Paul and every martyr said: it is better to be cut off in the midst of my dreams, goals, plans, if I might gain Christ! For the martyrs and Paul and true followers of Christ, Christ was their dream, goal, and plan in life and in death. Christ was the life, the beginning, the middle, and the destination. David writes in Psalm 63:3, “Because Your loving-kindness is better than life, my lips shall praise You.” It is better to die for the love of God than to live without it. You cannot separate the way death honors Christ from the way life honors Christ. There is a sense that every day in life we die. Paul said “I die every day” (1 Corinthians 15:31). Our Lord said, “If anyone would come after me let him take up his cross daily and follow me” (Luke 9:23). Therefore, the life of a Christian is a life of daily dying. This dying is the death of trying to find life in the things that this world offers us and tells us is the sources and means of life: comfort, security, happiness, wealth, friends, family, reputation, etc. In following Jesus we embrace the loss of life in this world for Christ’s sake in order to gain the life of God. As the great missionary martyr Jim Elliot once said “He is no fool to give what he cannot keep, to gain what he cannot lose”.
So a peculiar death is a death that honors Christ by treasuring Christ above the gift of life in the same way that we treasure Him while living above life’s gifts. Revelation 12:11 says, “they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.” Satan’s mouth is constantly saying that the people of God only serve him because of health, wealth, ease, felt needs being met, and prosperity. For over 2000 years men and women who did not love their lives to the point of shrinking from death have shut Satan’s mouth allowing death to be the supreme weapon of conquest and glory.
There is a special grace given to dying Christians. The Spirit that enables us to glorify God in whatsoever we do in life (1 Cor. 10:31) will enable you to glorify God in your death as well. We often wonder: “could I endure suffering for Christ in the hour of persecution or even in the hour of ordinary death?” The answer is, no, I couldn't, not in myself. But we will not be left to ourselves. There will be extraordinary grace for the extraordinary trial of death. When God comes in the hour of our death He makes the enemy, death, into the servant of His beloved saints.
For example, in the martyrdom of Stephen as the enemy death draws near and opens its jaws to consume us, the Holy Spirit in Stephen turns the jaws of death into a window of heaven. Instead of seeing the stomach of hell and the face of Satan, or the hostility and hatred of his accusers, Stephen looks for Jesus and doesn’t look in vain. He sees the glory of God and Jesus alive standing at the right hand of God. “When they heard this, they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him. But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. "Look," he said, "I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” Acts 7:54-56
Do you see how death is stripped of its power here and made the servant of God's servant? I don't mean that every believer will get the same vision of glory that Stephen received. But I do mean that this is the way the Holy Spirit comforts us when we are dying, and robs death of its power. One way or another he makes death a window to the glory of God and to Jesus. And for those who love Jesus more than anyone and long for the glory of God more than anything, the sting of death is gone and the power of death is broken.
John Wesley died full of counsel, exhortations, and praise for God. His final words were, "The best of all is, God is with us. The best of all is, God is with us. The best of all is, God is with us. Farewell!” Adoniram Judson, the great American missionary to Burma, suffering immensely at death, said to those around, “I go with the gladness of a boy bounding away from school, I feel so strong in Christ.” Jonathan Edwards, dying from smallpox, gave some final directions, bid his daughter good-bye, and expired saying, “Where is Jesus, my never-failing friend?”
The Spirit also enabled Stephen to see through death a place of fellowship in the presence of Jesus. “While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." Then he fell on his knees and cried out, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them." When he had said this, he fell asleep” (Acts 7:59-60). Not only did the Holy Spirit turn the hour of death into a revelation of the glory of God and of Jesus, He also showed Stephen that the reason Jesus was standing, and not sitting (as it says in verse 55), was to welcome His servant home. Death served the dying saint not only as a window to see glory, but also as a doorway to enter glory, not only a window to see Jesus, but also a doorway to join Him.
The triumph of the saint over death is the calm and confident prayer, “Jesus, receive my spirit,” echoing the same words as his master (Luke 23:46). In an instant, Stephen was home. Maligned and mistreated on earth, he was eagerly embraced by the Lord of heaven. This same welcome awaits all who bear His name, who stand beneath the Cross, who wait beside the tomb, and who follow Stephen's path. This begs the question: Do you love Jesus more than life? David gave his answer in Psalm 63:1,3, “God, You are my God, earnestly I seek You; my soul thirsts for You, my body longs for You, in a dry and weary land where there is no water…Because Your love is better than life, my lips will glorify You.” The love of God is better than life! It is better to die for the love of God than to live without it. Raymond Lull martyred in 1315 said, “He who loves not, lives not; he who lives by the love shall never die.”
What the Holy Spirit did for Paul and Stephen in their view of death is also the way to live in the power of the Holy Spirit in your life. First, the Holy Spirit desires to opens your eyes as He did Stephen, to behold and to love the glory of God and to help you see and know that Jesus is alive and triumphant at God's right hand. Second, the Holy Spirit wants to give you the will to say as Paul did, "Jesus there is no place I would rather be than with you, receive me, for me to live is Christ, to die is gain." Which leaves us a great question: Will we say with the apostle Paul that our heart's desire is that Christ be exalted in our bodies, whether by life or by death? For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
Do I love Christ more than life? May God cause us to make the answer, YES. Will you show God great in the way you die? Will you say, "To live is Christ and to die is gain"? Will you call this ugly, defeated, torturing enemy sweet names? Will the loss of all your earthly family, friends, and possessions fade at the prospect of seeing and being with Christ? Thomas Kempis wrote, “Before night; and when evening comes, dare not to promise thyself the next morning. Be thou therefore always in a readiness, and so lead thy life that death may never take thee unprepared." A hymn writer wrote, “What a day that will be, when my Jesus I shall see. I will look upon His face, the One who saved me by His grace. He will take me by the hand and lead me to the Promised Land and what a day, a glorious day that will be.”
A Prayer
Oh Father in heaven, giver of life and ordainer of our death. Give us a view of life that would change our view of death. Teach us to number our days aright so that we may gain a heart of wisdom. Cause us like Paul to be able to say and believe from the depths of our heart, “For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” Cause us to live each day in remembrance of our death. Make us ready to die well by helping us to live well. Let us never forget how precious life is. Whether we live long lives or short lives, help us to live with all our might while we live. We long, oh Lord, that on the day of our death to be able to face you with joy and hear the words from Your lips to us, “Well done, My good and My faithful servant. Enter into the joy of the Lord.” Oh what gain that will be! In Jesus name. AMEN
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