Dealing
Death
with
Biblical, Theological, and
Practical Reflections
Francis Gayoba
Editor
Chapter 8
When Death Declares that God is Love
Francis Gayoba
Introduction
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought the shocking realization of the gravity
and possibility of death on a global scale. Those from developed countries, even
with advanced medicine and technology, have come to realize the frailty of the
human body and its susceptibility to new pathogens. I remember watching
death tolls rise in countries with seemingly unlimited medical resources, and
the utter exhaustion and feeling of helplessness seen on the faces of those on
the medical frontlines. The Western world has come to personally experience
what those from less fortunate countries experience on a daily basis: the reality,
universality, and unpredictability of death.
The reality of death was not lost to Elie Wiesel, who was fifteen years old
when he felt the full might of the Nazi regime’s brutality towards Jews. At
Auschwitz his mother and younger sister were immediately killed, leaving him
and his father on their own. In his memoir, Night, Wiesel recalls all the horrors
they had to endure to survive. Death became a daily and unavoidable reality.
Whether old or young, male or female, rich or poor, none were immune from
the heavy hand that death could brutally bear down at any moment. The sword
of Damocles dangled over every soul. Reading Wiesel’s story left me with a sick
feeling in my stomach, ashamed at how capable people are of executing such
extreme cruelty toward fellow human beings. Even more striking was Wiesel’s
spiritual struggle to reconcile how the God of Israel could allow immense
suffering to happen to His chosen people. François Mauriac’s foreword to the
2006 edition aptly describes Wiesel’s experience: “For him, Nietzsche’s cry
Dealing with Death: Biblical, Theological, and Practical Reflections
articulated an almost physical reality: God is dead, the God of love, of gentleness
and consolation, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had, under the watchful
gaze of this child, vanished forever into the smoke of the human holocaust
demanded by the Race, the most voracious of all idols.”1
In times of crisis, people tend to raise the age-old question: Where is God
in all of this? How could God allow this to happen?2 These questions, when
unanswered, have the potential to greatly shake our faith, as evident in the
tragedy of Elie Wiesel.
So far, the various chapters in this book have discussed different biblical
passages and events that deal with the experience of death. While we may be
inclined to address each case of death individually and to answer each question
personally, I would instead like to take a step back and look at the bigger picture,
exploring how the Bible, as a whole, looks at the issue of death and what God is
doing to address the problem. Perhaps looking at the entire tapestry of history
will help us better understand the threads of individual lives running through it.
Perhaps looking at the biblical story as a whole will help us answer the “whys”
of Elie Wiesel, a parent who lost their child in a shooting, a wife whose husband
died from COVID, or someone currently battling cancer.
I must admit that this big picture approach may not ease the pain of anyone
in the midst of loss and grief. In 2013, AUP experienced a terrible tragedy—
the loss of three students’ lives caught in a flash flood while crossing a river.
While reflecting on this loss, I wrote about how seemingly unsatisfying biblical
doctrines could be in moments of deep grief: “What role do three meaningless
deaths play in the scheme of history? One could say that God has a purpose
for everything. I also find little comfort in that. Is there a purpose in this? In
death? There may be, but I know that there are hundreds of friends, family,
and classmates who would rather have Jay, Kim, and Kat back alive rather than
having a philosophical purpose. We can give them promises of the resurrection,
but the hope in a distant reality pales in comparison to the memory of feeling
their touch, seeing their smile, or hearing the sound of their laughter. In time,
___________________________________
1
Elie Wiesel, Night (New York: Hill and Wang, 2006), xx.
2
See Ed Christian, “The Great Controversy and Human Suffering,” Journal of the Adventist
Theological Society 10.1-2 (1999): 90–98.
80
When Death Declares that God is Love
perhaps these answers will give us comfort, but in the here and now it would
seem that our grief is just too powerful.” Looking back on this event after
eight years, I now have a different perspective and would probably phrase my
thoughts a little differently, but at that moment, every sentiment was valid.
