10. Defeat Of Death by Carol Balizet

  Table of Contents

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Defeat Of Death

by Carol Balizet

The word "death;" is in the KJV 352 times. And "die;" and "dying;" are almost as plentiful. This alone tells us that this is an enormous subject, far too comprehensive and complex for a superficial study like this. But we can make a few observations.

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Contents:

1. Introduction
2. What God says about death
3. More biblical facts about death
4. What about those who mourn? God's view on suffering
5. What is true victory
6. The fiery furnace
7. What my daughter said
8. Is this as good as it gets
9. When Papa went home
10. How the medical system works
11. A final word

Introduction

First of all, let me say that this paper is not intended primarily for those who are grieving. These people need to mourn and to be comforted, and this paper is more an explanation of our point of view, than it is a solace for those who mourn. Please don't judge it as anything but information. I'm not indifferent to suffering. I know the depths of loss; I have both parents, two sisters and a child in heaven, and all of them died prematurely except my parents. The worst thing that ever happened to me was the death of my infant daughter, who died in my arms. But for this paper, we'll examine the principles of God which pertain to death, rather than address its specific effects on us.

I wasn't saved when my baby died, and I knew nothing of spiritual things. I remember asking: "Where; is she? Will she grow up or will she stay a baby in heaven? Will I recognize her when I get to heaven? Will she know me?" And over and over that deepest cry of the human heart: Why???? Without knowing it, I echoed my Savior on the cross: "My; God, my God, why?"

Now, over 40 years after her death, I look at this "tragedy;" from a position in Christ. I know now about Abraham's faith in that he was willing to sacrifice his son to obey God. I know our Father's love in that He actually did sacrifice His Son to save us. I know many, many people who have experienced this appalling Rite of Passage, this most dreaded and horrendous of events - the death of a child - and who with God's grace have survived with an increase of faith and fruit. I know what the Bible says about death, and I can, in Christ, with an infusion of His grace, call this thing good. Because I know that death is temporary. For us, for Christians, it is a doorway into resurrection life.

What God says about death

I want to make the case that the death of a child, the most dreaded, the most monstrous thing that can happen to us, has - or it can have - these factors:

1. It can eventually be a good thing in our lives - "And; we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to [his] purpose." (Romans 8:28).
2. It can be handled as joyful - "My; brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations..." (James 1:2).
3. It will fit us for a throne - "If; we suffer, we shall also reign with [him]..." (2 Timothy 2:12).
4. It should be accepted as usual - "There; hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man..." I Corinthians 10:13 - A).
5. It will not overwhelm you - "...; but God [is] faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear [it]." (I Corinthians 10:13 - B).
6. Your separation from your child is temporary - "But; now he [David's infant son] is dead, wherefore should I fast? can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me." (2 Samuel 12:23).
7. It can teach us more about the heart of God - "For; God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son..." (John 3:16).
8. Our emotions are okay - "[There is] A time to weep... [there is] a time to mourn..." (Ecclesiastes 3:4).
9. The Lord will minister to us - "I; will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you." (John 14:18).
10. It will produce blessing - "Blessed; [are] they that mourn: for they shall be comforted." (Matthew 5:4).
11. It will end in an increase- "...remember; all the way which the LORD thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, [and] to prove thee, to know what [was] in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no... that he might humble thee, and that he might prove thee, to do thee good at the latter end." (Deuteronomy 8:2,16). [Emphasis mine].

More Biblical facts about death

The word "death;" is in the KJV 352 times. And "die;" and "dying;" are almost as plentiful. This alone tells us that this is an enormous subject, far too comprehensive and complex for a superficial study like this. But we can make a few observations. The Bible leaves us in no doubt about several things:

1. Death is an enemy - the last enemy. "The; last enemy [that] shall be destroyed [is] death." (I Corinthians 15:26).
2. Death has been defeated, even abolished. "But; is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel..." (2 Timothy 1:10).
3. Resurrection life begins here and now, not following somatic death. "Verily;, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death." (John 8:51,52).
4. If we believe, we shall never "taste;" death. "But; we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man." (Hebrews 2:9).
5. We have already passed from death unto life."Verily;, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life." (John 5:24).
6. We are already free from the law of sin and death. "For; the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death." (Romans 8:2).
Jesus came to destroy the power of death, and He did it. "I; [am] he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death."(Revelation 1:18).
7. God says it is inevitable. "...it; is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: (Hebrews 9:27).
8. Satan says it's not. "And; the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die..." (Genesis 3:4).

