22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
26 For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins,
27 but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries.
Some strong words here about the nature of life after we leave this world. The Bible tells us that the wages of sin is death, and that we will all face judgment before God. And, if we reject Christ, then we have that expectation that we will face eternal punishment. But, if we embrace Christ, if we accept Him as our Lord and Savior, then we can be confident that we will spend eternity with Him - death is something that we do not have to fear, when God decides it's time for us to go home.
In Philippians 1, the apostle Paul relates his perspective on death - and life:
21 For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
22 But if I live on in the flesh, this will mean fruit from my labor; yet what I shall choose I cannot tell.
23 For I am hard pressed between the two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better.
24 Nevertheless to remain in the flesh is more needful for you.
The death of Hugo Chavez can cause us to reflect on how we as Christians should regard the death of someone who exercised hostility and even brutality toward others. You think of Saddam Hussein or Osama bin Ladin. I think the bottom line is that you don't rejoice in the death of anyone who dies without Christ, even though it may remove barriers to the work of the gospel or a threat to our security.
And, it does seem there is evidence that God was at work in the life of Hugo Chavez, someone who had displayed contempt for the Cathoic Church, expelled missionaries, and had been denounced by the pope, according to author and blogger Jim Denison, who points out, according to Christianity Today:
"However, when Mr. Chavez returned home after his last cancer treatment in Cuba, he made an impassioned plea to God for help," Denison writes. "Standing in front of an image of Jesus with the Crucifix, he prayed on national television, 'Give me your crown, Jesus. Give me your cross, your thorns so that I may bleed. But give me life, because I have more to do for this country and these people. Do not take me yet.' ... God deals with us as gently as he can or as harshly as he must. I'm not claiming that the Lord caused Hugo Chavez's cancer, but he at least allowed it and is working to redeem it."
One could debate about the degree to which Chavez loved his country, to the extent that he was willing to oppress a sizable number of the citizens, and you could even debate how much he drew near to God during his final days. According to the Christianity Today piece, Chavez died "in the bosom of the church" and received spiritual direction and the sacraments. Bishop Jesus Gonzalez de Zarate, head of Venezuela's bishops' conference, suggested that Chavez had passed into "a life of complete happiness, at the side of God our Father."
According to the Guardian, General Jose Ornella said that Chavez "...couldn't speak but he said it with his lips … 'I don't want to die. Please don't let me die,' because he loved his country, he sacrificed himself for his country." There were several concepts of which I was reminded in reading these accounts. For one thing, no man or woman is beyond changing - if Chavez pressed into Christ and the church in the midst of his suffering, then we can rejoice in that. So often, we think of certain people who have built a reputation of acting in a manner not pleasing to God as being unchangeable - and no one is beyond change, no one is beyond the reach of a loving Father, who desires for all to be saved. We also can evaluate our own perspective on death. I think of the Davy Jones character in "Pirates of the Caribbean", who asked the question, "do you fear death?" Because of the promise of life in eternity with Jesus, we don't have to fear death. Death just represents a transition to a better place. But, if our hearts are not right with God, there is much to fear, and an expectation of eternity apart from God, experiencing the punishment that we all deserve without Christ. Physical death is not the end, it is a new beginning, and eternity with Jesus is the fulfillment of His promise to us. The apostle Paul was not seeking to bring about his own death, but he exhibited a healthy perspective when he said that "to live is Christ and to die is gain".
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