Today we are
discussing an important question: Why many God’s faithful servants die
untimely?
These days, the
number of God’s saints dying early in their young age has been increasing in
number.
The number of
God’s servants dying in accidents and by acute diseases has increased a tenfold
since the last decade.
We have no
logical explanation to it and so we often depend on philosophical explanations
in the name of religion.
A major part
of religion is philosophy and hence it is easy for us to formulate a theory
that looks near to the scripture.
I do not want
to disturb the comfort that philosophy and religion give us.
In fact, no
man in this world can explain why God’s saints die early in their young age.
All what we
says in this regard are words of comfort to the dear ones of the departed soul
and to ourselves.
Bible does
not offer us a direct answer to the question we asked above.
In 1 Thessalonians 4:13 says: “But I do not want
you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you
sorrow as others who have no hope.”
From here Apostle
Paul goes on to speak of the resurrection of the dead and the catching up of
those who are alive by our Lord in the clouds.
He concludes
the passage with these words: “Therefore comfort one another with these words.”
His advice is
to comfort each other with the hope of resurrection and rapture.
He is not
presenting any other philosophy of God calling back the saints early in their
life.
In fact, here
he is not attending the question why God’s servants die early.
St. Stephen
and St. James were murdered at an early age.
But Apostles
never gave an explanation, why they were killed so early.
So it is very
difficult for us to find a direct answer to the question.
Usually, we
assume and proclaim that, God’s servants those who have died early have
completed their service to the Lord in this world and hence God has taken away
their life through martyrdom, accident or through acute illness.
These are
good words to comfort those who remain alive, but they are not true to the
Bible.
Apostles and
the early church never comforted themselves with this thought at the death of
Stephen or James.
In Acts 8:2, we read: “And devout men carried
Stephen to his burial, and made great lamentation over him.” (NKJV)
That means
they did not comfort themselves saying that Stephen completed his service to
the Lord and hence the Lord has taken him back.
Book of Job
Let us go to
the Book of Job for more light on this matter.
The Book of Job is said to be an old story and is
the first written book in the Bible.
The time in
which Job lived is uncertain.
It is most
generally accepted that Moses wrote the book while he was among the Midianites,
about one thousand five hundred and twenty years (1520) before the commencement
of the Christian era.
That means, the
revelations about God during the time of Job was limited and hence we must be
careful to draw theological conclusions.
The story is
written in an age where material possessions were considered to be a sign of
God’s blessing and righteous standing before God.
But theological
concept on material possessions have changed now.
In the Book,
we find satan standing before God, with an intention to accuse the saints of
God.
When God
asked him where he has been, satan replied that he has been on earth.
Suddenly God
asked him whether he has put his eyes on Job.
This is a
simple proof that satan is always aiming at destroying the saints of God and
for that he does not need any permission from God.
But here satan
confessed that he could do nothing to Job, because God has made a hedge around
him.
Satan continued
to accuse Job saying that his fidelity to God is due to his material blessings.
God was sure
that Job worshiped Yahweh the Lord not for any material blessings and even if
all the material possessions were taken away, Job would continue to worship
Yahweh.
It is not
written in the Bible that God removed the hedge around Job.
And God,
Himself did not do any harm to Job but God let Satan to take away his material
possessions.
When the
first test failed, Satan came to God again repeating the same accusation.
Satan asked
God to “touch his bone and his flesh” so that Job may curse God.
But God
Himself never did Job any harm, only permitted Satan to do some harm upon Job.
In Chapter 2:6, God specifically commands Satan, “but spare his life.”
Now the
question here is that, why God specifically told satan to spare the life of
Job?
What would
happen if God did not give this command to satan.
Surely, Satan
will touch the life of Job and he will die untimely.
That is why though
God permitted satan to take away his material possessions and afflict his flesh,
He commanded satan not to take away his life.
And all these
permissions are given while the hedge around Job is not lifted by God.
