1 Kings 2.2 2 “I am about to go the way of all the
earth,” he said.
These are a few of the last words David spoke as he was
about to pass away. David had lived a long life and had a very storied and
often troubled career as the greatest king of Israel. And now on the doorsteps
of the Great Beyond, he said to his son Solomon, “I am about to go the way of all the earth.” The next leg of the
journey was about to begin.
Job, the great Sufferer said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and
the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.” (Job 1.21)
All the earth goes the way of David and the way of Job, and the way of every
human who has passed from this life; it is the way we all will go – it is the
nakedness of death.
Recently, I was exploring something on the internet
(actually it was info about the artist, Anna Mary Robertson Moses a.k.a.
Grandma Moses) and as I am wont to do, I looked around a bit more because of
some hyperlinks in the article, and found myself looking at a picture taken
sometime around December 1942 to February 1943 of three American soldiers who
had been killed in battle on Buna beach on the island of Papua during WWII. The
picture is quite famous for its publication as it was the first time American
war dead were pictured in public media (Life Magazine).
When I looked at the picture of the three dead soldier’s
bodies lying on that beach I thought: the
nakedness of death. Although the bodies were fully clothed, there was as
astounding emptiness to the scene and I thought: we’ll all get there someday (whether in battle or peace) the way of all
mankind, the nakedness of death awaits us all.
The death that awaits us will strip us of all of the
trappings of our human life upon this earth: all of our thoughts, words, and
deeds. It will strip us of the laughter and tears, the great joys and deep
depressions. Everything of this life will be gone and all that will be left here
will be the carcasses which once held who we were. And that part of us that
goes to heaven (or to judgment) will have no footing upon this planet where
footing was once held so important life.
David, for all his glory, died. His body was prepared for
burial and suffered decay (Acts 13.36). David was stripped in death of all he
was when he was alive, and he went before God with nothing to cling to but the
nakedness of his faith: God, I am all I
am, and was all I was, for I believed in You and Your sovereignty over me.
Accept me according to Your mercy and grace, and Your promise that those who
love You will live forever. All I offer now is my faith.
And, that, in part, is all we hope for in this life –
this life so full of all it has and is – that we will be accepted in the
nakedness of death because of the nakedness of our faith; an imperishable faith
(according to Saint Peter) more precious than gold (1 Peter 1 7-9).
Father, there is a way of all the earth which takes away
everything we are and yet prepares us for that which is infinitely beyond where
we are, and who we are in this life. We will stand before You naked and will
account for all we have done with all You have given. And the great gift for
some is that imperishable faith. May I share that faith this day so that
others, in the nakedness of death may find covering in Your presence for all
eternity – according to their belief in You. I pray in Jesus’ Name, amen.
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