Jump Start # 1881

Genesis 25:8 “Abraham breathed his last and died in a ripe old age, an old man and satisfied with life; and he was gathered to his people.”

We continue some thoughts from this interesting passage about the death of Abraham. I used this text the other day in a funeral. There are some lessons we can learn from this.

Abraham breathed his last. We don’t think much about breathing. Our only concern is if we have bad breath. The very first breath is important. Long ago, doctors used to give a slap on the rear end to get those new babies breathing. They don’t do that these days. For years my wife worked as a labor and delivery nurse. She was the nurse of choice for many Christian mothers. There were some babies that never breathed that first breath. That was a very sad occasion. I spoke at a ceremony to honor all those babies that never lived. It was a moving experience.

We take about 23,000 breaths a day. The more excited we are and the more we exert ourselves, the more we breathe. On average, a person breathes 8.4 million times a year. Abraham lived to be 175 years old. He took roughly 1.47 billion breaths. Then came that one day, when Abraham breathed his last. He breathed his last and he died.

You and I do not sit around counting our breaths in a day. Unless there is a problem and we go to a doctor about these things, we don’t worry if we got our 23,000 breaths in yesterday or not. We just breathe. It’s something we do without thinking.

But this passage reminds us that someday we will take that last breath. According to the stats, on average, 6,700 will take their last breath today. They will take their last breath, and like Abraham, they will die.

Death is a topic that most would rather not talk about and especially think about. Yet, we know, someday we will take that last breath. It is appointed unto man to die once, is what Hebrews tells us. Death scares us. Death is full of mystery. There are only a handful of people in the Bible that died and were resurrected. We sometimes get the impression that someone was raised just about every day. That didn’t happen. There weren’t that many. And of those that were raised, no one said what they saw or felt on the other side. The only window we have into the next world is the story of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16. Don’t believe all those junk books on the market about people who died and came back. They are bogus and full of spiritual poison. Stick to what we know, the Bible.

Having said that, everyone that you and I know that died has remained dead. We don’t know anyone who died over the weekend and came back to work on Monday. Death, from where we are, seems permanent. The cemetery seems final. The empty chair in the house is a constant reminder that someone is no longer with us.

Death from the perspective of God and how Christians view it is so much different than how the world sees it. The world runs from death. Christians welcome it. The world uses expressions such as “gone,” “finished,” “tragedy.” The Biblical expressions surrounding the death of a righteous person are, “Gain,” “Blessed,” “Precious,” and, “Hope.” These different perspectives are built upon whether one believes in God and has faith in the Lord and has followed and obeyed Him. Without God, death is a terrifying thing. Without God there is no hope. The Bible is not just for those who want to be good and believe in God. The message of the Bible is true for all. If I refuse to believe the Bible, I will still die. I will still face God. And I will be punished with an eternity without God.

Abraham breathed his last and died. His journey on earth was finished. The same will happen to us. From this we learn:

• Make the most of each day. It could be your last. Make a difference. Do your best.
• Don’t put things off. Don’t put off things because they are hard. Don’t put things off because they are unpleasant. Always stuffing things into tomorrow will may work for a while, but someday there won’t be a tomorrow. We will breathe our last.
• Build a close relationship with the Lord. Pray often. Read His word. Shine your light. This will not only bring the best out of you and build a wonderful character, but when it’s time for your last breath, you will be ready. You will have walked with the Lord and now you will be ready to be with Him forever.
• Those that know us the best, will remember us long after our last breath. What we leave are footprints, a legacy. Our family will know what was important to us.

Those that know the Bible, understand that with the name of Abraham, follows Isaac and Jacob. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. They received the promises of God. They built that spiritual family. Down the line came David, the great king of Israel and man of God. A little later came Hezekiah, another faithful king of God’s people. His grandson, Josiah, the great reformer, helped the people of God get back to where they needed to be. Down the line a little more came one from Heaven, Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world.

Legacy. Footprints for others to follow. These are the things that we build each day.

One day we will breathe our last. It will be sad for our families, but what a glorious day it will be for us when we leave this world to be with the Lord. No more temptation. No more pills to take. No more doors to lock and alarms to set. No more lights to turn on. No more bad news. No more tears. No more death. No more heartache. We will be with the Lord.

I said at the cemetery the other day, that you and I are always having to go somewhere next. We go to work, but after work we have to go somewhere. We go to worship. After worship we have to go somewhere. We are always having to go somewhere. There is always a NEXT place that we have to go to. After this, I need to go here. For the righteous who die, there is no other place to go. They are with the Lord. Sure, there is the final judgment and the separation between from those going to Heaven and those who are cast into Hell, but we really have no other pressing engagements. We have finished. We have completed. We are where we need to be. There is no other place to be. There is no other place that we must hurry off to. We, indeed, have finally arrived. Safe in the arms of Jesus.

Abraham breathed his last and died. He is named in Hebrews 11 as one who gained approval by God. You will see Abraham on the other side. How will you know him? How will you tell the difference between Abraham and Moses? Will we have divine name tags? Don’t fret about those things. God will take care of it. Abraham breathed his last and died, but that wasn’t the end of Abraham. We’ll look into that later this week, if we still have breath.

My wife just left for work. She walks past my office as I type. She has a little saying every day, “I’ll see you in a little bit.” The “little bit” will be hours from now. She and I will spend the day working in different places. But in the big picture, “it’s just a little bit.”

You and I will breathe our last. We will die. It’s ok. We’ll see each other in a “little bit.”

Roger