That means, satan
can take away the life of a person.
The first
century Christians knew that Stephen and James were killed by satan.
They did not
console themselves with the philosophy of God taking away the life of these
saints, untimely.
They
comforted themselves by the hope to meet them again in the clouds with Christ.
Death of Abel
Now let us
move to the first book in the Bible, Genesis.
Abel is
killed by his brother Cain, after a blessed sacrifice to God by Abel.
God was not
taking away the life of Abel because he completed his service to God on this
earth; Abel was killed by his brother.
Abel
worshiped Yahweh according to the example shown by God in Genesis 3; and
he is first martyr for worshiping Yahweh.
In Genesis 4:10, we read God telling Cain that:
“The voice of your brother's blood cries out to Me from the ground.”
It is the
voice for vengeance not a voice glorifying the untimely and unexpected death.
Old Testament rebellious people
Israelites of
the Old Testament were rebellious people.
They disliked
God’s message pointing out their backsliding from His ways.
So, instead
of correcting their ways and returning back to God, they tortured and killed
God’s prophets.
In Luke
Jesus makes a striking statement on these incidents:
Luke
11:50, 51
50 "that the blood of all the prophets which
was shed from the foundation of the world may be required of this generation,
51 "from the blood of Abel to the blood of
Zechariah who perished between the altar and the temple. Yes, I say to you, it
shall be required of this generation. (NKJV)
Jesus did not
present a philosophy that God called back the life of prophets as and when they
completed their service to God on this earth.
Jesus made it
clear that they were killed and Israelites are responsible to their death.
Apostle Paul’s ministry
Here I do
remember Apostle Paul’s famous words:
2
Timothy 4: 6,
7
6 For I am already being poured out as a
drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand.
7 I have fought the good fight, I have
finished the race, I have kept the faith.
(NKJV)
Apostle
Paul’s death was a martyrdom; he died at the age of 64 or 65.
He was
willing to die and ready to die.
He himself
declared that he has finished the race.
In Acts 21 we read that Paul, on his way to
Jerusalem, stayed in Tyre with disciples for seven days.
In verse 4,
we read that his disciples, “… told Paul through
the Spirit not to go up to
Jerusalem.”
Please note
that the disciples told Paul “through the Spirit” of God not to go to
Jerusalem.
It was a
warning and an instruction from the Spirit of God.
But Paul continued
his journey.
On the way
from Tyre to Jerusalem, Paul came to
Caesarea and he stayed in the house of Philip the evangelist for many days.
One day a
prophet named Agabus came from Judea, or rather God sent the prophet from
Judea.
And he prophesied,
saying, “Thus says the Holy Spirit”
that, at Jerusalem, Jews would bind Paul and deliver him to the Roman rulers.
By hearing
this, once again those who were present there requested Paul not to go to
Jerusalem.
Let us read
Paul’s reply carefully:
Acts 21:13 Then Paul
answered, "What do you mean by weeping and breaking my heart? For I am
ready not only to be bound, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the
Lord Jesus."
Paul was
willing to die and ready to die.
When we study
all the closing words of Paul in the book of Acts and in the epistles, we feel
that apostle Paul wished to end his ministry and life.
He has
developed such a mindset.
Paul declared
himself that he is willing to die, when none prophesied his death.
Paul declared
himself that his departure is at hand, fight is over and his course is
finished.
He was warned
and asked by the Holy Spirit not to go to Jerusalem.
But Paul went
to Jerusalem, there he was arrested and taken to Rome and according to the
tradition, he was murdered there.
In Philippians 1:21, Paul says: “For to me, to
live is Christ, and to die is gain.” (NKJV).
What does
Paul says here?
In verse 23 he says that he has a desire to depart from
this world and be with Christ.
He considers
death better for him.
But in verse 24, he acknowledges that if he lives for more
years, it will be a blessing to the Church at Philippians and useful for Christ
and the Kingdom of God.
