One cool thing about reading (and re-reading) through the whole Bible every year is that one can always find new ways that God underscores His eternal truths. I've known for a while that the opening verses of Luke 12 (vv 4-5) teach that there is something worse than death. But, does God pick up that theme elsewhere? Well... Take a look sometime at 1 King 14. King Jeroboam's son is dying and his wife goes to the prophet. He tells her that not only will the son die, but Jeroboam will lose the kingship. Then in verse13 he says "And all Israel shall mourn for him and bury him, for he only of Jeroboam shall come to the grave, because in him there is found something pleasing to the LORD, the God of Israel, in the house of Jeroboam."
What!? "for he only of Jeroboam shall come to the grave, because in him there is found something pleasing to the LORD"? Jeroboam's son died because he was pleasing to the LORD. Would God really do that? Maybe a God who is truly loving knows that sometimes death is not evil, but rather a gift and a protection from worse things to come. SDG
I have occasionally thought of death as the ultimate physical healing. The body is broken due to sin. Even "healthy", sinful people will be punished by physical death. To finally remove a person from sin and take them to live in perfection, with perfection is also to forever heal their physical brokenness. Of course God desires us to live in perfection like Him, and we have to removed from this world for that to happen. I look forward to my day in heaven!
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