Jesus and Death Don't Get Along

On August 27, 2003, my 24 year old cousin Jodi passed away from cancer. She had been battling it for a few years. The previous year at Thanksgiving, she had her right leg amputated because of the cancer. Now, praise God...she is home with Jesus.

I was given the opportunity by my Aunt Faye--Jodi's mom--to say a few words at the funeral. This would be my first time preaching at a funeral. I knew that it was the Lord opening the door, so I had to rely on Him to provide the words...and provide He did.

My family and I live in the Savannah, GA area and the funeral was in Atlanta, GA about four hours away. On the way to the Atlanta for the funeral my wife was reading a devotional that she was going to give my aunt. She mentioned that the author wrote that when he was asked to preach a funeral for the first time, he tried to imagine what Christ would say. So when we arrived at the hotel, I opened God's Word to see what I could find about how Jesus spoke in death situations. What I found was really incredible.

For starters, there were only four occasions in the New Testament that Jesus encountered death. They are:

1. The only son of a widow died in Matthew 7:11-16a 
2. The daughter of Jairus, a synagogue official, was dying and did eventually die in Mark 5:22-24, 43 
3. Lazarus, A friend of Jesus died. John 11:1-46
4. Jesus Himself faced death on the cross. 

Now lets look at them in more detail.

1. The Only Son of a Widow (Luke 11)
   "11 Soon afterwards He went to a city called Nain; and His disciples were going along with Him, accompanied by a large crowd. 12 Now as He approached the gate of the city, a dead man was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow; and a sizeable crowd from the city was with her. 13 When the Lord saw her, He felt compassion for her, and said to her, "Do not weep." 14 And He came up and touched the coffin; and the bearers came to a halt. And He said, "Young man, I say to you, arise!" 15 The dead man sat up and began to speak. And Jesus gave him back to his mother. 16 Fear gripped them all, and they began glorifying God..." 
   
   Here in the first account, there really did not seem to be any words of encouragement to me or my family. Basically somebody was dead...Jesus had compassion...Jesus raised the dead. Seemed pretty simple...or was it? Let's look at the second example.
   
2. The Daughter of Jairus (Mark 5)
   "22 One of the synagogue officials named Jairus came up, and on seeing Him, fell at His feet 23 and implored Him earnestly, saying, "My little daughter is at the point of death; please come and lay Your hands on her, so that she will get well and live." 24 And He went off with him; and a large crowd was following Him and pressing in on Him... 35 While He was still speaking, they came from the house of the synagogue official, saying, "Your daughter has died; why trouble the Teacher anymore?" 36 But Jesus, overhearing what was being spoken, said to the synagogue official, "Do not be afraid any longer, only believe." 37 And He allowed no one to accompany Him, except Peter and James and John the brother of James. 38 They came to the house of the synagogue official; and He saw a commotion, and people loudly weeping and wailing. 39 And entering in, He said to them, "Why make a commotion and weep? The child has not died, but is asleep." 40 They began laughing at Him. But putting them all out, He took along the child’s father and mother and His own companions, and entered the room where the child was. 41 Taking the child by the hand, He said to her, "Talitha kum!" (which translated means, "Little girl, I say to you, get up!"). 42 Immediately the girl got up and began to walk, for she was twelve years old. And immediately they were completely astounded. 43 And He gave them strict orders that no one should know about this, and He said that something should be given her to eat." 
   
   First...notice that there is a break in the verse numbers between the 24th and 35th verses. This is because on His way to the girl, a lady stopped Him and was healed. (See the lesson on touching Jesus.) Next, again we have Jesus being asked in faith to heal someone. This man Jairus came to Jesus seeking His help and having faith in the power of Jesus to make his daughter well. 
   
   After the man received news that his daughter had died, Jesus comforted him and told him to fear not. When they arrived at the home of Jairus, the first thing that Jesus did was to put the scoffers and non-believers out. He took in the parents and only the inner three of His disciples and healed the girl. Hmmm... 
   
3. Lazarus (John 11)
   "38 So Jesus, again being deeply moved within, came to the tomb. Now it was a cave and a stone was lying against it. 39 Jesus said, "Remove the stone." Martha, the sister of the deceased, said to Him, "Lord, by this time there will be a stench, for he has been dead four days." 40 Jesus said to her, "Did I not say to you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?" 41 So they removed the stone. Then Jesus raised His eyes, and said, "Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. 42 "I knew that You always hear Me; but because of the people standing around I said it, so that they may believe that You sent Me." 43 When He had said these things, He cried out with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come forth." 44 The man who had died came forth, bound hand and foot with wrappings, and his face was wrapped around with a cloth. Jesus said to them, "Unbind him, and let him go." 45 Therefore many of the Jews who came to Mary, and saw what He had done, believed in Him. 46 But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them the things which Jesus had done." 
   
   Here again, Jesus was in the presence of death...and He defeated it in this individual battle. These are three accounts...three dead people...three times our Savior and Creator defeated death in individual battles!
   
4. The Cross
   We all know that Jesus personally faced death on the cross. We all know that he rose from the dead on the third day. So what effect did this have on death, and how does it apply here? Glad you asked...
   
   Romans 5:10 "For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life."
   
   Romans 6:3-5; 8-9
   3 Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? 4 Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, 
   
   8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, 9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him.
   
   FINALLY - ROMANS 6:23
   "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."
   
   You see, Christ has won the war with death. Death has no more sting for the believer. Death can no longer hold us if we are in Christ Jesus. If we are in Christ, death cannot hold us just like it could not hold Christ Jesus!
   
   However, if we do not accept Christ in this life, we will not be with him in the next life. There are only two destinations in the next life after the judgment. They are Heaven and Hell. Where Christ reins in Heaven there is the Tree of Life and no one will ever see death again. Where Christ is absent--in the pit of Hell--Death reins forever and all those that are without Christ will likewise abide in eternal death and damnation in Hell in the Lake of Fire.
   
   If you do not know Christ as your Lord and Savior...If you have a fear of death and do not know where you would go if you died today...make Him your Lord today while you can.

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