[Editor: the author who contributed this article asked that his name not be used.]
The evening did not start out well.
My dad was dying. The voice that I had heard for over seventy years was silent. The hands that held me as a baby could no longer hold anything. The legs that had led me here and there could no longer hold up his body. He had not been out of bed in over five weeks. Three spoonfuls of ice cream was an all-day meal. He who had changed my diapers now needed changing. The eyes that showed love and compassion for years remained closed. Add in the death rattle, a type of deep gurgling, nonstop for over twelve hours. The scene was not pleasant.
And then came—VICTORY.
Dad took his last breath. The Savior sent angels to take his soul to heaven, and I helped bag the body to start its journey to the cemetery. Yet all my senses informed me that death had won.
My eyes could only see the stillness of death, but the Word of God told me:
“I know that my Redeemer lives, And He shall stand at last on the earth; And after my skin is destroyed, this I know, That in my flesh I shall see God, Whom I shall see for myself, And my eyes shall behold, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!” (Job 19:25–27)
My ears could hear nothing of life, but the Word of God told me:
“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.” (John 10:27–28)
The only smell was the smell of death, but the Word of God told me:
“Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die.'” (John 11:25–26)
There was no warmth of life to the sense of touch, but the Word of God told me:
“‘O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?’ The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Corinthians 15:55–57)
The Word of God even spoke of the taste of death:
“But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone.” (Hebrews 2:9)
Strongest of all, common sense said that death had won. But the Word of God said:
“Our Savior Jesus Christ . . . has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.” (2 Timothy 1:10)
It appeared that death had won, but that was only an illusion. The evening and the scene belonged to Jesus. He had won and so had Dad. The night that started out so dismal had just ended with the most spectacular victory!
“Precious in the sight of the Lord Is the death of His saints.” (Psalm 116:15)
Yet while this death scene ended in triumph, many of my fellow human beings continue to be swallowed up by death and have not heard of their Champion over sin and death.
Here is one attempt…