Death and Dying

When the Apostle Paul wrote his second letter to Timothy, he knew that his own death was near. But he didn't dread his departure.

In fact, he looked forward to where he was going and who he would see. Can each of us say the same? Today on Truth for Life Weekend, Alistair Begg explores the reality of death and dying and urges us to consider our final destination.

Well, I invite you to take your Bibles, and we resume our studies in 2 Timothy by giving our attention to just one verse, and that is the sixth verse of chapter 4. There is nothing like the prospect of death to clarify the issues of life. If you've had a cancer diagnosis, you know how quickly your mind goes to your will, how quickly the question goes, Do I have enough money?

If I leave everybody now, well, they all starve to death. You immediately start to think questions that you didn't think before. It's death that clarifies the issue of life. Samuel Johnson, who was a witty fellow, put it this way in his day, When a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully. So if you're anticipating the hangman's noose, and you have fourteen days to go, you're not going to waste the intervening time on just extraneous irrelevancies.

No, it will really focus your attention. And what has happened to Paul is that he finds himself in the jail, and his attention is absolutely focused. It is imperative, he says, that the gospel be placed safely into the hands of those whom he leaves behind, and particularly here in the person of Timothy. Now, in what is an intensely personal paragraph—and Paul is urging Timothy in light of the fact that he, Paul, has done what is necessary in the time period granted to him, and it is now vital that Timothy does what is necessary in the balance of time that he has to live. And in the first half of verse 6, Paul uses a metaphor to highlight the process which he is going through, and then he uses a second metaphor in the balance of the verse to give to us an understanding of the prospect that he faces. I just made a note of those two Ps to try and help me navigate, and so we'll say something about each of them and then try and make application of it to our contemporary environment.

First of all, then, the process theory identifies. It's there in the text, I am already being poured out as a drink offering. Now, what in the world does that mean? I don't know if you've said to anybody lately that you were feeling a bit like a drink offering.

I'd be surprised if you did. But this terminology would not be difficult for people in first-century Ephesus. Both in the Greek or Roman world, as well as in the Jewish world, it was a figure of speech that he understood. And when you read the Old Testament—and you can search for this with a good concordance—you discover that Moses gives instruction to the people of God, as others, ensuring that in the sacrifices that God has established there will be not only grain offerings and animal offerings, but there will also be the offerings of wine or oil. And when that oil or wine was poured out, either as a primary expression or as a complementary expression, it was simply a picture, an illustration, of a life poured out. So they poured this out. It would have been perhaps relatively expensive, and it would be of significance. And in the pouring out of it, they were saying, As this oil is poured out, as this wine is poured out, so may our lives be poured out for you, gracious God.

And when you think about that, you realize what a wonderful picture it is. Just as an animal sacrifice was complemented by the pouring out of the wine, so, if you like, the life of Paul, he says, my life is in the process of being poured out. Jesus has made the sacrifice for sins. He is the only one who has been able to deal with sin.

And now my life is not sacrificial in any sense in comparison or in context of Jesus, but rather it is a response to the sacrifice of Jesus. The pouring out of wine, as I say, might have been regarded by some who observed as a complete waste. And some, I think, would have looked on at Paul's imprisonment and said, That's a complete waste as well. What a waste, pouring out that wine. We could have drunk that. We could have used that. And what a waste in this apostle's life.

It's stuck there in a jail. Paul doesn't see it in those terms, does he? He says, No, I am already being poured out as a drink offering.

Now, notice, it's not active, it's passive. He doesn't say, I am pouring my life out, which he is. He says, I am being poured out. In other words, God is superintending what is happening in his life. It's not as if he pours his life out when he has a chance to determine his own agenda when he's not in jail. No, whether he's in jail or out of jail, whether he's in success or in disappointment, whether he is in, you know, great encouragement or times of despondency, still his life is being poured out.

God is at work in the lives of his servants all day, every day, in joy and in sorrow. Well, that's the process. Secondly, the prospect. The prospect is of his death. Or as he refers to it, his departure. And once again, in Philippians, he has used the same terminology. Back in Philippians 2, writing to them, he says, Here I am in the jail, and I don't know whether I'm going to continue to live in the flesh. Verse 22 of Philippians 1. If I do remain in the flesh, well, that will mean fruitful labor for me.

In other words, there's plenty for me still to do. I can still teach the Word of God, I can still encourage the faithful, and so on. So if I stay in the flesh, if I continue in my body, then that will be just fine. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. Interestingly, he can't really choose, can he?

God is sovereign over the affairs of life and death is an interesting phrase. Which I shall choose to go or to stay. I'm hard-pressed between the two, because actually my desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better.

Okay? But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. Now, we're not here to expand Philippians 2, but we just notice that that cross-reference is vitally important in understanding what he's doing here. He does not know the exact time of his departure. He says, The time has come for my departure. But as you read on in the text, you realize that he is not saying it's gonna happen this evening. Because he asks for his parchments to be brought, he asks for his materials to be brought, he apparently thinks he's gonna make it through another winter, which is why he asks for his cloak in verse 13, and in verse 21 he says, Do your best to get here before winter. So the sense of the imminence of his death is not something that causes him to say, And so I'm just gonna lie back here and wait until it happens.

