DEATH IS AN "EVANGELIST"

DEATH gets your attention like none other! It grabs you by the throat and won't let go. It demands ATTENTION! One report is that the higher the death toll goes from COVID-19 it has a corresponding intensity search online concerning the subject of PRAYER. I put "Evangelist" in quotes because I am using it in a very qualified sense. Death is actually a "Pre-Evangelist" in that it doesn't actually deliver the evangel, but rather serves as a WARNING. The point is DEATH has a message for us that is of utmost importance.

Ecclesiastes 7:2 (ESV)
2 It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting, for this is the end of all mankind, and the living will lay it to heart.

Life is a "death march" in that we are all marching steadily towards death and after death comes the JUDGMENT (cf. Heb. 9:27). People try desperately to avoid the subject, but it is unavoidable. It is wise to consider DEATH and what follows. This is the message of Eccl. 7:2. In the house of feasting people have a good time, but that is short lived. Better to contemplate the reality of coming death and prepare yourself. Thus, the reality of DEATH plays the part of "evangelist" telling us to lay it to heart. The time to get right with God is NOW. Death seals everything! It fixes our state for all eternity. Where we are at in death is where we will be for all eternity. There is no purgatory in the Bible - only an eternal heaven and eternal hell. The living "will lay it to heart" - at least they SHOULD!

Matthew 25:46 (ESV)
46 And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

In Luke 13:4 Jesus mentioned 18 people on whom a tower fell and killed them. Jesus said, "do you think that they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem?" In other words, DEATH happens to all people. All are sinners (cf. Rom. 3:23). All DIE, as the wages of sin is death (cf. Rom. 6:23). Therefore, Jesus said, "I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish." (Lk. 13:5). POINT well made! All are sinners! All need to come to repentance or they will perish. The specifics of DEATH may be different, but the END REALITY is the same for all those who don't repent! They ALL PERISH!
Jesus in addressing the subject of DEATH in Luke 16 indicated that even the lost in a state of torment are desirous that someone would go and share the TRUTH with loved ones left behind. Thus, the message of DEATH from the lost beyond the grave, as relayed by Jesus, is that people RESPOND to the gospel and be saved! Jesus said the lost person in torments said to Abraham:

Luke 16:27–28 (NKJV)
27 “Then he said, ‘I beg you therefore, father, that you would send him to my father’s house,
28 for I have five brothers, that he may testify to them, lest they also come to this place of torment.’

Death is speaking! It has an urgent message. It is ever doing the work of pre-evangelism! The message we have for the world is two-fold. There is the BAD news of sin and death and there is the good news of LIFE in Christ. Only Christ has the answer to the DEATH problem! Only Jesus conquered death as seen in His resurrection! The GOOD NEWS is that Jesus as our representative, as our SAVIOR, died in our place (that's GRACE) for ALL our sins; and then as Lord over ALL, including the GRAVE, He came back to life again on the third day. He is a RISEN Savior who offers ETERNAL LIFE to all who will repent of their sin and believe on Him as Savior and Lord! In Christ, DEATH does not have the last word! For the believer "Death is swallowed up in victory." Christ has the last word, and His Word is LIFE - LIFE ETERNAL to all who believe in Him!

1 Corinthians 15:51–58 (ESV)
51 Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.
53 For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.
54 When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”
55 “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”
56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.
57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
58 Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.