Tag Archives: death

Hands

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In the grip of Christ, we have no need.

My dad drew up my hand and placed it next to my grandfather’s, who was in the casket.  He then placed his next to mine, so that all three were in a row, saying, “You see, Sammy, where you get your hands?”  My young eyes noticed the similarities between my grandpa’s hands, my dad’s, and my own.  Each had the same wrinkly skin and stubby strength, passed on from generation to generation.  In that moment, as a little boy, I learned more than just genetics; I learned that everyone you love, will leave you, no matter how strong his hands.

Our safety in life is not found in all the trivial and temporary things that can be stripped away in a second.  Our comfort in life is not found in plans, pleasures, power, or people, for all will vanish.  If we place ourselves into their greasy hands, we will slip right out.  These things will always let you down.  People will always let you down, your possessions will always let you down, pleasures will always let you down.  None of these have hands that are fit to hold the human soul.

So what should you give yourself to and where is your solace found?  Recently, some have said that religion is not the answer.  They are quick to point out that Religion will let us down, too—that religion hurts, drops, kills.  It is graspless.

When your friends fail, when your money disappears, when your reputation is tattered, where is your comfort to be found?  Even more, when your life itself refuses to breathe again, what is your comfort in death?  What will hold you then?

It seems that we need hands that have been both to heaven and earth.  We need hands that hold the power of the cosmos and that hold the palm of the child.  We need hands that have thrust the stars into their orbits and that have thrust the heart into the human.  We need hands that have both the power to heal and the tenderness to hold.

The hands of Jesus Christ are the hands for us.  Not only did they spin the world into motion, but also they touched the oozing sores of a leper and dried the tears of a prostitute.  They wakened the universe with power and they writhed in pain from mortal nails.  His hands were both divine and dead, miraculous and mortal.

The holes in his hands are a portal through which heaven and earth touch.  And that is where he holds us.  That is our solace and comfort.  That is where we will never be shaken, the spot from which we will never be let go.  In the grip of Christ, we have no need.  In the grip of Christ, we can let go of our troubles, our idols, and our self-definitions.

What is truly, deeply, our only comfort?  Even the most non-religious person can see that our comfort is not in what we can hold onto, for our grasp is so weak and the natural course of this life rips everything out of our grip.  My solace and comfort come not from what I can hold onto, but from Whom is holding onto me.

So reads the Heidelberg Catechism, “What is your only comfort in life and in death?”  The answer: “That I am not my own, but belong—body and soul, in life and in death—to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ.”

You belong to Jesus Christ and he will never let go of you.

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.  For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.  And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.[1]

© Samuel Kee, 2012

[1] Colossians 1:15-17, ESV.

Why Do We Have to Die?

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Our DNA is set to die.

“Daddy, if Jesus died for us, then why do we still have to die?”  My son, who was four at the time, was still trying to make sense of his grandpa’s recent passing.  He was looking to me for answers.  I was struck by the depth of his question, born from experience, no less.  At this point, dads, don’t rely on mom to answer the tough questions.  When we’re asked to step up to the plate, we must do so with courage.  If you don’t know the answer to your child’s tough questions, then do what ever it takes to figure it out.

I told him the story of Ulysses and the Cyclops in Homer’s Odyssey.  The Cyclops was a savage beast with one eye and as tall as a tree.  He managed to lure Ulysses and his men into his cave and then roll a stone in front of the entrance, so that they were trapped and could not escape.  But one night, the men managed to blind the Cyclops while he was sleeping.  Then, they were able to escape!

Before we can escape from the cave, the Cyclops must be defeated.  Applying this to my son’s question, the cave represents death and the Cyclops represents sin.  The assumption behind my son’s question is that humans are alive.  Though this is hard to explain to a four-year-old, we must realize that we are not alive.  Though our bodies are alive physically, our souls are dead spiritually.  Scripture affirms this: “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked.” (Ephesians 2:1-2).

This means that we are already dead; we start off in the cave.  The question is virtually unanswerable if we are alive; as my son said, then it makes no sense that we have to die if Christ already died for us.  But what if Scripture is right in saying that we are not alive, but dead?  Then it’s not a matter of figuring out why we still have to die, but how we can escape from the cave.

The real question is: “How can I escape from the cave of death?”  You see, we were born into the cave and have never lived outside of the cave.  Worse still, we’re being guarded by a monstrous Cyclops who keeps his eye on us at all times.  The only way for us to escape from the cave is if someone deals with the Cyclops.

The Cyclops, remember, is sin.  Someone has to deal with our sin, which is the power inside of the cave (“the sting of death is sin” according to 1 Corinthians 15:56 ), before we can escape from the death-cave.

