Death Interrupted by Life

You’ve heard it. I’ve heard it. I’ve probably even said it: “Death is just a part of life.”

I don’t believe that anymore, at least, not like it is usually meant.

The reason is simple: When God created the earth, He placed upon it living things. It is true that there were inanimate objects like rocks, but they were not the remains of living things. So, not only is God the creator of life, but He is also not the creator of death. For Adam and Eve, death was conditional. Regarding the fruit on the forbidden tree: God said, “In the day that you eat from it, you will surely die” (Genesis 2:18). Adam and Eve had a choice. Again, death was conditional.

We might think that because of Adam and Eve death is a certainty for the rest of us. Yet, before we begin playing the blame game, we all know that we have sinned and are therefore deserving of death. The Bible tells us that that “there is none righteous, not even one.” and “all have sinned” (Romans 3:10 & 6:23). Yet, even without these declarations, each of us knows our own sin because of guilt feelings sensed in the conscience at some point in time.

What does all this tell us? God created life and God intended life. That is to say that God did not create mankind with the intention for man to die. This thought ought to be as natural to us as breathing. The earth is full of evidence shouting, “Life!”

Just think about weeds as an example. Is there need for further explanation?

A man was old and nearing death. His hospital room was filled with relatives saying their final “farewells.” I was called in to offer comfort and prayer. After a couple of hours, I wondered if I should stay or leave and come back later. The attending nurse informed me that the man was minutes away from death, not hours. The old man was unconscious, long pauses between breaths as his body gasped for air. Although he had previously communicated his desire to pass on, his body struggled to live, breath after labored breath until it could struggle no longer. I have looked back on this occasion many times as I observed that as living things, your body and mine desire to live even if we have lost the will to live. That is how God created us.

Jesus Christ stands as a kind of exclamation point to God’s testimony for life. When man destroyed his own life through sin, God interrupted death with the offer of life. So, once again mankind faces a choice. In the Garden of Eden man was alive but chose death through sin. Now, God has given us the choice to live again through Jesus Christ. When we give our allegiance to Jesus, we then find that death is but an interruption on the way to eternal life.

Like most, even though I have the assurance of eternal life in Christ, I do not look forward to the day of my physical death. I think it is the nature of what God has created, the innate desire in every living thing to keep on living. Undoubtedly, that is why most of the writers of the New Testament epistles remind their readers of the hope we have in Christ, that is, the expectation of eternal life.

The promise of eternal life provides the motivation to live each day in God’s kingdom according to God’s way. Our hope of eternal life also refreshes our souls in our later years when it is evident that our bodies are wearing out and death is more visible than ever before. Our hope revises our view of death. Because of God’s promises death is but an interruption along a path to life.

When we died to our sins by being buried with Christ in baptism, God raised us up to walk in newness of life (Romans 6:4-5). That ‘newness of life’ is not a figure of speech, but rather, the beginning of eternal life. Being born again (John 3:5), we receive a new spirit. Death is but an interruption in which the old body is exchanged for a new body; the perishable for an imperishable (1 Corinthians 15:42).

God urges, “Get ready!” Prepare to leave; prepare to go; prepare for arrival.
Gaze heavenward always!

Mark Stinnett

October 4, 2026