That means,
Paul confesses that if he live longer, he could do more things for God’s
Kingdom; but he has developed a mindset to finish his ministry on this earth
and die.
When we
consider the 90 years of Apostle John and 65 years Apostle Paul, we wish that
Paul could live and serve Christ in this world for another 25 years more.
Dying for
Christ’s sake is a great thing; no one can belittle it.
An untimely
death for the sake of the Kingdom of God is a martyrdom.
God values
martyrdom greatly.
But all
martyrdom are not God calling back the life because an anointed servant of God
has completed his service on this earth.
At the same
time, a long life of a God’s servant is indeed a blessing to the church in this
world.
Paul has not
presented a different perspective.
What did
Jesus said about martyrdom?
Matthew 24:9 "Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and
kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name's sake. (NKJV)
Read
carefully what Jesus says here; “they
will deliver you to tribulation and kill you.”
Jesus did not
say that God will kill you or take away your life.
There is no
proof in the Bible that says that God will untimely take away the life of an
anointed servant of God.
Jesus told us
that “they” the enemies of the gospel
of the Kingdom of God, will kill you.
Elijah and his commissions
Can a person
die before he finish his ministry?
The popular
philosophy is that a servant of God would not die before he finishes his
ministry.
Respecting
all faithful servants who support this view, I am sorry to say that the
scripture has a different perspective.
Elijah was a
respected and popular prophet of Yahweh in the Old Testament.
In 1 Kings, chapter 19,
we read of Jezebel threatening Elijah to kill him on the next day.
So Elijah ran
for his life into the wilderness and sat down under a broom tree.
There he prayed to God that he might die; and after that he slept under the tree.
From there
again he ran to the mountain Horeb and spent the night in a cave.
And there the
word of the Lord came to him, asking: What are you doing here, Elijah?”
There,
instead of taking away his life, God assigned three commissions to him.
1.
Anoint Hazael
as king over Syria.
2.
Anoint Jehu
the son Nimshi as king over Israel
3.
Anoint Elisha
as prophet in his place.
But the sad
thing is that Elijah could complete only one of these three commissions in his
life.
He anointed
Elisha as prophet in his place.
And
afterwards, he was taken to heaven alive, without death.
Though Elisha
fulfilled the other two commissions, Elijah left the world without completing
his commissions by God.
That means,
it is not a must that God’s servants fulfill all their services assigned by God
before they leave this world.
It is not
necessary that God’s servants will live in this world until their commission is
completed.
The untimely
death of God’s anointed servants is not a sign that they have completed their
service.
God assigned
three commissions to Elijah and God took away Elijah alive before he completed two
of them.
Why? We do
not know exactly, because no reason is recorded in the Bible.
But we may
surmise that, during their last days, Elijah and Apostle Paul developed a
mindset ready for death.
This is an
important thing that we may learn from their life.
Free Will and God’s protection
To continue
our discussion, let us read a verse from 1
Samuel 25.
When King David reached the wilderness of Paran, he sent his servants
for food and shelter to Nabal.
Nabal was a wealthy person but an uncouth person.
He rejected David’s request and spoke ill of him.
So David decided to take revenge on him.
But Abigail, the wife of Nabal heard that David is coming against them
with 400 armed men, suddenly acted wise.
Abigail met him on the way and she offered David gifts of wine, grain,
prepared meat, and cakes of figs.
Then she fell down in front of David, pleading with him to show mercy
to her husband.
In verse 29, in order to
pacify David, she says: "Yet a
man has risen to pursue you and seek your life, but the life of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of the
living with the LORD your God”.
To be bound in the bundle
of life is that you are protected and cared for deeply.
When valuable items were
transported during Biblical times, they were wrapped in cloth, cotton and other
soft materials for protection.
They were then wrapped
again and again to ensure safe arrival.
So, our life is bound in
the bundle of God is surly great protection.
Does that mean that
whatever we do, where ever we go and how ever we live, we have special
protection of God?
