The Death of Death

“He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death.” (Revelation 21:4)

I’ve done a lot of funerals over the years. I’ve done funerals in churches and in funeral homes. I’ve done funerals in cemeteries and on private properties. I’ve done funerals for people in their 90s, and I’ve done funerals for babies. I’ve done funerals where churches have been packed out with standing room only, and I’ve done funerals where only one or two were there.

G. Campbell Morgan was pastor of Westminster Chapel in London, just around the corner from Buckingham Palace. He said he noticed when he was reading the gospels that Jesus never attended a funeral. Or that’s not exactly right. He noticed that every funeral Jesus attended, he canceled.

There was that widow in the town of Nain whose son had died. As Jesus was making his way into town, the funeral procession was making its way out of town. As they crossed paths, Jesus stopped the funeral, and he raised the boy from the dead. And suddenly, the mourning turned into merriment. The tears of grief turned into tears of joy. They were heading into a cemetery, but instead they turned into a celebration! Jesus canceled the funeral.

People talk about being canceled today. It’s usually not spoken of as a good thing, but one day “there will be no more death.” One day, every funeral will be canceled. One day, death itself will be canceled. Every miracle Jesus ever did was a sign pointing to what that day will be like when lame legs walk and blind eyes see and dead people live, and “there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain for the old order of things will pass away and all things will be made new.” One day! Not today. Today, we are still dealing with mourning and crying and pain and death, but the day is coming.

Every time I stand in a cemetery beside a casket and say a prayer, every time I read the twenty-third psalm to a grieving family by a graveside, every time, I remember it will not always be this way. One day, maybe not today, but the day is coming when we will have a funeral for death—the last funeral—when death itself will die. There will be no mourners at that funeral, no grieving, no wailing, only happy tears.

Grief? Canceled!
Cancer? Canceled!
Sorrow? Canceled!
Disease? Canceled!
Tears? Canceled!
Death? Canceled!

“Then the saying that is written will come true: ‘Death has been swallowed up in victory.’
Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?”

One day! Not today, but the day is coming. O happy day, indeed! When death itself will die.