Those in the midst of grief and loss at this moment may not find my
“big picture” approach quite satisfying. But I hope that in time this broader
perspective might provide some consolation, assurance, and hope. We will thus
take a look through the lens of what is called the Great Controversy theme.3
One of the main issues in the Great Controversy concerns the following
questions, “Is God loving? Is God fair?” If these questions are directed to our
discussion of death, we could phrase them this way: If God is loving, why is
there death in the first place? If God is loving, why would He allow people to
die?4 Couldn’t He, in His infinite power, make it so that no one ever died?
An Enemy and Intruder
The first answer that Scripture gives us is that death was not always the
norm, not always the undeniable reality that we have today. When “God created
the heavens and the earth” (Gen 1:1), everything was in a perfect state, so perfect
that there was no death at all.5 If we were to ask Adam and Eve what they thought
of death, all we would probably get were blank stares. They probably would not
even have been able to fathom death. Eternal life was the status quo. God’s plan
was for them to continuously eat from the tree of life (Gen 2:9) and thereby
live forever. God’s original intent for human beings was an eternity in a blissful
___________________________________
3
The term “Great Controversy” refers to the ongoing conflict between God and Satan,
beginning in heaven (Ezek 28:12–14; Isa 14:12–14) and finding its way to Earth (Gen 3). This
is often called the biblical meta-narrative, for it is a story that weaves through all of Scripture.
Fortunately, for readers of the Bible, we know how the meta-narrative ends. Satan is defeated, sin
is eradicated, and God and His people reign victorious forever (Rev 20:7–21:3).
4
The question Martha directed to Jesus—“Lord, if You had been here, my brother would
not have died?” (John 11:21)—could be the same question asked by all: “God, why did you allow
someone I love to die?” Even bystanders asked a similar question, “Could not this Man, who
opened the eyes of the blind, also have kept this man from dying?” (John 11:37). See Chapter 2
for the discussion on Lazarus’ resurrection.
5
Unless otherwise stated, all biblical quotations are taken from the New King James
Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982).
81
Dealing with Death: Biblical, Theological, and Practical Reflections
loving relationship with Him. Humankind’s original natural state was eternal
life dependent on God, the source of life. Humanity was designed to live forever
in the presence of God. But this was conditional, dependent on remaining in
connection with God (symbolized by eating of the Tree of Life).
It is most likely that when God commanded Adam and Eve not to eat of
the forbidden fruit (Gen 2:16–17), warning that they would die as a consequence,
Adam and Even probably did not even fully grasp what that meant, for they had
never seen death for themselves. Still, by their choice (Gen 3:6), Adam and Eve
believed the lies of the serpent, one who was a stranger to them, instead of
the One who had lovingly created them. Thus, they disconnected from God—in
other words, they sinned—and thus death came as a consequence (Gen 2:17; cf.
Rom 5:12).6 One can only imagine the terrible sorrow God felt at the entrance
of death in the world.7
But because God is love, and love entails the freedom to either reciprocate
or reject love, God gave them a choice to either obey or disobey His command.
Love entails risk, and because God loved Adam and Eve and wanted a genuine
loving relationship with them who would also love Him of their own volition,
He took that risk. It is divine love that allowed Adam and Eve to choose death
instead of life. Death is a reality today because love took the risk.8
From the Genesis story, we know that death is not a natural state of the
world. Christians who believe in Creation are more assured of this. Unlike
evolutionism that believes that death is a natural part of this world, Christians
know that it is an intruder that has disrupted what was supposed to be.9 God
___________________________________
6
See Chapter 1 for a fuller discussion on the entrance of sin in Genesis 3. See also Stephen
Bauer, “‘Dying You Shall Die’: The Meaning of Genesis 2:17,” Ministry, December 2011. Bauer
argues that God’s warning (“you shall surely die”) in Gen 2:17 is not just a statement of natural
consequences, but a juridical statement, a pronouncement of the penalty if the command is
disobeyed.
7
We find in passages such as Hos 11:8; Luke 13:34 examples of God’s extreme sadness
at human sin and yet relentless love toward human beings despite their sin. Despite human
disobedience, God’s grace prevails. See Philip Yancey, What’s So Amazing About Grace? (Grand
Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1997).
8
See John C. Peckham, Theodicy of Love: Cosmic Conflict and the Problem of Evil (Grand
Rapids: Baker, 2018), 10–12.
