Theology

Jesus doesn’t like death

Posted on by Pastor Bryan Wolfmueller

The devil likes death. Jesus doesn’t. He doesn’t want you or anything else to die.If you want proof, consider these words, the shortest verse in the Bible.

Jesus wept. (John 11:35)

If Jesus liked death there would be no need for tears, no sorrow. But Jesus loves His friend Lazarus, not death.

Jesus doesn’t like death because death is bad. This might seem too simple a point, but every direction you turn people are telling us that death is something we have to come to grips with, something we have to accept; “It’s part of life.” No. Death is bad, and if Jesus doesn’t like it, then you don’t have to like it either. You don’t have to get over it, accept it, come to terms with death, quit being sad, or whatever. Jesus doesn’t.

He doesn’t like death and He does something about it. He Himself dies the death that He despises to set us free from the fear of death (Hebrews 2:14). Our Jesus has so little love for death that He treats death like the enemy and destroys it.

The last enemy to be destroyed is death. (1 Corinthians 15:26)

That’s nice.

PBW

Pastor Bryan Wolfmueller
Bryan Wolfmueller, pastor of St Paul and Jesus Deaf Lutheran Churches in Austin, TX, author of "A Martyr's Faith for a Faithless World", "Has American Christianity Failed?", co-host of Table Talk Radio, teacher of Grappling with the Text, and theological adventure traveler.

2 Comments

  1. It’s fitting that the picture you are using on this post is the statue of Christ at the site of what had been St. Joseph’s Old Cathedral across the street from the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City (the one that was bombed in April 1995). The church was almost completely destroyed in the blast. The statue was errected on the site of the church across the street frrom the offical memorial. Jesus stands with His back to the memorial with His face in His hand (as pictured). The sculpture is titled “And Jesus Wept”.

    Jesus hates death. Jesus also does not desire the eternal death of the sinner, but desires for the wicked to repent and live! [Ezekiel 18:32] It’s important to also note that hell was prepared for “the devil and his angels” [Matt 25:41] and not some unfortunate chosen reprobates. What a tragedy it is that so many sinners end up there when the way of escape has been made for eternal life by grace through the God-given gift of faith in Jesus Christ who has defeated both this death and the final, eternal one.

    Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
    -1 Corinthians 15:54-57

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