Triumph over Tragedy

Both in the Hebrew and Greek languages of the Bible, the words for “eternity” or “eternal” give the idea of “perpetuity”, or “everlasting”, from which developed phrases like “world without end”, referring to the nature of the Kingdom of God. The words for “time” in both languages indicate “the passing of moments”, or “durations”, “chronological” but most importantly, “seasonal time”. Ecclesiastes 3:1 states, “To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.” It is crucial that each of us understand “seasonal-time” as only being a portion of chronological time, and that it is a waste of life to exist oblivious to one’s season. Season is the best portion of our lives when we have the most vitality, the most opportunity, and are at optimum usefulness, so as to achieve the purpose and mission for which God has placed us into chronological time.

In the general sense, according to Ecclesiastes 12:13-14, the whole duty of man is to reverence, and serve God, for in the end it is God to whom we must each give an account. The song of the twenty-four elders in Revelation 4:11 says, "Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created". Of Christ in Colossians 1:16 the scripture declares, "For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him". It is clear that we are all designed and created by God for His purposes, and in the end, we will have to account to Him as to the proper fulfillment of those purposes.

Thus arises therefore, another question: “How much time do I have in the earth to live out God’s purposes for my life?” Is it possible to know anything at all about my time and season? David put’s it to God this way in Psalm 39:4-7: “LORD, let me know my end and what the measure of my days [is]; let me know how fleeting my life is. You have made my days a few handbreadths, and my lifetime is as nothing in your sight. Surely everyone stands as a mere breath. Surely everyone goes about like a shadow. Surely for nothing [we] are in turmoil; [we] heap up, and do not know who will gather. And now, O Lord, what do I wait for? My hope is in you.” The answer to the question, “How much time do I have”, raises the issue of death; where it came from and weather death was a part of God’s original plan. The answer to this may be surprising. So let’s tackle the death problem first. Now, I must warn you, this segment is not a simple traditional exposition on the subject. Bear in mind that the main objective of this work is to clear up several misconceptions that have persisted in Christian thought based upon erroneous and limited interpretations of certain biblical proof-texts. So, please approach the following section with an open mind.

The Menace of Mortality

With life so fragile, it is critical that we take hold of the complete concept of eternal life, and not only have a hope in God to maintain us in this life exclusively. With so many in our generation dying to live, there is enough mishap around us as to call for a shift in focus towards living with death in mind. The preacher in Ecclesiastes 7:3 wrote, "Sorrow is better than laughter: for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better". One cannot deny the sorrow and the finality that death brings to life in this world. But death as we have experienced it was never part of God’s original created order, life was.