What Death Cannot Do (Pack of 10)

Mark Twain said, “Let us endeavor so to live that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry.”

Funerals have been going on a long time. After the first martyr gave his life for the Lord, Luke records that “devout men carried Stephen to his burial, and made great lamentation over him” (Acts 8:2). Funerals are for the living, not the dead. Words spoken in the hour of death can encourage a person unprepared for death to obey the gospel and can strengthen the resolve of the living to remain faithful (2 Thessalonians 1:6–9; Revelation 2:10).

There is a difference in a Christian funeral and a secular funeral (1 Thessalonians 4:13–18). A Christ-less funeral often has an air of irreconcilable hopelessness. A Christian funeral has tears but there is an underlying sense of hope. One feels forever; one feels temporary.

This reflects Scriptures’ teaching. There are some things that death can do such as remove daily contact with a loved one, trigger regrets, and close the door of opportunity to change one’s relationship with God. Jesus changed His people’s view of death. Those who had once been all their lifetimes subject to bondage, not see death as a rite of passage—a graduation to a better situation. Paul wrote, “O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?” (1 Corinthians 15:55). While death is a loss, overall it is a net positive—to die is gain. Paul wrote, “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21).