No, there's still books to be read, there's still conversations to be had, there's still a journey to continue in, and so on. But it is this notion of a departure which we need to get. Because the word—and again, we were helped by the consideration last time—the word is a very important word. It's the word analucis. And it is used in contemporary language of the time to describe, for example, the unyoking of oxen. Paul says that there's a sense in which my death will be just like that. The Lord will take the burden from my neck and lay it down. It's the same word that is used for weighing an anchor and pulling it up and heading into the harbor of rest.

It's the same word that would be used for the collapsing of a tent and heading for your permanent dwelling. Now, Paul is very, very clear. The reason he's able to speak so straightforwardly about this is because of what we've just seen in Philippians. For him to depart, he says, would be to be with Christ. So for the believer to die is to be with Christ. Now, no time lag, no waiting room, no soul sleep. I will depart, and I will be with Christ, he says.

That's why it's going to be far better. Because right now he has the knowledge of Christ. He had seen Christ on the Damascus Road, but he had no personal acquaintance with him.

He would one day enjoy that. Now, let's just notice, in contrast to the contemporary views of death, that there is no panic on Paul's part when he addresses this. There's no attempt to avoid it.

There's no sense in which he is somehow or another confused by its possibility. And how vastly different that is from our culture. Think about it the millions of dollars that are spent essentially attempting to make it look as though death has not actually happened.

Right? I mean, morticians—I don't know whether they get paid, but they get paid a lot of money, I would think. They should, because what a job they do, you know, on old Grandpa Filbertson, or whatever it is, you know. And people always come and say, He looks fantastic! And when I've done funerals now for forty years of my life, I always say, You think so? I think he looks dead! Because he is dead.

All that's left is the tent. Now, when we think in these terms, we realize how vastly different it is from our society, influenced not simply by a Western fearfulness but also by an Eastern preoccupation with notions of reincarnation and so on. And as a result of the fact that people have never really wrestled with the reality of death itself, baby boomers in particular—my generation—are all over the place when it comes to the issue of death and dying. And on such occasions—and we've all been there, it's not uncommon—for someone to quote the poem which begins, Death is nothing at all, I have only slipped into the room next door, I am I, and you are you. Did you ever hear such nonsense in your entire life? That is complete bunk. Anyone who has lost a loved one knows that that is nonsense. And yet that is standard fare, along with all the notions that are melded in even amongst the Christian community. Listen to professing believers talk in the post-funeral meal. They say things like, Well, Uncle Joe will be enjoying a great meal right now. Or Aunt Sally is probably dancing—you know, how she loved square dancing?

I'm like, Pardon? Didn't we just bury Aunt Sally? So how is she dancing?

She's not dancing. We just cremated Uncle Joe. He has got no body.

He is not eating. I guarantee it. You see the extent of confusion that exists? The nature of humanity, the existence of who and what we are as embodied souls, the only point at which that does not happen is in the interim between the death of a believer and the wrapping up of everything by the Lord Jesus Christ.

And in that experience, it is alien to what we are as created and what we will one day be in a new heaven and in a new earth. Aunt Sally will be dancing. We will be eating a nice meal. There is no question about that. But it ain't happening right now.

You got that? Now, one of the commentators that I read said, You better be careful that verse 6 does not become a soliloquy in which you lose yourself. Okay, well, I'm paying attention to that, but I'm gonna disregard his warning.

Because I want to finish this morning by just saying a word or two about this whole nature of our departure. Well, what was the devil's reaction to the expressed promise that the judgment of God would fall upon the rebellion of Adam and Eve in the coming of death into a world that was never planned to have death? What did the devil say? When she said, when Eve said to the evil one, he said, Well, we can enjoy all of this, but we're not to enjoy that, and if we do, we'll die. What did he say? Oh, you won't die. You won't die.

What's his follow-up line? His follow-up lie, because everybody knows you do die, and Adam and Eve knew that in the death of their son. The judgment of God was in death, not just spiritually. People always teach that passage and say, Well, of course, they didn't die right then, because it's about spiritual death. Well, it is about spiritual death, but it's actually about death-death—that the punishment of sin is death, and one out of one dies. So the evil one now comes to us and says, Now, I know that you know that you die, but what you need to know is death isn't real.

It's not something to be bothered about. It's not, you know, you're in the daffodils, you're absorbed in the energy, you are, you know, whatever it might be. And since people have got no mechanism for adjudicating on this, they're prepared to buy the lie. Now, the Westminster divines in the sixteenth century, when they came to terms with what the Bible teaches, is they read their Bibles, and they said, Now, can we make a statement concerning death and dying that is comprehensive, that will be clear and will be salutary and will be helpful?

