Grosey's Messages

Out of all the words in the Bible that are used to describe the death of a Christian, I think perhaps the one that is most vivid and meaningful is the one the apostle Paul uses here to describe his own death when he says, “The time of my departure has come.” The word “departure” literally means “to loosen, to unloose.” 

It was used in a number of different ways in secular Greek. Sometimes the word was used for the unyoking of oxen and animals from a plow, setting them free from the burden of pulling. Sometimes the word was used to describe the setting free of a criminal. His hands and his feet would be in chains, locked up, restricted, held fast. And then he was set free. Somebody came and unlocked the chains that held him, and suddenly he was released from bondage into the liberty and freedom of a whole new life. 

Paul uses that same word to describe the death of a Christian. As he sought to explain his own death, he paints a very beautiful picture to help us to understand what it was like to die as a child of God. This is the confidence and assurance we ought to have as we live—and as we most surely die—as the people of God.

# posted by Groseys messages @ 7:21 PM