Sin pays us death in installments. In the conversation between Eve and the serpent, he says to her, “You will not surely die for eating from the tree.” True, they did not die immediately, but for the first time humankind was susceptible to death. Before long death took the life of their son. Not every death comes in response to some particular sin. Abel did not die because of his sin but because of his brother Cain’s.
Death is a fierce foe, to be sure. Literature reminds us in various stories that it is inevitable. Statistics confirm that our birth certificates have an expiration date. Just for being born with a sin nature we will ultimately die. Thankfully, this is only the first part of the story.
God gives life as a free gift. Although we get death the “old-fashioned” way by earning it, we receive life as a gift. The God who initiated life in the garden of Eden is still giving his gift of life to all who will receive it. This gift comes through a Savior, Christ Jesus our Lord. Sin and death do not win in the end. This prompted Paul to write, “Where O death is your sting? Where O grave is your victory?”
John Donne put it this way, “Death, be not proud, tho’ men have named thee mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so, and the ones thou think’st thou dost overthrow die not poor death nor yet can’st thou kill me. . . . One short sleep past and we wake eternally. And death, thou shalt die.”