It is not like that.
We are surly protected by
God whenever we live under His Lordship obeying all his directions in our life.
In another way, God’s
special protection in our life is subjected to our Free Will.
Now what is Free Will?
Free Will means that God gives humans the opportunity to make choices
that genuinely affect their destiny.
However, our choices are limited to what is in keeping with our human nature.
Every human has Free Will that is limited by nature.
The world’s current sinful state is directly linked to the choices
made by Adam and Eve.
God created mankind in His own image, and that included the ability to
choose.
We have the freedom of choice and we are accountable for all our
choices.
That means, we not only have the ability to choose,
we also have the responsibility to choose wisely.
In the Old Testament, God chose Israel as a nation, but individuals
within that nation still were obliged to choose obedience to God.
And individuals outside of Israel were able to choose to believe and
follow God as well.
Thus Rahab and Ruth entered into the fold of Israel.
All our motives, desires, and actions are voluntary, and we are
rightly held responsible for them.
In order to exercise our Free Will according to the desires of God
about us, we should always communicate with God for every word and action.
But the unfortunate fact is that, human beings are always influenced
by the environment in which he lives.
Biblical scholars like William Barclay supports the view that
no human being can rise above his environment beyond a certain limit.
Man is always influenced and to an extent controlled by the demands of
his environment.
Thus a working person must go to his office on time, a student should
go to school, a priest or a pastor should conduct worship sessions regularly
and punctually.
God’s servants know that many a time we have said excuses to God and
obey the instincts of the environment.
I do not call it a crime or sin; it is natural; but it is not God’s
way.
The human environment is a better communicator than God so that we
listen to it more often than we listen to God.
It is true that there is a communication gap between God and humans.
We expect God to forcefully interfere in our life; but God respects
our Free Will and often speaks softly.
God cannot but respect our Free Will.
God says no to go, but our environment demands us to go; God says not
to do, but our environment demands us to do.
God is not worried about our future because he has taken care of it,
but we are worried about our future because our environment does not assure us
a good future.
And so finally we obey the demands of our environment.
There is always a communication gap between God and humans; God always
does not interfere in our life as we wish Him to do.
We feel that God’s voice and actions are not always forceful enough to
keep us in His own path.
But God is never silent.
We have already seen that the disciples at Tyre “told Paul through the Spirit not to go up to Jerusalem.”
It was God
speaking to Paul to postpone his journey to Jerusalem.
Again, God
sent the prophet Agabus from Judea and he prophesied to Paul, saying, “Thus says the Holy Spirit” that, Jews
would bind Paul and deliver him to the Roman rulers.
Once again
those who were present there requested Paul not to go to Jerusalem.
But Paul did
not change his plan to go to Jerusalem.
Though
Prophet Elijah had more commissions to complete, he prayed to God for death.
They were
acting according to the demands of human environment.
God spoke, man
moved away to another path; and calamity happened.
Paul died and
Elijah left the world leaving behind his commissions to his disciple.
Please do not
misunderstand me, I am not condemning anyone in this matter.
Because
humans are always influenced by their environment.
None lives
above it.
Since this is
not our topic of discussion in this message, let me leave it here.
Every
blessing, protection and provision we receive from God is subjected to our Free
Will.
Free Will is a
gift from God; God never violates volition.
We are free
to accept or reject anything from God.
Though it is
humane, it is unfortunate to yield to the demands of our environment than God’s
voice.
A wrong
choice that we make, yielding to the demands of our environment, may lead to a
calamity.
Three probabilities
We are
constrained by a limited of time over a television program.
So let us
move to the last part of the message.
The history
of Israelites in the Old Testament is of continuous struggle and war.
From the time
of inheriting the Promised Land, Israelites live a life of war with their
enemies.
While the Old
Testament believers were in a physical war against their enemies, the New
Testament believers are in a spiritual war against the enemy and his wicked
army.
