Death And Taxes
Exodus 11
I’m sure you’ve heard the saying: “Nothing is certain except for death and taxes.” At least with taxes we know the due date. Not so with death. It could be many years away or it could happen today. King Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes 7:2 (NIV) that “death is the destiny of everyone; the living should take this to heart.”
We must not forget our mortality. It’s so easy to live like we have all kinds of time. Just last week a teenage boy died tragically in a car accident. We just don’t know. That’s why it’s important that we live with eternity in mind. That we live in such a way that we are ready to meet our Savior now since we can’t guarantee tomorrow.
God’s plan for the world was for perfect people to live in a perfect place with a perfect God forever. This is the glorious story told in Genesis 1-2. After God’s six days of creation, He has a conversation with Adam in Genesis 2:16-17: “And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, ‘You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.’”
Death was based on a decision humanity made, as recorded in Genesis 3:6-7, “So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.”
Death came alive in the Garden. The consequences were clear: eat the fruit and die. But it wasn’t just for Adam and Eve; death would come to all of humanity. The Apostle Paul wrote in in Romans 6:23a, “For the wages of sin is death.”
Exodus 11 is just one of many examples from the Bible of death being the consequence of sin. Pharaoh refused to listen to God and he and the people would experience the agonizing pain of death. The final plague would be the death of every firstborn Egyptian child (and cattle as well). The wages of sin is death.
What a depressing verse Romans 6:23a would be if it ended there. But it doesn’t. The rest of the verse, Romans 6:23b, says, “but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” In the next chapter, the events that unfold will be a picture of what the coming Savior would do. The only thing that can prevent eternal death is the blood of a lamb.
As Paul wrote, what a “gift”! Because of Jesus, death for the believer need not be something to fear. Like Paul, we can say, “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21).
Exodus 11
I’m sure you’ve heard the saying: “Nothing is certain except for death and taxes.” At least with taxes we know the due date. Not so with death. It could be many years away or it could happen today. King Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes 7:2 (NIV) that “death is the destiny of everyone; the living should take this to heart.”
We must not forget our mortality. It’s so easy to live like we have all kinds of time. Just last week a teenage boy died tragically in a car accident. We just don’t know. That’s why it’s important that we live with eternity in mind. That we live in such a way that we are ready to meet our Savior now since we can’t guarantee tomorrow.
God’s plan for the world was for perfect people to live in a perfect place with a perfect God forever. This is the glorious story told in Genesis 1-2. After God’s six days of creation, He has a conversation with Adam in Genesis 2:16-17: “And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, ‘You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.’”
Death was based on a decision humanity made, as recorded in Genesis 3:6-7, “So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.”
Death came alive in the Garden. The consequences were clear: eat the fruit and die. But it wasn’t just for Adam and Eve; death would come to all of humanity. The Apostle Paul wrote in in Romans 6:23a, “For the wages of sin is death.”
Exodus 11 is just one of many examples from the Bible of death being the consequence of sin. Pharaoh refused to listen to God and he and the people would experience the agonizing pain of death. The final plague would be the death of every firstborn Egyptian child (and cattle as well). The wages of sin is death.
What a depressing verse Romans 6:23a would be if it ended there. But it doesn’t. The rest of the verse, Romans 6:23b, says, “but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” In the next chapter, the events that unfold will be a picture of what the coming Savior would do. The only thing that can prevent eternal death is the blood of a lamb.
As Paul wrote, what a “gift”! Because of Jesus, death for the believer need not be something to fear. Like Paul, we can say, “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21).
Posted in Journey of Hope