9
According to macroevolution, biological beings have mutated over billions of years,
evolving into higher and more complex organisms. Weaker organisms die out, while better
82
When Death Declares that God is Love
has never desired the death of anyone: “For I have no pleasure in the death of
one who dies,” says the Lord GOD” (Ezek 18:32). His original plan was for all of
His created beings to live forever. But because of the entrance of sin, death has
taken up temporary residence on this planet, becoming the natural end of all
humanity. No matter what our status in life, death comes to us all.
Separation
Death is a consequence of separation from God. God is the source of life.
God “alone has immortality” (1 Tim 6:16). To remain in God is to remain on the
side of life. To disconnect from Him is to transition to the side of death (Rom
6:23a).10 Just as a branch cannot continue living if separated from the tree, so
a human being cannot live apart from God the source of life. If human beings
were inherently immortal, then human beings would not be dependent upon
God for life and continued existence, only the kind of immortal existence that
they would experience, whether eternal heaven or eternal hell.
In the case of Adam, death “wasn’t an arbitrary penalty that God imposed.
God wasn’t telling Adam what He would do to punish him if he sinned. He was
warning him what would happen; in other words, what he was in effect doing
to himself.”11 By choosing to follow Satan, Adam and Eve withdrew themselves
from God’s lifegiving love. Left on their own, sinful humanity would inevitably
experience death as a natural consequence of their separation from God.
At the same time, death is a penalty for disobedience (Ezek 18:20; Rom
6:23). God’s holiness cannot tolerate evil forever, and death is the ultimate
solution to eradicate evil. It is only by the grace of God that sinners continue
to live, just as the extended life of Adam and Eve after the Fall was by God’s
_______________________________
adapted ones survive. The process requires adaptation and death for the improvement of the
species. See Norman R. Gulley, “What Happens to Biblical Truth if the SDA Church Accepts
Theistic Evolution?” Journal of the Adventist Theological Society 15.2 (2004): 46–48.
10
As Niels-Erik Andreasen puts it, “From a functional point of view, death is the opposite
of the life God has created: whatever life is, death is not.” Niels-Erik Andreasen, “Death: Origin,
Nature, and Final Eradication” in Handbook of Seventh-day Adventist Theology, Commentary
Reference Series 12 (Hagerstown, MD: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 2000),
electronic edition, ch. 9.
11
Richard Rice, “An Enemy Defeated: Death and Resurrection,” Ministry, September 2004,
76:25.
83
Dealing with Death: Biblical, Theological, and Practical Reflections
grace. Moreover, because God is just, He does not arbitrarily pronounce death
as a punishment upon sinners, without first following due process to show
that these people are indeed deserving of death. God may at times advance
the consequence of death for those whose hearts have been hardened beyond
the point of salvation for the sake of preserving a righteous remnant (e. g. the
antediluvians in the time of Noah). It is not within God’s nature to leave matters
unresolved, and so He took the initiative in crafting a plan of salvation to save
as many as possible before finally and permanently destroying death and those
who choose to cling to death.
Because death is an intruder, the Bible also depicts death as an enemy
that must be defeated. Throughout the rest of Scripture, we find God working
within human history to restore human beings to their original state, resolving
the issues within the Great Controversy so that death could finally be defeated
forever.12 God Himself takes the initiative to eventually destroy death. In fact,
from the very entrance of sin and death, God already proclaims the defeat of
death, promising the arrival of the “Seed” (Gen 3:15) who would crush the
Serpent’s head and would put an end to evil and death forever. This promise
of the Seed gave Adam and Eve hope that death would one day be eradicated.
We find in the story of Genesis that despite the entrance of death, God is
love. It is important to point that that we cannot place blame on God for the
existence of death. The blame rests solely on Satan, the deceiver who through
guile introduced sin and death to this planet. Yet God takes it upon Himself to
provide the solution to a problem that was not His to bear, to begin with. Why
would He do such a thing? Because God’s love desires eternal communion with
His creation, and as such the death that separates that communion is indeed
an enemy. We see His love in His pursuit of Adam and Eve (“Where are you?”
Gen 3:9), seeking a solution to the broken relationship and not immediately
executing judgment. We see His love in His promise of the coming Seed, the
overcomer of death. We see His love in His willingness to go to great lengths just
to resolve the problem of death.
