Ron in Custer passed away. I remember when Monty Python said, “No one expects the Spanish Inquisition,” but we should know and expect our death. No one can outrun the angel of death, he wins every time. No amount of computer wizardry “de-aging” will help you either – you’re only young once. And unlike sci-fi movies, you’re not coming back in a sequel, and you’re not a variant in Marvel’s multiverse, continuing to live on. Your life here will come to an end.
In Genesis 3:19 God tells Adam, “By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” Ecclesiastes 3:20 tells us, “We all go to one place. We all are from the dust, and to dust we all return.” Psalm 90 tells us the Lord returns man to dust and says, “Return, O children of man.” We are swept away with a flood, we are like a dream, we are like grass that fades and withers. We pray, “Teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.” What is your life, 70 or 80 years? Peter wrote in his first letter, “All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever.” The rich man was proud of the big barns he built, but God said to him, “Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?” Your time on this earth is limited, like Ron’s.
But there is good news, better news than sci-fi speculation. There is good news for Ron and you, if you know Jesus. We do have eternal life and will live again, in Christ, in the world to come. We do not need to fear getting old, we do not need to fear death. We win the battle against death. Paul asked, “Where o death is your victory, where, o death, is your sting?” Jesus said, “In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.” (John 14:2-3) He also said, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25-26) That’s an important question: Do you believe this?
You are destined to live and die once, then face judgment (Hebrews 9:27). If you know Christ, you can rejoice because “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 8:1) God cares for you and resurrection will fix your ailing and deceased body. Your great future in and with Jesus is in Revelation 21:3-4, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” Ron wins. Will you? Decide today where you will spend eternity. Confess your sins and trust in Christ and you will have life everlasting.