Christ loves us more than we can fathom. So why does he let us die?
The answer: We die because Christ loves us. Christ loves us, so he lets us die.
Mark Jones, in his excellent book Knowing Christ, connects the love of Christ with the death of his people. It’s beautiful.
“In his heavenly glory, Christ meditates upon his people. He desires not only to know us, but also to be with us. We must always remember that when he calls one of his loved ones home to himself, he has gained more than we have lost in the death of the loved one. He desires to be with us because he knows us, and that demands that one day he will call us home to be with him. Ultimately, this happens not because of something such as disease or fatal accident, but rather because the Father has answered the prayer of his Son” (Knowing Christ, 4).
I can’t add much to that. I think it might be the most beautiful paragraph on death I’ve ever read. “[Jesus] desires…to be with us [John 17:24]. We must always remember that we he calls one of his loved ones home to himself, he has gained more than we have lost in the death of the loved one.”
How does this gathering happen? Death will occur somehow—by some means. But as Jones’ writes, “Ultimately, this happens not because of something such as disease or fatal accident, but rather because the Father has answered the prayer of his Son.” The Trinity is real—ultimate reality is and has always been a loving, familial relationship; “God is love” (1 John 4:8). Through the Father sending the Son and his gospel being applied to us by the Spirit, we get to enter into that joy forevermore. That’s our ultimate goal. In other words, amazingly, our God desires us to be in that joy, to be with us (John 17:24). So one day, God’s desire to be with us will come to fruition. We’ll die, and then be with him forevermore.
It’s a revolutionary thought: We die because God loves us and wants to be with us.
And although we may be afraid of dying and fear what we’ll leave behind when that day comes, when it does come and we’re with him, we’ll see clearly that there’s nothing else we’ve ever desired more—that we’ve always been longing to be with him, too.
