The Mystery of Death

Conrad Mbewe (considered by many as “the African Spurgeon”) mourns the death of his sister and reflects on the mystery of death:

I have asked myself what it is that gave me the greatest pain at the loss of Irene. Irene did not support me financially and so it was not a loss of income. It is also not so much the pain she went through in her sickness and the possible pain she experienced in her last fight with death (though I will admit that her suffering affected me and gave me not a few sleepless nights).

What has pained me the most is the unbearable thought that I would never commune with Irene again on this side of eternity. That thought alone is almost crushing. Although we never lived in the same town and there were times when we did not get in touch with each other for months, there was the lingering thought somewhere at the back of my mind that she is there. But now, as I saw her cold lifeless body in that coffin, I knew that we would never be together again for as long as this life lasts. That is painful.

Yet this is why the Christian faith is so comforting. It is because it promises a day of reunion for all those who have died in Christ. Our parting, though painful, is not permanent. There is a blessed hope given to us in Scripture that we shall rise again and dwell together in God’s presence with exceeding joy. It is for that reason that I rejoice that I am a Christian. It is for that same reason that I labour for the salvation of all those who are my kith and kin. I know that if they are Christians then our parting will only be for a season. “We shall still be joined in heart and hope to meet again.”

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