Apostle Paul speaks
about it in Ephesians.
Ephesians 6:12 For we do not
wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers,
against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of
wickedness in the heavenly places. (NKJV)
We are in a
spiritual war against principalities, powers, rulers of the darkness of this
age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the spirit realm.
God’s
anointed servants are not mere soldiers, they are those who stand in the fore
front of the army.
God’s
servants are warriors who stand face to face with the army of satan.
They are
always in war, in the deadly places of war.
With all
above thoughts we have been discussing, I have come to an understanding about
the untimely death of God’s servants.
I call the
untimely death of God’s anointed servants as “Die
in harness”.
“Die in harness”
means to die with armor on; to die while actively engaged in work or duty.
All these
kind of deaths are martyrdom.
How we see
martyrdom and how God sees it may be different.
Usually the
people of this world call the death of person if he or she is killed, for sake
of a cause, purposefully by another person.
But believers
like us are not fighting against flesh and blood, not against any human being.
For the people
of the world, Stephen, James, Peter, Paul and many others were killed by the
order of an earthly wicked king and by a hangman or an executioner.
But for the
believers who are in the spiritual warfare, they were killed by satan and his wicked
army.
They were
killed by evil principalities, powers, rulers of the darkness and spiritual
hosts of wickedness in the spirit realm.
Evil powers
plotted against God’s anointed people and influenced humans who lived in this
physical realm to execute the murder.
This is the
principle of the scripture; this is the ultimate explanation we derive from the
Bible.
This is how
every martyrdom happened in the Old Testament, in the New Testament era and in
these present days.
Man is only a
tool in the hands of satan and his wicked kingdom.
And every
death caused by the dark kingdom is a martyrdom.
A God’s
servant may be killed on cross, by stoning to death, by sword, by natural
calamity or in an accident.
Accidents can
be purposeful or unintentional, in human perspective.
But the law
of all nations call it murder; purposeful murder or unintentional murder.
Whatever
adjective we give, the law of nations call both of it murder.
And when it
happens to God’s anointed servants, we should doubt the influence of the wicked
kingdom.
So all those
who die for the sake of the Kingdom of God, through the wicked schemes of the
kingdom of darkness, are martyrs, whether they are killed by sword or in an
intentional or unintentional accident.
The means of
death is not the factor which decides whether the death of a saint is a
martyrdom; the scheming devil behind the incident decides it as a martyrdom.
Since the
scripture do not support the philosophy that God takes away the life of His
servant untimely, every untimely death of God’s servants are martyrdoms.
With all
these understandings about the scripture, I would like to present three
observations to explain the untimely death of God’s anointed servants.
With a
discussion on these three observations, let us conclude this message.
1.
Lack
of support from the soldiers those stand at the back of a warrior.
My
first observation is that an anointed servant of God may meet untimely death or
injury, because of the lack of support from the infantry or the supporting foot
soldiers.
In
a war there are ferocious warriors who stand at the front row of the army
fighting against the enemy.
The
aim of the enemy is not the infantry or the foot soldier, but the warriors.
But
no warrior can win the war alone without the support of the infantry on foot,
because no war is a one man’s business.
Infantry
gives the support and necessary protection to the warrior.
And
all soldiers in the infantry know that without ferocious warriors no army can
defeat the enemy.
God’s
anointed people are warriors who fight against the enemy standing at the fore front
of the army.
They
are ferocious and zealous and without them we cannot win this spiritual war.
Their
safety is very important and all the believers should uphold them in prayer
creating a brass wall of prayer around them.
They
fight and we support them.
Let
me ask you a question: Do you used to pray regularly and fervently for the
safety of God’s anointed servants in our land.
I
humbly state that I have failed at many occasions, in praying for God’s chosen people.
We
have been failing to support the fore front warriors in the war.
And
when they are killed by the enemy, we come up with philosophical theories to
console ourselves and others.
