It severs, it breaks, it sunders
“[Death] severs us from those we love. It breaks the cords that have joined us physically, mentally, spiritually to others. It deprives us of the most precious possession we have on earth. The death of others separates us from them and places them in realms with which we are unable to communicate. My death means that I leave behind those to whom I have committed the whole of my life in love and devotion. In a sense I am being torn from part of myself in being taken from husband or wife, son or daughter, parent or brother.
There is yet another sundering in death. Not only am I to be separated from part of myself ‘in a sense’ by departing from my loved ones. I am myself to be broken—body from soul. This tent in which I have sojourned must be left behind (2 Cor. 5:1). The only instrument I have ever had by which to know myself and communicate with others will be separated from my eternal spirit—contrary to nature. This is a divorce of a magnitude beyond my frail understanding. Simply as a prospect it is a terrifying one. It is a curse! This is why, when our Lord contemplated death as it is in itself we read that his heart was filled with sorrow. The expressions which describe his psychological condition suggest that his whole being shuddered at the prospect of what was to take place in his own experience. The language used to describe his Gethsemane experience is of a ‘confused, restless, half-distracted state, which is produced by physical derangement, or by mental distress, as grief, shame, disappointment’ J.B. Lightfoot, Philippians p, 123). No wonder Luther commented, ‘No man ever feared death like this man.’
So we discover the real nature of death only when we look at Christ. In other men we see varying responses, from fear to carelessness, sorrow to glad anticipation, and these responses are largely determined by the prospect men have beyond death. But when our Lord contemplates death itself, he recoils at the sight. When he sees what it is that he is to carry on his own shoulders by dying, he asks that such a cup might pass from him. We should not therefore lose sight of what death itself is. It is the destroyer of life which God gave to man in his infinite love for him. It is therefore not only our last enemy, but God’s enemy also.” Know Your Christian Life Sinclair B. Ferguson IVP, 1981, p. 163
G. Mark Sumpter
2 comments:
Where and when did Martin Luther say "No man ever feared death like this man"
where and when did martin luther say "No man ever feared death like this man"
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