___________________________________
12
For an examination of the issues in the Great Controversy, see Frank B. Holbrook, “The
Great Controversy,” in Handbook of Seventh-day Adventist Theology, electronic edition, ch. 28.
84
When Death Declares that God is Love
Death of the Seed
Perhaps the greatest display of God’s love through death is the death of
Jesus Christ.13 He paid the price for our sins, dying the death that should be
ours, so that the life that is inherently His, He can offer to us, just as it was in
Eden (Rom 3:21–26; 5:12–21; 8:3–4; 1 Cor 15:20–22; 2 Cor 5:21). God is not
the cause of death, but He chose to be affected by it. God is not responsible for
death, yet He chose to take responsibility for it. “In this is love, not that we loved
God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins”
(1 John 4:10).
At the cross, Jesus finally “abolished death and brought life and immortality
to light through the gospel” (2 Tim 1:10). It was Jesus’ death and resurrection
that brought us the assurance that though we experience the former, we too
will experience the latter, as Jesus promised, “Because I live, you will live also.”
(John 14:19).
At the cross and resurrection, Jesus powerfully proclaims His power over
death. Yes, from a human perspective death is an overwhelming and seemingly
undefeatable enemy. But the Cross shows us that there is Someone more
powerful still. The grave could not hold Him. Death could not keep its grasp on
Him. The earth rumbled and the stone was rolled away (Matt 28:2). The gloom
of the crucifixion gave way to the glory of the resurrection, and the words Jesus
spoke to Martha resonate with greater clarity: “I am the resurrection and the
life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live” (John 11:25).
Because of what Jesus has accomplished, even though death is still a present
reality, we can by faith claim the reality of the future death of death itself. His
eternal life is ours to claim. We can live as though death no longer has any
eternal hold over us.
In the single most consequential event on earth to date, we find a clear
message of God’s love in death—the death of Jesus Christ. The crucifixion
reminds us that God’s love refuses to let us go, that we are of infinite value to
Him such that He would go to any lengths just for the chance to bring an end to
death so that we can spend eternity in a loving relationship with Him. If death
exists because love took the risk, then death will be defeated because love paid
the price.
___________________________________
13
See Chapters 5 and 6 for discussions on the significance of Jesus’ death.
85
Dealing with Death: Biblical, Theological, and Practical Reflections
Judgment before Death
We are fortunate that the Bible teaches a heavenly judgment before the final
eradication of the wicked (Dan 7:9–14; 8:13–14; Rev 14:7; 20:12). God “opens
the books” (Dan 7:10), the record of human life, showing that despite all their
sins, unworthy human beings have chosen to be covered by the merit of Jesus.
Because Jesus has already died on their behalf and paid the price for their sins,
they are cleared of all guilt and are deserving of eternal life. For those who are
in Christ, judgment is good news!14 In contrast, those who reject the sacrifice of
Jesus on their behalf will shoulder their own guilt and suffer the consequence
of death.
We find in this procedure an indication of God’s fairness, transparency,
and love. God is just and fair. Sinners whose filthiness has been covered by
the righteousness of Christ are cleared of all guilt and shown to be deserving
of heaven because they have accepted the merits of Christ. But those who have
not availed of eternal life in Jesus will die the eternal death. The judgment
clearly distinguishes between those who deserve life and those who deserve
condemnation (John 5:28–29). The heavenly judgment will show to the entire
universe that Satan’s accusations against God’s character are false. God is not
arbitrary, loving some but hating others. God loves all and has done everything
He can to save all, yet respects the freedom of His creation to reject His love.
The records will show that it is the choice of human beings that results in their
death and that God lovingly respects their decision. God’s transparency in the
heavenly judgment shows us that God is love.
Even if death is a consequence of separation from God as the giver of life,
God still carries out a transparent judgment so that all beings of the universe
can witness for themselves that God is fair and just. Those who will receive
eternal death are proven to certainly deserve it, while those receiving eternal
life also are worthy of receiving it based on the merits of Christ. God’s act of
judgment manifests His love.
