Death as Destroyer and Death as Friend

What Jesus Christ is to a man settles what everything else is to him. Our relation to Christ determines our relation to the entire universe. If we belong to Him, all things belong to us. The household of Christ, which is all Creation, works not against itself but toward the good of His lovers, for 'all things work together for good' according to His counsel.

Yet the Apostle's boldest claim—that 'the Shadow feared of man' is a veiled friend—strikes hardest when we face death itself. When grief empties our hands and breaks our hearts, the question demands answer with tears of blood: Does death truly serve us? Did it serve those torn from our sides? Paul rings out his 'Yes'; and if we grip Paul's Lord as firmly as Paul did, we shall answer likewise.

Consider two engravings that capture this conversion of the last enemy into a friend. In the first, Death the Destroyer enters a scene of wild revelry—corpses lie stark and stiff in their gay clothing and garlands while feasters and musicians flee in terror from the cowled Skeleton. In the second, Death as the Friend enters a quiet church belfry where an aged saint sits with folded arms and closed eyes, an open Bible beside him, endless peace upon his wearied face. The window stands flung wide to the sunrise, and upon its sill a bird perches, giving forth its morning song. The cowled figure has brought not terror but rest—the 'highest good' that serves the Christian's truest need. This is the triumphant result of two facts: Christ's rule and the Christian's submission.