It seems that every human who lived, with the exceptions of Enoch and Elijah, died. Lazarus died, was resurrected and died again. Jesus died. It is a fact: if we are born, we shall suffer corporeal death. And when we die, those who love us will mourn.

But somehow we've been deluded into thinking that maybe we can avoid our destined encounter with the Grim Reaper. If we eat "right;", exercise, get all the prescribed medical tests and treatments, then somehow we "shall; not surely die".; And that is a forlorn, futile, doomed-to-failure hope. We shall die to this life, and then move on to the next.

What about those who mourn? God's view on suffering

We have been conditioned to believe that God's goal is to protect us from pain, grief, distress, even from disappointment. This is not genuine Christianity, and we are at cross purposes with God if this is what we believe. He wants us holy, and we prefer to be happy.

The message is repeated over and over throughout the Bible: the sign and proof of God's love and approval is not a lack of affliction; it is discipline and suffering. "For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons." (Hebrews 12:6-8).

Suffering is unavoidable, it's a weapon in God's hand for our maturation and perfecting, and it's a good thing. Like uterine contractions to deliver a baby, a season of death to self-will, of distress, of pressure and pain, will produce new life. But most of us are so conditioned (by our entitlements and our self-love) that we need a good dose of truth to bring about an attitude adjustment - what the Bible calls a renewing of the mind. Before we can really understand anything about life, we must understand how the Lord operates, and what really constitutes blessing. And it's not at all like we would imagine! This is what the Lord says:
"If; we suffer, we shall also reign with [him]: if we deny [him], he also will deny us..." (2 Timothy 2:12); and "...; if so be that we suffer with [him], that we may be also glorified together..." (Romans 8:17).

I heard somebody say recently: everything of value in our lives is build on a foundation of suffering. It's a good thing! It produces the character of Christ. Here's how the Bible puts it: "Now; no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby." (Hebrews 12:11).
Even though we just hate it!

What is true victory

Most of us believe the truest sign of God's favor and the mark of having won a victory comes when we get our prayers answered, and we get our own way. But that viewpoint is really more American than Christian. Real triumph is not getting our way, but yielding to God so that He gets His way. A definition of this is: true victory is not whether we win or lose, not whether we succeed or fail, not whether we live or die; no, victory is whether or not we obey God. This obedience should ideally be immediate, total, and done with a good attitude; but that comes only with maturity. God will usually settle for raw, bare-bones, agonizing, teeth-gritted obedience. (I think it's probably rare that He gets even that.)

Jesus says, "Follow; me" and we reply, "Lead; me".; We say this without knowing exactly where He's taking us; we trust His wisdom and His goodness. But we can know this: if we truly allow Him to lead, the destination will always be a cross. And this is a good thing, because a cross always means that the flesh will die and resurrection life will replace it. We're improved, strengthened, purified and elevated by suffering.

In route to receiving what we want, what we have prayed for, we often take a detour through Golgotha. That's because the Lord always has a better plan. He has an eternal work in mind; a deeper, better, stronger, purer work to do. We were created for a throne, and the route to the throne is suffering. He says, "If; we suffer, we shall also reign with [him]: if we deny [him], he also will deny us..." (2 Timothy 2:12); and "if; so be that we suffer with [him], that we may be also glorified together..." (Romans 8:17). God's will is that we be blessed and favored, and we enter that realm increasingly as the flesh life dies. So He doesn't release the pressure we're under; He strengthens us to endure the pressure. He doesn't improve our natural situation which is causing us so much pain; He lifts us into the spirit. He doesn't remove the problem; He conquers it.