They determined that they could. And let me just quote to you from the Westminster Confession. Listen carefully to this. After death the bodies of men decay and return to dust. But their souls, which neither dine nor sleep, having an immortal existence, return immediately to God who gave them. The souls of the righteous are then made perfect in holiness and received into the highest heavens, where they behold the face of God in light and glory, and they await the full redemption of their bodies. The souls of the wicked are cast into hell, where they remain in torments and utter darkness, and they are kept for the judgment of the great day. Scripture recognizes no other place except these two for the souls which have been separated from their bodies. Ominously for unbelievers and wonderfully for believers, while the human body disintegrates for a time, the human soul does not. Now, if you ask, How then may all that matter be reassembled, so as to reconstitute you in Christ in a recognizable new and improved version? We bow before the mystery. It is the very mystery of creation itself. And it is not a retreat, to use the words of the hymn writer when he says, My knowledge of that life is small, the eye of faith is dim.

It is enough that Christ knows all, and I shall be with him. Again, seeing all those young people yesterday took me back to Ecclesiastes 12 and the wisdom of the preacher. Do you remember what he says? He says, It is vitally important that you remember your Creator in the days of your youth. Before bits start falling off of you, before you start to disintegrate, before you're walking around like this, when you're taking the coffee going, Hang on, I've got it, I've got it, no, I'll put it down, I'll put it down. He says, No, don't wait till that to realize the wonder of God's dealings with you. Ponder your destiny, he says.

Here is the end of the matter, he says. Fear God and keep his commandments. You see, to fear God is to know God, is to love God, is to serve God, is to obey God.

They're all synonyms. And when you fear and know and love and serve God, then it isn't irksome to do what God says you should do. And to do this, before, again to quote Ecclesiastes, the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the Spirit returns to God who gave it. The shorter catechism asks in question 30, What is the difference of the grave to the righteous and to the wicked?

Is it just the same? So a believer or an unbeliever is laid in the grave. The catechism says, To the one, the grave is a resting place. To the other, it is a prison house, where they are kept in close custody for the judgment of the great day. Here's the good news, that you were made by God for God. He loves you so much that despite the fact that you haven't lived your life in that way, he sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for your sin so that you might enjoy the reality of what it means to know him now and to live with him then. We sang of the dying thief in one of the songs.

I can't remember which one it was. It's a wonderful thought, isn't it? That the dying thief called out to Jesus, and Jesus said, Today you will be with me.

Well, it's interesting that, isn't it? Be with me. We didn't go in the tomb with him, did we? Jesus went in the tomb, bodily.

He would have been thrown out on the ash heap after his death. What do you mean, you will be with me? Well, in his soul, brought into the presence. What about the other fellow? You see, we can't have it both ways, loved ones.

The dying thief rejoiced to see that fountain in his day. Presumably, the other one did not. Now, I travel quite a bit, and so do you, and I see you at the airport. And sometimes we have a proper conversation, but most of the time we don't.

And usually we just say things to each other like, When do you leave? Or, What airline are you flying? Where are you going?

And do you have your boarding pass? And, See you Sunday. And then it's over.

Now, let me end in that way. When will you leave? Well, the answer to that is, You don't know, right?

And neither do I. But we know we're going. Can I ask you, Where are you going? And can I ask you, Do you have your boarding pass? Oh, you have a boarding pass for hell.

It came with your birth. The boarding pass for heaven is provided in the person and work of Jesus. And they're gonna ask you before you board, Do you have your boarding pass?

Do you? And do you realize that Jesus stands ready to place it in your hands and to grant to you the forgiveness and the victory and the hope and the triumph of not only living through the process of a life being poured out but facing the prospect of the reality of a departure that actually will be in Christ far better. It is Jesus alone who offers us a boarding pass for heaven. That's from today's message on Truth for Life weekend with Alistair Begg. Alistair will be back to close with prayer in just a minute, so please keep listening. Maybe our message today has caused you to wonder about your eternal destination.

You want to make sure that you have your boarding pass for heaven. If you'd like to know more about the forgiveness found in Jesus, we want to invite you to visit our Learn More page. There you'll find a brief video from Alistair explaining the gospel, also an illustrated presentation that explains God's plan for our salvation.

You'll find it all online at truthforlife.org slash learn more. If you're already a believer, a follower of Christ, you may know that believing in Christ includes the privileges and responsibilities of belonging to God's family. But what does it really mean to be a member of a local church? Author and pastor Sinclair Ferguson gives a clear picture of church membership in his new book titled Devoted to God's Church, Core Values for Christian Fellowship. As the book's title suggests, you'll take a closer look at the core values that ought to be embraced by every Christian church.

Things like solid Bible teaching, corporate worship, and prayer. But Sinclair also challenges us to ask the question, how do we fold our lives into the life of the church? He explains why each of us is called to serve one another in the local body. Find out more about the book Devoted to God's Church when you visit our website truthforlife.org. I'm Bob Lapine. What does it take to complete our mission here on earth? Be sure to listen next weekend as Alistair Begg challenges us to be ready for a fight. The Bible teaching of Alistair Begg is furnished by Truth for Life, where the Learning is for Living.