For many modern-day Christians, death has become what J. I. Packer terms “the great unmentionable.” This attitude denies not only the reality of the human condition, but also the reality of God’s promises for believers beyond this life. The church needs to think more about death in the light of the gospel.
This compilation, edited by Nancy Guthrie, includes the writings of twenty-two classic and contemporary theologians and Bible teachers on how to prepare to die in faith. The short meditations are drawn from sermons, books, and other writings of classic theologians such as Jonathan Edwards and John Calvin, and of leading contemporary communicators such as John Piper, Tim Keller, J. I. Packer, and others. The writers provide a solidly scriptural and countercultural way to view the inevitability of death, explaining how and why believers can face physical death with hope, joy, and confidence in God’s promises for the life to come.
Table of Contents:
Part One: A Reality That Will not be Denied
1. Only When You Know How to Die Can You Know How to Live – J.I. Packer
2. Death’s Sting Is Removed but Its Bite Remains – Michael S. Horton
3. He Called Death Sweet Names – John Piper
4. Not of the World – Martyn Lloyd-Jones
5. Is Christ Our Sickness-Bearer? – B.B. Warfield
6. Our Faith Is in God, Not in Healing – Joseph Bayly
Part Two: An Aim That Keeps me Pressing on
7. Finishing with Few Regrets – Randy Alcorn
8. My Father Taught Me How to Die – R.C. Sproul
9. Spiritual Light Shining from Your Deathbed – Abraham Kuyper
10. A Witness in the Way We Die – John Eaves
11. Sickness: The Soul’s Undressing – Jeremy Taylor
Part Three: A Hope That Saves me From Despair
12. Rubbing Hope into the Reality of Death – Timothy Keller
13. Hope Is a Glorious Grace – John Owen
14. Directions for a Peaceful Departure – Richard Baxter
15. What More Should God Do to Persuade You to Accept Death Willingly? – Martin Luther
16. Comfort against Fears of the Dying Hour – Thomas Boston
Part Four: A Future that will not Disappoint
17. Suffering Hurries the Heart toward Heaven – Joni Eareckson Tada
18. TO Despise This Present Life – John Calvin
19. The Day of a Godly Man’s Death – Jonathan Edwards
20. Let Us Say in Dying, ‘Lord Jesus, Receive My Spirit’
21. Those Who Die Daily Die Easily – Charles Haddon Spurgeon
22. God Reserves the Best for the Last – Richard Sibbes
Editor
Nancy Guthrie teaches the Bible at conferences around the country. She and her husband, David, are the co-hosts of the GriefShare video series used in more than 8,500 churches nationwide and they also host Respite Retreats for couples who have experienced the death of a child.
Contributors
John Piper, Randy Alcorn, Timothy Keller, Joni Eareckson Tada, J. I. Packer, Michael S. Horton, R. C. Sproul, John Calvin, Martin Luther, Jonathan Edwards, John Owen, B. B. Warfield, Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Charles H. Spurgeon, Joseph Bayly, Richard Baxter, Abraham Kuyper, Richard Sibbes, R. L. Dabney, Jeremy Taylor, Thomas Boston, John Eaves
Sisemore, Timothy A.
Beeke, Joel R. and Beeke, Mary
Nichols, Stephen J.
Walton, O.F.
Gouge, William