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The fiery furnace

I think of the Hebrew children in Daniel, confronting Nebuchadnezzar, telling him, "Our; God is able to deliver us from the fiery furnace, and He will deliver us... but even if He doesn't, we won't bow." (Daniel 3). [Emphasis mine]. They made three affirmations about God: He can, and He will, but then again sometimes He doesn't. But their relationship with God was not based on His performance, but on His word and His character and His right to be obeyed whatever He did. And that even He doesn't is the site, the realm, the condition, of sanctity. Because of course He didn't deliver them; and they didn't bow; and they did get thrown into the furnace. But there was One like unto the Son of God in there with them, and they ended up with their fetters burned off and no smell of smoke. And all of Babylon knew there was a God in Israel, because of three teenaged boys.

This is like Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane; asking to be released from the cup of suffering the Father presented, but He was not released; and He did drink it, and all of us are reaping the glorious benefits of the results. How much better it turned out that He didn't prevail; Jesus' unanswered prayer opened the way for the most significant act in all of human history. I believe that the true blessings come not when we are saved from our furnaces or our cups, but when we endure them. And we get the bigger, better - maybe infinitely better - blessing, because we persevered in faith and obedience.

Victory isn't always getting our prayers answered and getting deliverance out of difficulties. Victory is staying faithful and obedient when we don't. I know many people who have demonstrated that reality very sweetly. I know a lovely couple who watched not just one but two of their children die. Whether or not they sought medical care (and they did not) is not a factor: the children were born with genetic disorders which were incompatible with life. The first child lived about two weeks; the second, born several years later, lived almost three weeks. They have four other healthy children. The incredible grief and pain they suffered from their loss was compounded by attacks from the law, from their families, from other Christians. They had to deal with the mourning and confusion in the other children. They had to face the possibility of this happening again, if they continue to allow the Lord to control their reproductive life. They suffered in ways most of us can't even imagine.They came to Florida for a holiday a few months after the death of the second baby, and I met them for dinner at a restaurant. We exchanged greeting and hugs and ordered our food. Then the wife turned to me and asked this question: "Can; you tell us why we failed?" I responded without even thinking. "What; makes you think you failed?"
Her reply was, "Well;, we lost two children."
And I began to exhort them, and incidentally all the people sitting nearby as well. I was simply full of fervor, and there was a good deal of volume. "They;'re not lost! You know exactly where they are! And they aren't dead, either. They're waiting for you, safe. And you'll enjoy them forever! And you did nothing wrong! You still are not doing anything wrong! You aren't angry with God; you haven't lost your faith in Him; you're continuing to love and care for your other children as your hearts break daily. This is victory, to me. To express love, approval and confidence in God from the depths of despair is the strongest possible demonstration of faith. God is simply delighted with you! I pray I can be there when He tells you, 'Well done, good and faithful servants!' I know you have a great reward in heaven!"

They were pleased and comforted - and all three of us were crying - but I don't think they were totally convinced that what I said was true. But how can we possibly think the proof of favor with God is a life without pain, discipline, problems, suffering and such, when He tells us so clearly that those are the very forces which produce obedience, holiness and conformity to Jesus? This glaring deception is very localized, I think. The kind of attitude found in our safe, comfortable, affluent society would seem very strange to our brothers and sisters in China, for example. (Can't you just hear them? "No; suffering? You've got to be kidding!") Most of the world knows better. Nobody else expects a pain free life.

To summarize my understanding on the subject of suffering, let me repeat myself - I really think this definition is worth saying again: To express love, approval and confidence in God from the depths of despair is the strongest possible demonstration of faith. Amen!

What my daughter said

About twenty years ago, my children and I attended a very big church with over a thousand members and a huge staff. Each week, it was the pastor's policy to ask one of the elders to close in prayer after the big Sunday morning service. Then out of the blue one Sunday morning, instead of asking an elder to pray, he asked one of my daughters who was then about thirteen or fourteen. Astonishing! I was anxious, wondering how in the world she'd manage this weighty assignment. In that enormous building, it would take real effort just to be heard throughout the congregation! I waited with some distress to hear what she had to say. And she came through like a champ; her closing prayer was wonderful! And it fits in with this message. She said: "Oh;, Lord, help us all to remember that we're going to live forever ................ somewhere!" Yes! She saw then what we all need to realize. Somatic death, the death of the body, what is almost always meant when we use the word "death;", is only temporary. We will live on, in other bodies, in other locations, in other ways, forever. What we need to focus on - fear, even - is not death. It's judgement!

