First, let’s talk about why Christians die. We, as believers, are redeemed from sin, so why does God still allow and ordain for us to experience death? Why don’t we receive the fullness of our redemption now? It must first be stated that death is not a punishment for Christians. We are clearly delivered from all condemnation because of the work of Christ (Rm. 8:1). All the penalty of our sin has been paid for. So, it is true that the death penalty of sin- spiritual death and separation from God- no longer applies to us, therefore, physical death is not a punishment for sin. So, we must look for other reasons as to why Christians die.
As noted in part one, I believe that death was a natural part of the created order, and that human beings were made mortal, thus the need for the Tree of Life. However, death became evil and painful because of sin. Immortality was forfeited by Adam and Eve because they ate from the wrong tree. Thus, humanity was conferred in not only a state of mortality, but of a state in which physical death would now be painful and unpleasant.
What this means for the physical death of the Christian is that we still die because we live in a world and in bodies that have been corrupted by sin. All the fullness of redemption has not been applied to us all at once. God applies the benefits of salvation over time. In the same way, he has chosen not to remove all of the evil and suffering from the world, but to wait until the final judgment and the establishing of the new heavens and new earth. In short, the answer is that we still die painful deaths, and the loss of others is still painful, because our experience of salvation is not yet complete. Death will be the last thing that is removed in the consummation (1 Cor. 15:26). Until that time, death remains a reality for Christians. So, though death does not come to us as a penalty for our individual sins, it does come to us as a result of living in a fallen state.
We must also consider the fact that God uses the experience of death to complete or fulfill our sanctification. Since we have been rescued from God’s wrath, we should never see our experience of pain and suffering in this life as God punishing us in order to do us harm. Some suffering is just a result of living in a fallen state with fallen people. Sometimes God does use suffering for our good to teach us and train us, and this is him using the evil in life for our good (Rm. 8:28). Suffering also helps us learn obedience. Christ went through this same experience, and we will too (Heb. 5:8). Therefore, we should view our suffering leading up to death and resulting in death as something in which God uses to make us more like Christ
God also uses death to complete our union with Christ. By experiencing death, we imitate Christ in what he did, thus experiencing a fuller union and identification with Christ. We are heirs with Christ if we “suffer with him” (Rom. 8:17). Since Jesus is the Pioneer and Perfecter of our faith, and since we are to follow after him and his example, suffering in death is part of being made one with Christ (Heb. 12:2; 1 Peter 2:21).
Now that we have discussed why Christians die, let’s look at how we should view our own death. First, the New Testament encourages us to see our death with joy, not with fear. It is the process in which we go to be with Christ. Paul says, “We would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord” (2 Cor. 5:8). Secondly, death is gain for the Christian, “For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Phil. 1:21). This means that Christian death, because of the redemption in Christ, is now a blessing, “And I heard a voice from heaven saying, ‘Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.’ ‘blessed indeed,’ says the Spirit, ‘that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them!’” (Rev. 14:13). Therefore, we need to have no fear of death, since “death” cannot separate us from the love of God, and since we have been delivered from the fear of it (Rm. 8:38-39; Heb. 2:15).
What if you have lost a loved one who is a Christian? How should you view their death? The major difference between this and the view we have of our own death is that while we may have no sorrow over our own death, we do have sorrow over the death of those close to us.
It is not wrong for us as Christians to feel sorrow and weep when we lose someone close to us, even if they are a believer. It is not a lack of faith, nor is it weakness. We see many examples of godly men in scripture expressing sorrow over death or the possibility of the death of a loved one (Acts 8:2; Phil. 2:27; 2 Sam. 1:11-27).
However, though we sorrow, we do not sorrow without hope. Paul doesn't tell the Thessalonians not to grieve at all over those who have died, but that they may not grieve as those “who have no hope” (1 Thess. 4:13). We do not grieve the same way as the world does, because we have the hope of living with Christ and the resurrection. We also know that this life is brief, but that the eternal state is ceaseless. We have hope because we know that though we will be separated from our loved ones who were believers, that separation is but a mere moment compared to eternity.
Thus, we should mourn, but not as those who have no hope. Our mourning should be mixed with worship of God and thanksgiving for the life of the one who has died. We see this example with Job. When his ten children were taken from him by death, Job “arose, and rent his robe, and shaved his head, and fell upon the ground, and worshiped” (Job 1:20).
What about unbelievers? If we as Christians have a family member or friend who dies without Christ, how should view this? When unbelievers die, the sorrow we feel is not mingled with the joy of assurance that they are with the Lord. This is a real, deep sorrow, that even the apostle Paul felt (Rm. 9:1-3).
However, we need to be cautious, for we do not always have absolute certainty that a person has persisted in utter refusal of Christ all the way to the point of death. The knowledge of one’s imminent death can often bring about genuine heart searching and repentance and faith. Granted, we do not have any assurance of that this has happened unless there is evidence of it, but in some cases, we simply just don’t know.
Nevertheless, when an unbeliever dies, it would be wrong for us to have any assurance that such a one has gone to be with the Lord. This is misleading and a giving of false assurance, and diminishes the urgent need for repentance for those who are still alive to trust in Christ before they die. In the death of an unbeliever, such a situation should cause people to focus on their own life and the destiny they will face after death. In fact, the Lord often uses the death of unbelievers to draw others to himself.
In closing, the fact of the matter is that hell is real and heaven is real. Those who die in Christ have the hope of being with the Lord forever. Those without Christ die in their sin under the wrath of God, in which they will experience the torment of eternal judgment. As a Christian, death is the most opportune time to experience, believe, and preach the gospel.