___________________________________
14
See Woodrow W. Whidden II, The Judgment and Assurance: The Dynamics of Personal
Salvation (Hagerstown, MD: Review and Herald, 2012); Richard M. Davidson, “Assurance in
the Judgment” in Salvation: Contours of Adventist Soteriology, ed. Martin F. Hanna, Darius W.
Jankiewicz and John W. Reeve (Berrien Springs, MI: Andrews University Press, 2018), 395–416.
86
When Death Declares that God is Love
The Death of Death
Common sentiment tells us to cling desperately to life as if death were some
terrible darkness filled with hopelessness. Such is the case in Ernest Henley’s
famous poem Invictus, where a line reads, “Beyond this place of wrath and tears
/ Looms but the Horror of the shade.” Henley’s poem is filled with claims of
personal strength and fearlessness, yet there still exists a fearful horror of death
itself. Or what of another poet, Dylan Thomas, who adjures, “Do not go gentle
into that good night; Old age should burn and rave at close of day; Rage, rage
against the dying of the light.” Cling desperately to life, the sentiment goes, for
there is nothing beyond the grave but cold dark silence. Live as long as you can,
enjoy life as much as you can, and rage against death as fiercely as you can, for
after life comes nothingness.
Yet Scripture does not depict death as an enemy to be terrified of. Instead,
it is depicted as an enemy already defeated (Isa 25:8; 1 Cor 15:54-55). The final
stage in the Great Controversy is the eternal eradication of sin and death: “Then
Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death” (Rev
20:14). Death is an enemy, and here John the Revelator emphasizes that Death
itself is destroyed. The enemy that has so haunted us, filling our lives with so
much grief and sorrow, is finally eradicated. After the grand finale of the Great
Controversy, we are assured that there shall be no more death forever (Rev
21:4).
Isaiah 14:16–17 describes how the nations look down upon Lucifer at his
defeat: “Is this the man who made the earth tremble, who shook kingdoms,
who made the world as a wilderness and destroyed its cities, who did not open
the house of his prisoners?” The question, “Is this the man?” implies a sense
of incredulity, that the Lucifer they thought was a powerful and terrifying foe
was merely a weak and defeated enemy. I like to think that a Christian can say
the same of death at its defeat: “Is this death, who held us in its grip of fear,
who roamed the halls of emergency rooms and cancer wards, who loomed over
us on our deathbed?” Death is nothing but a weak and defeated enemy to a
Christian with the assurance of eternal life.
The poet John Donne was himself familiar with death. During his term
as a dean of London’s largest church in the 17th century, he witnessed three
waves of the bubonic plague sweep through the city, killing about a third of the
population. We today are terrified of the COVID-19 pandemic, but the black
87
Dealing with Death: Biblical, Theological, and Practical Reflections
plague was worse, dreadfully worse. “Each night horse-drawn carts rumbled
through the streets to collect the bodies of that day’s victims; their names—over
a thousand each day at the plague’s height—appeared in long columns in the
next day’s newspaper. No one could live as though death did not exist. Like
others from his time, Donne kept a skull on his desk as a reminder, memento
mori.”15 Even before the plague, Donne’s life had been well acquainted with
death, leading him to write,
Death, be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so;
One short sleep past, we wake eternally
And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die.
Despite the reality of death around him, Donne could with certainty
pronounce the death of death. Christians, too, have nothing to fear of this
defeated enemy. “O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?”
(1 Cor 15:55). In my pastoral ministry, I have encountered faithful Christians
who were able to face the end of their life with hope and courage, knowing that
death was but a temporary reprieve. We too could do the same for we have
nothing to fear. We know that death is a defeated enemy, and can thus brace for
its impeding reality in each of our lives. Because of what Christ has done, and
because we know the final end of death, even today we can claim victory over
death. The sleep of death is but a temporary rest. The promise of eternity is
already within our grasp.16 Through Christ, we have defeated death, and thus it
no longer holds us within its grip of fear. The death of death shows us that God
is love. It shows us that God does not allow death to exist forever and that He
will, in His own time, put an end to death itself.
The Loving Necessity of Death
Even with an understanding of the plan of salvation in the Great Controversy,
some could still raise the following questions: What if God eliminated
___________________________________
15
Philip Yancey, Soul Survivor: How Thirteen Unlikely Mentors Helped My Faith Survive the
Church (Manila: OMF Literature, 2006), 219. Memento mori is Latin for “remember that you die.”