Is this as good as it gets

The continuation of this natural life is almost always considered the very highest possible good. People will do anything to continue this state of existence. They say, "Life; is sacred, and we need to do whatever we can to maintain it." Despite a promised future in Heaven, with the Lord we love and the friends and family who have gone before, despite the assurance of complete fulfillment, eternal bliss, the cessation of all pain and sorrow, in spite of the sure word of our God that all the hopes, all the desires of our hearts will be ours - in the face of all this promised glory, almost nobody wants to go there. Not if going there means we must die. There is an unspoken, unquestioned, almost universal, deep-seated conviction that this present life is the best existence we'll ever know, and that we should do anything to maintain it even a few days longer! And I find this amazing. If we don't want to go to Heaven, why do we bother to serve and obey God? Isn't that the whole point of our faith: to become fit for an eternity in Heaven? And if we really think about it, why would God go to so much trouble to make Heaven available to us, if this earthly life is better? Why not just leave us here forever?

Actually, there is one group of people who seem convinced that whatever awaits us on the other side is an improvement over our current life; and these are the folks who commit suicide. They're quite sure that whatever they're going to is preferable to what they're departing from. (Their realization of how wrong they were must be one of the major pains of Hell.) It's really paradoxical for Christians to extol the virtues of Heaven and then fight like crazy to stay out of it. Many times, folks have said to me: "Do; you mean to say that if you were having a heart attack (stroke, hemorrhage, whatever) you wouldn't want us to call 911?" My answer is: "If; I have a choice of going to a hospital or going to Heaven, I'll take Heaven every time!" (I know a good deal about hospitals, having worked in various ones in various capacities for almost 30 years, and unless were all a bunch of fools, Heaven is better. It just has to be!) This isn't to scorn those who have a different attitude. I realize that I'm much older than most people, I have no young children who depend on me, and my "passing;" wouldn't leave any great, unfillable gaps in anybody's life. I don't expect everybody to feel as I do. But some people should, and indeed some people do.

When Papa went home

My father had an unusual attitude about dying. Although he was in good health, had all his faculties and was still active enough to live alone, do his own shopping, laundry, bill-paying and such, it was growing more and more likely as the years passed that he would face his maker before too long. A few months before he died at age ninety one, I asked him if he were afraid of death. His answer led to an interesting discussion. Even though I'd known this remarkable man all my life, and knew the extraordinary nature of his thoughts, his answer astonished me. He said, "No;, I'm not afraid of dying. Actually, I'm looking forward to it! I think it will be fun!" In the face of my surprise, he explained. He said, "When; you get to be my age, you'll realize that life sort of runs out on you. It's been years since I did anything brand new - something I've never done before. As they say, been there, done that. But I've never died before! It will be brand new, and I think it's going to be fun!"

It may not have been actually fun when he died, but he did face the transition from this life to the next in total peace. He was old but healthy; and when the time came, he went from strength and well-being to being dead in twenty minutes. He knew where he was going, and he was ready. He had far more family members on the other side of the veil than he did on this side - a wife, two daughters, parents, sisters, a brother, two grandchildren - and he "shuffled; off his mortal coil" without pain, fear or regrets. I sat with him in his apartment and held his hand; we said a few good byes and he went home. It was lovely! He was there when I was born; I was there when he died. No drugs or machines or hirelings - just peace. But this must be very rare.

How does the medical system fit into this

For those of us who walk outside the medical system, there is another factor involved. And that is: if death comes to someone who is not under a doctor's care, then as family or friends or just as people in agreement with their stand, we face not only loss but also criticism, opposition and sometimes legal hassles. Because almost nobody thinks our stand is valid. Indeed, our beliefs are almost never viewed, by anybody, as simply different. They are considered offensive, dangerous, wicked, and sometimes illegal. I am occasionally a sort of spokesman for this small, growing - and surprisingly healthy - group, so I'll take that role now and add just a bit. (I could add a whole book, but I've already written that.)

