Learning How to Die
Commentary
Life as we know it is short. Every part of our lives should remind us of our approaching death. No man has power over the day of his death (Eccl. 8:8). As one Puritan said, “No man has power to resist death’s force, or power to procure terms of peace … one’s preparation for death must be now or never. It is never a suitable time to prepare your soul for the marriage feast of the lamb in the dark night of death” (The Fading of Flesh and the Flourishing of Faith, George Swinnock). My precious wife Patti went home to be with our Lord at the prime of her life. I serve with a foreign mission’s team in Papua New Guinea where both young and old enter eternity never even hearing the words of the gospel because of the enormous language chasm that unwritten languages pose. Have they been properly prepared for eternity’s door? And how about our responsibility as believers to carry out the Great Commission and present the gospel to those in our spheres of influence? I love all three of my unsaved siblings. I don’t understand how they can pour their affections into something as trivial as a ball being kicked into a net while giving absolutely no concern over their eternal souls. Yet, I feel an unrelenting urgency to pray for them and take every opportunity to communicate the gospel given the realities of this shortened life and the fact that they are only ever one breath away from eternity. As Richard Baxter said, “I preach as never sure to preach again, and as a dying man to dying men."
With these sober realities, unbelievers and believers alike must learn how to die. We all need to heed Solomon’s words, “The day of one’s death is better than the day of one’s birth. It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting, because that is the end of every man, and the living takes it to heart” (Eccl. 7:1-2).
What is man’s purpose for living? What is man’s purpose for dying? Why are we here on earth? If we buy into our culture’s hallow siren song, we might be lured into thinking that life is all about seeking as many of the pleasures that this world has to offer. The undertones of the recent viral videos depicting World Cup traveling Europeans enjoying the luxuries and appetites of American life is dangerously deceptive. Is living for the moment satisfying? Or is there more to life than just selfish living?
Dying Thoughts is a book written for every generation of believers and every physical and spiritual age group, both young and old. In this compelling book, the great Puritan Richard Baxter is struggling with many of his fears and doubts as he faces the stark reality of his approaching departure from the world. He takes an honest look at his own heart, pouring out his soul like the Psalmist and crying out his anxious thoughts against the backdrop of Scripture, asking himself, “Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why are you disturbed within me?” Like the Psalmist, the answer he arrives to is “Wait for God, for I shall still praise Him, the salvation of my presence and my God” (Psalm 43:5).
In an exposition of Philippians 1:23 where Paul writes that “to be with Christ” is “far better” than remaining on earth, Baxter argues that in order to honestly echo Paul’s words we must work at renewing our minds and taking our thoughts captive: “We can love no farther than we know; and the more we know of God and glory, the more we shall love, desire, and trust” … “faith that is not upheld by such evidence of truth as reason can discern and justify is often joined with much doubting.” The more we increase our view of the object of our faith [God’s Attributes & Promises], the more our faith will increase while our doubts and fears will grow strangely dim.
It is with this premise that Baxter takes great lengths to show the biblical and logical reasons for why we can look ahead to our homegoing with absolute joy and full assurance of faith.
Yet, on the flip side, Baxter is honest in admitting his own doubts, anxieties, and even regrets, particularly over past sins. This should be an encouragement for us as the reader as we find ourselves in similar seasons, while at the same time motivating us toward holy living. Listen to what Baxter writes regarding his own fears:
“Though, like Cicero after reading Plato’s book on immortality, our doubts return, and our fear interrupts and weakens our desires and joys, yet I find that it is chiefly an irrational fear, occasioned by the darkness of the mind, the greatness of change, the dreadful majesty of God, and man’s natural aversion to death, even when reason is fully satisfied that such fear is consistent with certain safety” … “my conscience remembers the follies of my youth, and many a later odious sin, and tells me that if heaven were quite hid from my sight, and I should never have a glimpse of the face of glorious eternal Love, it would be just.”
However, despite these nagging doubts, Baxter, like the Psalmist, always comes full circle, casting his cares and anxieties at the foot of the cross:
“The same grace which regenerated me must bring me to my desired end” … “Neither did he fail me or forsake me. And shall I now distrust him at last?”
So, what is our ultimate desire in life? What is our ambition while we live these few days? How do we prepare ourselves to die well? As pilgrims, who in no way can predict the day of our homecoming, do our hearts echo Paul when he writes:
“But we are of good courage and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord. Therefore, we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive compensation for his deeds done through the body, in accordance with what he has done, whether good or bad” (1 Cor 5:8-10).
Structure of the Book
The first chapter outlines the reasons we should maximize our short time on earth, prioritizing all that the Holy Spirit has empowered us to do according to the will of the Father. The remaining four chapters emphasize why we should be longing for our future home, spending eternity communing with our Redeemer.
What Is Desirable in the Present Life
The Souls of the Godly Are with Christ
Departing to Be with Christ
Why It Is Far Better to Be with Christ
God Makes Us Willing to Depart
Five Key Quotes
“Indeed, the same cause which makes men unwilling to live a holy life has a great hand in making them unwilling to die.”
“Alas! How many of thy servants are less afraid to go to a prison than to their God.”
“What is our hope but the hope of glory, which we through the Spirit wait for? What is our love but a desire of communion with the blessed God, begun here, and perfected hereafter?”
“But if my part on earth must not increase, let it make me the more weary of this dungeon, and more fervently wish for the day, when all my desires shall be satisfied, and my soul be filled with Thy light and love.”
“None can use earth well, that prefer not heaven; and none but infants can come to heaven, that are not prepared for it by well using earth.”
Recommended Complementary Reading
The Fading of the Flesh and the Flourishing of Faith by George Swinnock
The Saints’ Everlasting Rest by Richard Baxter
The Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers & Devotions by Arther Bennett
Where to Buy the Book
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