The
solution to this problem is not philosophy, but prayer.
Let
us realize, accept and confess our short coming in praying and protecting God’s
servants.
Let
us pray for the anointed servants from today; let no fore front warriors of God
die untimely at the hand of the enemy.
2.
Unintentional
lapses on the part of the warrior
My
second observation on the untimely death of God’s servants is that, even
unintentional lapses on the part of a warrior is disastrous.
Warriors in the war always concentrate their
attention on the enemy.
They
watch carefully every small and big movements of the enemy.
Any
distraction, even for a millisecond of time, may be fatal to their life.
Learning
the schemes of the enemy is important for victory in war.
Moses
and Joshua in the Old Testament send spies to learn the strength and the
weakness of the enemy.
Learning
the strength, the weakness and the schemes of the enemy is an accepted practice
in a war.
Because
the enemy knows our strength and weakness, and he has planned the war
accordingly.
Our
enemy is not a gentleman, he is a wicked enemy; he will strike us at our
weakness.
Apostle Paul
in 2 Corinthians 2:11, advices us not
to be ignorant of satan’s devices.
Otherwise, satan
will take advantage of us.
A
God’s anointed servant should always watch at every movements of the enemy.
He
should also, listen to his King’s voice for orders and directions.
The
war belongs to our King and so let Him decide where we should go and what we
should do.
So
close observance on the enemy and careful listening to the orders of the King
is a must for victory in the spiritual war.
Even
an unintentional lapse on our part is dangerous.
When
the King asks us to preach, let us preach; when the King commands to be silent,
be silent; if the King asks to go, let us go, if He commands to stay, let us
not go.
But
as we discussed earlier, human beings, including me, are influenced by the
environment in which we live.
And
so we often take the wrong choice and fall into danger.
We
obey the pressure of the environment, giving the enemy an opportunity to injure
or kill us.
It
is not God taking away the life untimely; the untimely death of a warrior is
not a gain for our Lord.
Still
it is a martyrdom.
We
often used to argue that God knows everything and nothing happens in our life
without the knowledge of God.
It
is true that God, in His fore knowledge about us, knows everything.
But
that does not mean that God violate our Free Will and intervene in our life
always.
God
never violates volition.
3.
Injury
and death are probable in war.
My third
observation on this matter is that, injury and even death are probable in a
war.
Spiritual war
is not a myth, it is more true than a physical war.
It is a fierce
war between the kingdom of God and the Kingdom of darkness.
It is a war
for dominion and power.
God’s
anointed servants are commissioned warriors who always position themselves in
the war front.
And in a war,
injury and death are probable.
Warriors go
to the war front for defeating and destroying the enemy.
None goes to
war to get injured or to meet death.
But everyone knows
that injury and death are probable in a war.
We have
accepted the commission from God to stand against the enemy, expecting the
worst.
We are ready
to die for Christ and the Kingdom of God.
So injury or
death is not a threat to a servant of God; he has dedicated his life for the
cause of the Kingdom of God.
Every
spiritual warrior hopes beyond this world and the rewards waiting for him
That is his
motivation.
Let us accept
this truth as the truth of a war.
Let us not philosophies
it; death is death.
Let us still
declare our willingness to die for Christ and proclaim our hope for eternal
life and rewards awaiting for us.
Life is not more
valuable for us than the cause of the Kingdom of God.
Let us
console ourselves with the thought that all kinds of death in the spiritual
warfare is martyrdom.
To live is
for the glory of the Kingdom and to die is gain for us.
1
Thessalonians 4: 16 - 18
16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven
with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And
the dead in Christ will rise first.
17 Then
we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds
to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.
18 Therefore
comfort one another with these words. (NKJV)
Let me wind
up this message.
May God
strengthen you in live with this comfort and hoping for the eternal life and
rewards! Amen!
Job 5:26 NASB
ReplyDelete"You will come to the grave in full vigor, Like the stacking of grain in its season.