Whether we like it or not, we are born inside of the cave; there’s nothing we can do about that.  Our DNA is set to die, following the course our souls have already blazed.

By understanding this, we can now see what Jesus’ death does for us.  His death on the cross destroys the Cyclops in the cave.  Though Ulysses and his men merely blind the Cyclops and manage to escape through trickery, Jesus finishes the job.  Jesus utterly destroys death, leaving it limp and powerless.  Having destroyed death, we are free to leave the cave.

This means that we do not have to stay in death any longer.  Did I say that we no longer have to die?  No, I did not.  I said that we no longer have to stay in death.  Remember, we were born inside of the cave; we all will die eventually (excluding the miraculous return of Christ).  But Jesus’ death on the cross means that we do not have to stay in death.  Since Jesus defeated sin, we are free to rise to life.  Or, as the Apostle Paul puts it, “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our sins, made us alive together with Christ.” (Ephesians 2:4-5).

Because God loves us so much, he defeated sin so that we could escape from death.  Because God loves us so much, he made dead people come alive.  Jesus died for us, not to spare us from death, but to save us from death.  Had Jesus not done that, then we would remain forever in death, a torturous existence apart from God.

Now that Jesus has defeated sin, grab hold of him and let him pull you out of death.  The part about the resurrection of Jesus that thrills me the most is the fact that I can hold onto Jesus and let him pull me to life.  Feel the force of the resurrection pulling you back to life, out of the cave, out of the grave.

Jesus died for us so that we could finally live.  Every fiber in your being should ache at the prospect of coming alive at last.

© Samuel Kee, 2011

Letter to Hostile Friend

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That's just how we Christians roll.

Dear Hostile Friend,

You give Christians a hard time and make fun of us for what we believe, but I just wanted you to know a few things (since you didn’t bother to ask).  I just want you to know that at any moment, I would take a punch for you.  Did you know that?  If push came to shove and I needed to take one on the chin for you, I’d do it.  Why?  Because I’m a soldier in Christ’s Army and those are my orders from him.

I would also give you my car, if you should need it.  In fact, I’ve done that before.  And I never got a thanks in return.  But that’s okay, because I didn’t want any thanks; I did it freely, with no strings attached.  That’s just the way we Christians roll.  We make incredible sacrifices for others; we know that God owns everything anyway, so it is up to him to decide where his stuff ends up.  If you need my television, then fine, you can have it.  Do you need my washing machine?  It’s yours.  In fact, if you ask for the coat off of my back, I’ll give you my shirt and shoes, as well.  They’re just clothes.

So while you’re mocking me, I’m thinking of ways to bless you.  Sorry, I just can’t help it—for I’ve been blessed so much already.  God has given me so much mercy and grace when I deserved only punishment and wrath.  God sent his Son to die in my place so that I could escape from the penalty of my sin.  And after I die, I’ll actually rise from the grave and live forever in God’s kingdom, a place of unquenchable love and happiness.  So it doesn’t really matter what you say or do to me here.

In fact, and I was thinking about this just the other day, if the circumstances arose that should require me to give my life for yours, I would do it in a heartbeat.  Again, that’s how we Christians roll.  I do not fear death and I do not fear mockery.  I am secure in the hands of my Savior Jesus.  He will never let go of me.

So go ahead and mock me, threaten me, and push me around.  It doesn’t phase me.  Go ahead and make me the butt of all your jokes.  Keep it coming.  I don’t care.  I’ll keep praying for you, weeping for you, and thinking of ways to sacrifice myself and my rights so that you can know the love of my God.

You think I’m weak?  A doormat?  A loser?  Or is it just that I have nothing to prove?  I will do whatever it takes to show you God’s unconditional love.  When you strike one cheek, I’ll give you my other cheek to strike; I’m so tough that I don’t need the approval of others, unlike you.  You mock others because you’ve never felt God’s love for you and you’re desperately trying to prove that you’re somebody, that you’re worth it.

Friend, I just want you to know that you are worth it.  Even though you and I were both enemies of God, he killed himself on a cross for us anyway.  That’s just how he rolls.  Now our worth does not come from how much better than others we think we are, but from how much God was willing to give for us.  And he gave his Son for us in an utter bloodbath.

I don’t know if this little note will change anything between us, probably not.  But in the meantime, know that every time you make fun of me, my heart aches for you out of pure love.

Your friend,

Christian

© Samuel Kee, 2011

Freedom

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There are no more debts to be paid.

