." He who was seated on the throne said, "I am making everything new!" Then he said, "Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true" (Revelation 21:3-5).

For the unbeliever, the traditional wake is appropriate. An entire life summed up by a bulletin board full of old photographs and a coffee room filled with sad, frightened people discussing everything but that which is in the parlor. For the Christian, it is inappropriate, as they have, in their baptism, passed from death to life. By their physical death, the deceased Christian has passed from this life to life eternal. The Christian wake and funeral, though an outlet for grief and mourning is, and rightly should be, also a celebration of Christ’s victory over death and the grave by his resurrection - the anticipation that those who trust in him as the atonement for their sins will live forever as well.

Death is not good. God, however, has taken what is evil and turned it to our benefit, by the suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus. The resurrection of the body and life everlasting are sure and certain to those who trust in him; to those who remain faithful unto death. Therefore, for the Christian, especially when confronting death, the words of St. Paul should provide us strength, consolation and comfort:

Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain (1 Corinthians 15:58).