{"id":284,"date":"2017-01-16T08:30:43","date_gmt":"2017-01-16T16:30:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/randyalcorn\/?p=284"},"modified":"2017-01-12T16:18:56","modified_gmt":"2017-01-13T00:18:56","slug":"death-last-enemy-deliverer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/randyalcorn\/2017\/01\/death-last-enemy-deliverer\/","title":{"rendered":"Death: The Last Enemy, and Our Deliverer"},"content":{"rendered":"<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<html><head><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><\/head><body><p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-286\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/644\/2017\/01\/attic-door-large.jpg\" alt=\"attic-door-large\" width=\"569\" height=\"319\"><\/p>\n<p>Peter uses the word <em>exodus<\/em> in reference to his own approaching death (<a class=\"lbsBibleRef decorated-link\" href=\"http:\/\/biblia.com\/bible\/esv\/2%20Peter1.15\" target=\"_blank\" data-reference=\"2 Peter1.15\" data-version=\"esv\" rel=\"nofollow\">2 Peter1:15<\/a>). Death for the Christian is God\u2019s deliverance from a place of bondage and suffering to a place of freedom and relief.<\/p>\n<p>In <a class=\"lbsBibleRef decorated-link\" href=\"http:\/\/biblia.com\/bible\/esv\/2%20Timothy%204.6-8\" target=\"_blank\" data-reference=\"2 Timothy 4.6-8\" data-version=\"esv\" rel=\"nofollow\">2 Timothy 4:6-8<\/a>, Paul refers to his death with the Greek word <em>analousis<\/em>, meaning \u201cto loosen.\u201d Consider some of its common usages in that culture:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>an ox being loosed from its yoke when it was finished pulling a cart.<\/li>\n<li>pulling up tent stakes, in preparation for a journey.<\/li>\n<li>untying a ship from dock, to let it sail away.<\/li>\n<li>unchaining a prisoner, freeing him from confinement and suffering.<\/li>\n<li>problem solving\u2014when a difficult matter was finally resolved, it was said to have been \u201cloosened.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Each of these is a graphic picture of death for the Christian.<\/p>\n<p>On the one hand, the Bible calls death \u201cthe last enemy\u201d (<a class=\"lbsBibleRef decorated-link\" href=\"http:\/\/biblia.com\/bible\/esv\/1%20Corinthians%2015.26\" target=\"_blank\" data-reference=\"1 Corinthians 15.26\" data-version=\"esv\" rel=\"nofollow\">1 Corinthians 15:26<\/a>). On the other hand, for the person whose faith and actions have prepared him for it, death is a deliverer, casting off the burdens of a hostile world and ushering him into the world for which he was made.<\/p>\n<p>No matter what difficulty surrounds it, God is intimately involved and interested in the Christian\u2019s departure from this world: \u201cPrecious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints\u201d (<a class=\"lbsBibleRef decorated-link\" href=\"http:\/\/biblia.com\/bible\/esv\/Psalm%20116.15\" target=\"_blank\" data-reference=\"Psalm 116.15\" data-version=\"esv\" rel=\"nofollow\">Psalm 116:15<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p>What we call \u201cdeath\u201d is a transition from a dying body in a dying world to a world of light and life. No wonder Paul says, \u201cTo die is gain\u201d and to go to be with Christ is \u201cbetter by far\u201d (<a class=\"lbsBibleRef decorated-link\" href=\"http:\/\/biblia.com\/bible\/esv\/Philippians%201.21-23\" target=\"_blank\" data-reference=\"Philippians 1.21-23\" data-version=\"esv\" rel=\"nofollow\">Philippians 1:21-23<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s evidence that at death the believer will be ushered into Heaven by angels (<a class=\"lbsBibleRef decorated-link\" href=\"http:\/\/biblia.com\/bible\/esv\/Luke%2016.22\" target=\"_blank\" data-reference=\"Luke 16.22\" data-version=\"esv\" rel=\"nofollow\">Luke 16:22<\/a>). Different angels are assigned to different people (<a class=\"lbsBibleRef decorated-link\" href=\"http:\/\/biblia.com\/bible\/esv\/Matthew%2018.10\" target=\"_blank\" data-reference=\"Matthew 18.10\" data-version=\"esv\" rel=\"nofollow\">Matthew 18:10<\/a>), so perhaps our escorts into Heaven will be angels who have served us while we were on earth (<a class=\"lbsBibleRef decorated-link\" href=\"http:\/\/biblia.com\/bible\/esv\/Hebrews%201.14\" target=\"_blank\" data-reference=\"Hebrews 1.14\" data-version=\"esv\" rel=\"nofollow\">Hebrews 1:14<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ve always appreciated this depiction of death:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>I\u2019m standing on the seashore. A ship at my side spreads her white sails to the morning breeze and starts for the blue ocean. She\u2019s an object of beauty and strength and I stand and watch her until, at length, she hangs like a speck of white cloud just where the sea and the sky come down to mingle with each other. And then I hear someone at my side saying, \u201cThere, she\u2019s gone.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Gone where? Gone from my sight, that is all. She is just as large in mast and hull and spar as she was when she left my side. And just as able to bear her load of living freight to the place of destination. Her diminished size is in <em>me,<\/em> not in her.<\/p>\n<p>And just at the moment when someone at my side says, \u201cThere, she is gone\u201d there are other eyes watching her coming, and there are other voices ready to take up the glad shout, \u201cHere she comes!\u201d And that, <em>for the Christian<\/em>, is dying.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>What will happen as we set foot on Heaven\u2019s shores, greeted by our loved ones? I envision it as C. S. Lewis did in the <em>Last Battle: <\/em>\u00a0\u201cThe further up and the further in you go, the bigger everything gets. The inside is larger than the outside.\u201d<strong> <sup><strong><sup>[1]<\/sup><\/strong><\/sup><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The moment we die the meager flame of this life will appear, to those we leave behind, to be snuffed out. But at that same moment on the other side it will rage to sudden and eternal intensity\u2014an intensity that will never dim, only grow.<\/p>\n<p>On his deathbed D.L. Moody said, \u201cSoon you will read in the newspaper that I am dead. Don\u2019t believe it for a moment. I will be more alive than ever before.\u201d<\/p>\n<div>\n<hr align=\"left\" size=\"1\" width=\"33%\">\n<div>\n<p><em>Excerpted from Randy Alcorn\u2019s book\u00a0<\/em><a href=\"http:\/\/store.epm.org\/product\/in-light-of-eternity\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">In Light of Eternity<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>[1] C. S.\u00a0 Lewis, <em>The Last Battle <\/em>(New York: Macmillan, 1956), 180.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: xx-small;\">Photo: <a href=\"https:\/\/pixabay.com\/\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Pixabay<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Peter uses the word exodus in reference to his own approaching death (2 Peter1:15). Death for the Christian is God\u2019s deliverance from a place of bondage and suffering to a place of freedom and relief. In 2 Timothy 4:6-8, Paul refers to his death with the Greek word analousis, meaning \u201cto loosen.\u201d Consider some of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2661,"featured_media":286,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[15,14],"class_list":["post-284","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-heaven","tag-eternity","tag-heaven"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Death: The Last Enemy, and Our Deliverer<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Death for the Christian is God\u2019s deliverance from a place of bondage and suffering to a place of freedom and relief.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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