16
See Chapter 6 for a study on the present reality of eternal life.
88
When Death Declares that God is Love
death for everyone, whether righteous or unrighteous? What if God removed
death as a consequence altogether? Would that not show that God is truly
loving? Is not God’s elimination of the wicked detrimental to His love? Perhaps
the best way to answer is to use the story of Noah (Gen 6–8) as a case in point.
If God had indeed allowed all people to live forever, then wickedness would
overrun even the righteous. There would be no one left.
If there was no elimination of sin (and the sinful human beings that continue
to cling to sin), then God would not be addressing the sin problem, but avoiding
it. If a child was severely ill and the parent kept avoiding the problem, we would
be calling child services, not giving them a “Parent of the Year” award. To allow
evil to perpetuate for all eternity would be clear evidence that God is not loving.
In reality, the eventual elimination of sin through death is evidence that God is
indeed loving.
W. Phillip Keller tells the story of one of his sheep who was constantly
restless and discontent, always wanting to escape and feed on the other side
of the fence. This ewe was always escaping the fence and getting into so much
trouble that Keller dubbed her “Mrs. Gad-about.” Now there was nothing wrong
with the pasture she was in. The grass on her side of the fence provided far
better grazing than the other side. Yet still, she was unsatisfied. Even more
alarming was that she taught her lambs and other sheep her tricks of escaping.
Because of the inherent dangers of influencing other sheep to follow her
dangerous practice, Keller had to make a terrible choice. In his own words:
“It was a difficult decision to make, for I loved her in the same way I loved
the rest. Her strength and beauty and alertness were a delight to the eye. But
one morning I took the killing knife in hand and butchered her. Her career of
fence crawling was cut short. It was the only solution to the dilemma. She was
a sheep, who, in spite of all that I had done to give her the very best care, still
wanted something else.”17
I believe this is an apt illustration of how God feels. God loves all sinners,
no matter how stubborn or rebellious. Yet there comes a point (which only God
knows) when human hearts have hardened to the point that there is no longer
any hope for them. To protect the rest of the flock, God must act. This applies
not only to the present time but also to the final elimination of evil. God in His
___________________________________
17
W. Phillip Keller, A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23 (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2007), 30.
89
Dealing with Death: Biblical, Theological, and Practical Reflections
love cannot allow evil to loom over the righteous forever. God’s love demands
that evil must die.
This brings us to the question of death as annihilation and elimination.
I believe the Bible teaches that the consequence of separation is death (as
seen in Genesis), not eternal torture in hell. The result of separation is death,
not eternal punishing. The belief about an eternal torture in hell has severe
ramifications toward one’s understanding of God’s love. If God tortures people
in hell for eternity, then what does this say about the character of God? Would
a loving God keep his beloved creation alive while they suffer in agony without
end? It is this concept of hell that has caused many to distance themselves from
Christianity.
We see God’s love in the biblical teaching that death is a temporary enemy
that will be defeated forever. We also see God’s love in that the final death is
annihilation and not eternal torture. These teachings can lead us to a greater
trust in God, knowing that in the execution of justice, God is love.
Conclusion
We may not be able to answer all of our questions in this life. We may not
be able to answer the “whys” of every specific circumstance. But we can be
assured that God will put an end to evil. God will put an end to death. There
will come a time when death will be but a vague and distant memory. The Great
Controversy meta-narrative gives us a degree of comfort in that God has a plan
and is in control of all events of earth’s history, moving forward to the final
conclusion.
Death cannot separate us from the love of God (Rom 8:38–39). Death is
but a temporary intruder, an enemy whose defeat we can celebrate even in the
present. Because of what God has accomplished on our behalf, our victory over
death is assured. We know for certain that God’s love triumphs over death. Our
God holds our life in His hands, and so we have nothing to fear of this defeated
enemy.
Death exists because God, in His love, took the risk. But God also enacted a
plan so that people would not have to die. In His grace, He provided a substitute
death in Jesus Christ. In His love, God paid the price. In His justice, He carries
out a judgment to legally exhibit the enactment of salvation. In His mercy, He
will eventually annihilate the wicked. Even death declares that God is love.
90
