The Rev. Frank Logue
King of Peace Episcopal Church
Kingsland, Georgia
November 2, 2003 

Victory over Death
Isaiah 25:6-9, I Corinthians 15:50-58 and John 5:24-27

Today is All Souls Day. A twin with All Saints Day, which comes the day before, All Souls is the time to remember those we love who have died. In a few minutes, we will light candles in memory of those we know who have died. But first, we pause to look at death in the light of the Gospel. 

Looking at the New Testament, we see that Jesus faced grief in his life. The Gospel of John records the death of Jesus’ friend Lazarus. When Jesus saw John’s sister Mary weeping along with those with her, “he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. He said, ‘Where have you laid him?’ They said to him, ‘Lord, come and see.’ Jesus began to weep. So the Jews said, ‘See how he loved him!’” (John 11:32-36).   

Yet, Lazarus would not have been the only grief in Jesus’ life. The Bible does not record what happened, but we know that Jesus would have had to deal with the death of Joseph. Other family and friends would have died as well. Isaiah had prophesied that the Messiah would be “A man of sorrows, acquainted with bitterest grief” (Isaiah 53:3).  

Jesus was acquainted with grief and it was this feeling of powerlessness over death that Jesus came to defeat. The letter to the Hebrews tells us that Jesus came to free those who were held in slavery by the fear of death (Hebrews 2:15). The Good News of Jesus Christ is good news for those on their deathbed and for those in grief. 

Death has to be faced squarely at some point as it will be an issue for each one of us. If you stretch out the timeline long enough, the mortality rate for humans is holding steady at 100 percent. I do not want to seem overly pessimistic, but you can eat all the right foods, exercise religiously, and still die. You may feel healthier. You may live longer. But you will die.  

We all have to come to terms with our own death, and with the deaths of those we love. The death of grandparents, parents, spouses, siblings, and friends, all of us have faced grief in some way. If not, we will. Death is a natural part of life. Grief too is natural. Grief is very real. And real grief is not healed by time. Time can help you adjust to the loss in some ways, but time will not take away grief. The person you love is still gone.

Yet look at the images we get in our scripture readings for this morning. Jesus told his disciples that anyone who hears his word and believes the one who sent Jesus will have eternal life and will not come under judgment, but will pass from death to life.  

In our Old Testament lesson, the Prophet Isaiah wrote that God will swallow up death for ever and then will wipe the tears from all faces. Paul wrote the Corinthians that this perishable body will put on imperishability and this mortal body immortality. Paul went on to quote the Prophet Hosea who had said, “Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where, O death is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” 

Scripture tells us says that death is very real, but we do not have to fear death. God remains in control. There is good news even in death. For the faithful, who die in the hope of God, Jesus holds out the promise of eternal life. 

And yet, there is also bad news. What about those who do not believe? I cannot be true to scripture and only tell of life everlasting. For the Bible also speaks of judgment, heaven and hell. The great Christian writer C.S. Lewis wrote of this saying,  

“Some will not be redeemed. There is no doctrine I would more willingly remove from Christianity than this, if it lay in my power. But it has the full support of Scripture and, specially, of our Lord’s own words; it has always been held by Christendom; and it has the support of reason. If a game is played, it must be possible to lose it. If the happiness of a creature lies in self-surrender, no one can make that creature surrender but himself.” 

God can offer grace an infinite number of times, but we still have the option to accept or to decline. I am a very much this worldy kind of guy. I look forward to the promise of heaven, but I don’t dwell on it much. As I have said before, I don’t have faith for sake of fire insurance. It’s not a holy Get-Out-of-Hell Free card that keeps me in church. I am a Christian because I value the ongoing relationship I have with the Trinitarian God in the here and now. But the Bible does tell us something of heaven and hell and this seems like an appropriate time to broach the subject. 

First, I will say that you should be very skeptical of anyone who tries to describe to you the furnishings of Heaven or the temperature of Hell. The Bible is not so specific as some other writers.  

Jesus refers to hell in terms of destruction and punishment. In Matthew 10:28, he says, “Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” Jesus also refers to Hell in terms of abandonment and separation. Jesus says that they will be cast into outer darkness (Matthew 22:13). It is this image of eternal separation from God that is predominant in scripture.  

The image of a lake of fire is also found in scripture. The Book of Revelation says “All were judged according to what they had done. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire; and anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire” (Revelation 20:13-15). But it is not the people themselves who are in a lake of fire, but Death and Hades. They have been destroyed. The real Hell described in scripture is eternal separation from God. Being cut off from God is an eternal death, which revelation describes as the second death.  

What about heaven? The big pay off. The jackpot. The grand prize. Where can we read about streets of gold? What about laying around on clouds and strumming a harp? Well, first off, no where in scripture will you find anything to suggest that people become angels. People are people and angels are angels. We are not transformed into angels when we die.  

Jesus described Heaven like this: “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also” (John 14:1-3).  

There are no great details, only the promise that this life is not all there is and in heaven, we will be together with God in a way that is not possible now. Exactly what that life will be like is never described in detail. We have to take it on faith. What we know is that the God who created this world, that contains great beauty and many wonders almost too much to take in, has promised us something more. 

The Bible tells us again and again that life in Heaven is life lived with God, fully present to God. C.S. Lewis notes that this is not a big reward to everyone. He calls heaven a reward that does not sully the motives. If your goal is to be with God, that statement alone says something about you. Lewis writes, “It is safe to tell the pure in heart that they shall see God, for only the pure in heart want to.” 

As Christians, we approach death with hope. We have God’s promise of a new life lived with God. But that promise is not for the future alone. As Hell is separation from God and Heaven is living in the presence of God, we see a foretaste of both Heaven and Hell here on earth.  

You can see the Hell people create for themselves in lives lived separated from God. Much of the pain we cause one another comes out of an internal loneliness or sense that something is missing. That something is a relationship with the God who made us and loves us. 

You can also experience something of the hereafter in practicing the presence of God and being aware of God in all the places you find yourself in this life. The proof of Heaven is the presence of God in the here and now. You don’t have to wait until you die to be with God. God is with you now if you open yourself up to the presence of the spirit of God within you.  

We will still feel the sting of death in that we grieve for those we love who have died. But we Christians are an Easter people who can gather at the grave and sing Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia—Praise God, Praise God, Praise God. For death is not the final answer. Jesus Christ defeated the power of death. Our mortal bodies can be clothed in immortality.  

The power of Easter is the power to face your own death without fear. One story I cherish is the true story of a woman consoling her grandmother at her death bed. She said, “Grandma, Heaven will be great. Everyone you love will be there.” Her grandmother’s face lit up and she replied, “Oh, it’ll be much better than that dear. Everyone who will be there, I’ll love.” 

Amen.