Audio recording Sermon manuscript: With the observation of All Saints’ Day we think of those who have died with faith in Jesus. They have been made holy and are in heaven. Since we are talking about people who have died, this gives us a good opportunity to talk about the important topic of death. The world is full of thoughts and teachings about death. The Bible teaches quite differently about death compared to the world. So today I’d like to speak about what the Bible says about death. From the outset a person might expect that the Bible only has one message to tell about death. That’s how we often think about things that are true. 2+2=4. It doesn’t also equal 3 or 5. So we might think that the Bible would just have one message. But the fact of the matter is that the Bible speaks both very negatively about death as well as positively. There are countless examples of God causing people to die as punishment for their sins. This goes all the way back to the Garden where God connects disobedience with the sentence of death: “In the day that you eat of it, you will surely die.” The flood was a massive demonstration of God’s wrath against mankind which had grown decadent and corrupt. God brought about the death of people within his church as well. God caused Judah’s son, Onan, to die for spilling his seed onto the ground instead of doing his duty towards his brother’s widow. Under Moses, many thousands of Israelites died in the wilderness for their disobedience and grumbling against the Lord. This is also true in the New Testament church. Ananias and Sapphira are struck dead before the Apostle Peter for lying about what they put in the offering plate. With these few examples (and there are countless more) you see what Paul says in Romans: “The wages of sin is death.” The wicked perish and are cut off from the land of the living. But it is not just with those whose sins are black as coal that death is spoken of negatively. Good king Hezekiah begged God to extend his life when the prophet Isaiah told him that he was going to die. God granted him his wish. King David speaks bitterly about death in Psalm 6. He says, “O Lord, deliver me! … For in death there is no remembrance of you. In the grave who will give you thanks?” Moses says to God in Psalm 90: “All our days have passed away in your wrath; we finish our years like a sigh. The days of our lives are seventy years; and if, by reason of strength, they are eighty years, they are nothing but labor and sorrow. It is soon cut off, and we fly away. Who knows the power of your anger?” This is also not just an Old Testament thing. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15 that the last enemy to be destroyed is death. Death is our enemy. These few examples (and there are many more) show us that the Bible speaks very negatively and even distressingly and terrifyingly about death. Perhaps this way of speaking has been surprising to you, and no wonder! It is considered extremely bad form to speak this way about death in our day. No one does it. Even pastors won’t dare to speak this way for fear of alienating their flock. Instead of speaking negatively about death, everyone wants to speak positively about it. Everyone wants to be assured that everything’s fine. There’s nothing to worry about. It’s all just natural and a part of life. This, of course, is not true. It contradicts the Bible. We were not created for the purpose of dying, but for living. Death is not natural. It is God’s punishment for sin. Death is not just something biological. It is also tied up with our relationship with God. Since our death is tied up with our relationship with God, it should not be surprising that the Bible also will speak positively about death. A person’s relationship with God can be one of unbelief and rebellion. Death is never a good thing in such situations. But a person can also be reconciled to God and trust in him. This makes death into something that is beneficial. Let’s look at some examples of the Bible