Death Is Certain

Every funeral is a reminder that something is deeply wrong with the world. People we love and countless others we’ve never met will take their final breath. Scripture speaks bluntly about death’s cause (sin) and its only remedy (resurrection). And that remedy is not just an event but a Person: the Lord Jesus Christ.

Death in the Garden

God placed Adam in Eden to “work” and “keep” it (Genesis 2:15), priestly tasks to serve and guard the garden-temple. Every need was met. Every tree was his except one. God warned, “In the day that you eat of it you shall surely die” (Genesis 2:17).

The serpent denied God’s word “You will not surely die” (Genesis 3:4). Adam and Eve believed the lie, ate, and were changed. Physical death did not strike immediately, but shame, alienation, and exile the first shadows of death fell upon them. Sin had severed their fellowship with God.

Death’s Shadow

From Genesis 3 onward, humanity lives under death’s reign (Romans 5:12–15). And Scripture describes “death” in more than one dimension:

• Peril: Jonah’s descent into the sea was “the pit” until God delivered him (Jonah 2:5–6; Matthew 12:40).

• Loss: Isaac’s near-sacrifice was “figurative death” until God provided a ram (Hebrews 11:19).

• Barrenness: Rachel cried, “Give me children, or I shall die!” (Genesis 30:1).

• Sickness: David called his wasting illness “the pit” (Psalm 6:2–4).

Death intrudes long before our last breath in broken bodies, empty wombs, and the alienation of sin.

Christ’s Dominion over Death

Jesus came as the greater Prophet, Priest, and King. His words and touch reversed the curse: cleansing lepers, healing the sick, giving sight to the blind, raising the dead. Each miracle was a skirmish in his war against death.

And then, in the ultimate act, the hands that healed were pierced. At the cross, it looked like death had won. But the Son of God entered death to break it from the inside. His resurrection was not like Lazarus’s temporary but the firstfruits of immortal, imperishable life (1 Corinthians 15:20, 53).

The Last Enemy

Death is still called “the last enemy” (1 Corinthians 15:26). We will face it unless Christ returns first. But for those in him, death is temporary, its sting removed (1 Corinthians 15:54–55). “Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live” (John 11:25).

The cross once a symbol of execution has become for us the tree of life. Because Christ died in our place, bearing our sin and giving us his righteousness, we will live with him forever. And on the day he returns, he will say to all his redeemed, “You shall surely live."

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