The Cross is Hope in Death

I experienced the tragedy of death after the Virginia Tech campus shooting in 2007. I witnessed death’s devastation in Haiti during a cholera outbreak in 2010. Later, I saw people on death’s door in Kenya fighting against HIV and AIDS. And, I felt death’s pain when my father passed this year.  

Death is severe, painful, and definitive. It tempts us to question: Where is God? And, who is this God who allows death? If God can do anything, why is there death? Hasn’t Christ conquered the grave? Didn’t he provide eternal life for those who believe?

Yes, Jesus has done all these! However, God’s redemptive plan is still in motion. As hard as it is to accept, death still has a place for a little while longer.

Death’s severity proves that God is honest and just. From the beginning, God said that the soul who sins shall die (Ezekiel 18:20). We often see death as a punishment because God is a righteous judge. However, God is also a Father, and death mercifully frees us from the bondage of sinful mortality.

Death’s pain reveals the heart of God. God mourns death, sin, and separation. He does not want us to live forever in a broken state; he wants something better. That is why he faced the cross and died for us with a heart full of love.

Death is definitive, but it is not the end. Death points us to a better future. If not for death, our hope would be limited to the improvements of our broken bodies and imperfect world. When we see death for what it is (a transition), we can rest in the eternal hope that Christ has secured for his Church.

Death had a role, but the cross was more significant. Death was strong, but the cross was stronger. Christ on the cross confronted death, conquered death, and rewrote its place. If not for the cross, death would reign. Now, there is victory over death. Death used to be a master, but Christ made it a servant. Yes, it still operates, but under Christ’s authority.

The cross of Christ provides real hope in death because it was severe, painful, and definitive. The Apostle Paul asked, “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” (1 Cor 15:55). Today, we can answer that question because of Christ’s death.

What shall we do? We cannot escape death or close our eyes towards it, but we can trust that God is sovereign over it. Death is under Christ’s domain. Thus, we can face death with Christ by our side, for he has been on the other side. And, most glorious of all, when death’s purpose has finished, it will be thrown out forever!