Here's the problem: if anybody at all ever dies outside the dominion of medical science, it is universally assumed, by Christians and worldly folks alike, that the death would not have happened if they'd only seen a doctor. No matter how strongly the facts contradict this assumption, society, the law and most of the Church are convinced that the system could have saved this life if it had only been given an opportunity. And of course that's ridiculous. In fact, the opposite it true; the system is known to cause 120,000 deaths a year in America; and that's the just ones they find out about! I was active in that system from 1949 as a Candy Striper, through 1983 as a House Supervisor, and I can tell you that a lot of stuff is successfully hidden.

Even Christians are horrified that some of us think God is all we need, that prayer for healing avails, and if it doesn't, then so be it! People believe this system is what "works;" to "save; lives".; I say they may extend life but only Jesus saves. (A fellow told me not long ago, "The; doctors gave my father six months to live" and I just had to ask him, "Where; did they get them? I thought only God has life to give.") The system may facilitate natural healing in some cases, but it is by no means always successful, and it often makes things worse. This total faith and trust in the system of allopathic medicine is a natural result of several factors: most of us were born under that system's authority; it's what everybody else does; it doesn't require faith in God; and there is a release of responsibility that must be comfortable.

Christians are the same as the world in this area. There has been an alteration of God's promise: "I; will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I [am] the Lord that healeth thee." (Exodus 15), and of His affirmation that He still claims that occupation: "...; Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed." (1 Peter 2:24). It seems now these Scriptures are taken to mean that the Lord will bless the doctors' hands.

One of the main reasons that some of us don't want to yield to this system is that it's hard to believe that prayer of "blessing; the doctor's hands" works. How can they believe that God will bless a doctor's hands if what he is doing is forbidden in the Bible - like shedding blood, doing pelvic exams, using drugs (pharmakai), intermixing individual beings with other beings, with animals tissue, with cadaver organs?! And that doesn't begin to touch the abominations which lie ahead with genetic engineering, artificial organs, animal organs, cloning and such. Almost all Christians believe God can and will bless the ministrations of the medical system because most of the church believes the three lies which have been taught from Christian pulpits for decades: God gave us doctors; God gave doctors their wisdom; God wants us to use the medical system because it has surpassed and supplanted His original policy of divine healing. Trusting God is unwise; we're tempting Him, unbalanced, they say. I wish I could ask each one of these men: Just where in the Bible does God ever say, "Oh;, ye of too much faith?" It seems they believe that if you don't get medical care, and rely solely on God, the chances for being healed are minimal. But if you submit to the system and do what they tell you, you shall be healed if it is at all possible. They believe that if the patient dies under medical care, it was inevitable, fated, inescapable, unavoidable. If he dies outside the system, it was only the expected outcome of an unwise and foolish decision. For those of us who don't believe any of this, it's an uphill battle, because what we do believe threatens and angers others.

And I might as well tell the whole truth here: it isn't just how we do - or do not - receive our healing. It's also the importance we place on being healed. Many people, Christian as well as non-Christian, will do anything to stay alive. No procedure is so bizarre or so offensive as to be beyond the pale. Maintaining corporeal life is absolutely imperative. But most of the people I know don't believe that way. God says that our times are in His hands (Psalms 31:15) And there is a time to die: "To; every [thing there is] a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven...A time to be born, and a time to die... (Ecclesiastes 3:1,2). We believe that, and one of the ways this belief is worked out is in this matter of receiving - or of failing to receive - healing.

A final word

Death is conquered! It is not permanent! Its power over us has been defeated! Whee!! Yet almost every living person, Christian and Pagan alike, lives a life dominated by fear of death. As I said earlier, all the worldly focus on medical care, on laboratory monitoring, on efforts to become (and stay) fit, on dietary correctness, on "healthy;" living and lifestyle, working out and such, all this is based in the unspoken - and most assuredly vain - hope: "If; I am healthy enough I will never die." Of course it's the Enemy who touts this vain hope. He told Eve:" And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die..." (Genesis 3:4). But it's not true. Of course we're going to die! How can we possible believe we won't? Jesus told us in His Book: "It; is appointed unto men once to die, and after this the judgement." (Hebrews 9:28). No matter what they do about harvesting human organs, devising ever more efficient artificial organs, stem cell "therapy;", cloning - whatever! - we shall all surely die!

So I repeat: the thing we should fear is not death, but judgment! The thing that matters is not when we die, or even how we die. It's where we go after we die. Remember, we're going to live forever ............... somewhere!