Every criminal who was executed by crucifixion in Ancient Rome had a “notice of charges” posted on the cross above the head.  The notice of charges was handwritten by those overseeing the execution, giving a public report of why the criminal was being put to death.  It told you why the person was being executed and what debt he owed.  His execution was the method for paying the outstanding debt written above his head; the notice of charges was “paid in full” upon the last breath of the criminal.

Put like that, each person who has ever lived has a notice of charges, a handwritten statement of wrongs he or she has committed, hanging above his or her head.  Our notice of charges is our “Admit One” ticket to destruction.  It’s the debt we owe and eventually we’ll have to pay for it.

This means that now we’re as good as dead: the charges have been written out already, whether we realize it or not.  We each owe a debt to God, which must be paid in order to uphold goodness and justice.  My notice of charges includes all of the wrongs I have committed in the past and all the wrongs I will commit in the future.  It’s a long and painful record of wrongs, proof of my rebellion against God my King.  God is not dead; I am dead to God.

Now I can understand what is meant in Colossians 2:13-15:

13You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins. 14He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross. 15In this way, he disarmedthe spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross.

I was dead, but then God made me alive.  Notice first that only God can make us alive.  No matter how hard we try to “feel alive” by the things we do or consume, we will fail.  Only God can make us alive.  He does it by forgiving our sins, which have kept a stranglehold on our existence, squeezing the life right out of us.

He forgave our sins by cancelling the record of the charges against us!  In other words, he took away our notice of charges and gave it to someone else to pay for it.  On whose cross did it go?  God took away our notice of charges “by nailing it to the cross” of his Son Jesus.  My notice of charges was given to Jesus and he died beneath it, for it.

Jesus paid the debt that I owed.  He died for my crimes so that I could go free.  My debt is forever cancelled.  Forever.  Forever.

I owe nothing more; my debt is paid in full by Jesus.  I know this to be true because of the resurrection.  The resurrection is the reward of a sufficient sacrifice.  When God looked at his Son Jesus on the cross, it’s as if God asked himself, “Has all the debt of all the sinners of all time, been paid in full?  If so, then death can no longer hold Jesus in the grave.”  Death can only keep its grip so long as there’s debt still to be paid.  But if every last cent of every sinner’s debt has been paid, then death no longer has any power to keep Jesus in the grave.

That being the case, since Jesus had exhausted the power of death by exacting every debt, God said to his Son, “Rise!”  There are no more debts to pay; they are paid in full.  The resurrection is proof of our freedom just as the cross is proof of our forgiveness.

There is nothing left for us to do, but give our lives to Jesus and accept the payment that he has made for us.  The only debt that we owe is love for God and to experience lifelong love from God.

© Samuel Kee, 2011

Question of Death

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Because he died for us, he made death safe for us.

I was sitting in my sons’ room on their brown carpet, reading the Bible to them.  One of my sons, after listening to me talk about the cross, asked me, “Daddy, if Jesus died for us, then why do we still have to die?”  He was thinking about and missing his grandpa who had died a year before. 

If Jesus died for us, then why do we still have to die?  What an important question, which gets to the fundamental meaning of the cross.  Jesus did not die for our immortality, but for our sins.  In other words, he did not die so that we could be free from death, but so that we could be free from sin.  When Jesus died for us, he died for that which was terribly wrong with us, our good standing before God. 

The thing that is most wrong with us is not our appearance or our personality.  The worst thing about us is not our social life or our lack of accomplishments.  The thing that needs the most attention is not our beauty, or lack thereof.  The part of us that needs the most help is our standing before God.  That is what Jesus died to fix.

Jesus died in order to bring us back to God.  He loved us way too much to lose us. 

Jesus died in order to bring us back to God, not to keep us from dying at all.  As great as it would be not to die, even greater is being with God, if you can comprehend that.  The greatest thing that God could do for you is to give you more of himself, not more of yourself, that is, more physical life.

Our DNA is set to die; however, because Jesus died for us, he has joined us on the journey.  And having disarmed the power of death, which is sin, he made it safe for us to travel through.  We will make it through to the other side.

I like to picture a plot of earth that is infested with mines.  Ground like that is completely unsafe to travel through.  But then along comes a minesweeper, who sweeps through the area and neutralizes all of the bombs.  The minesweeper makes the area completely safe to travel through. 

Jesus swept through death and made it safe for us to go through.  There will be no more explosions.  Jesus absorbed all of the bombs against his perfect soul, taking their wrath for us.  Because he died for us, he made death safe for us.  We will make it through to the other side. 

And, so long as we’re at it, he’ll make sure that our loved ones make it safely to the other side, as well.  This means that we will always be together with those who have died trusting in Jesus.   

 © 2010 by Samuel Kee