Dead Presidents

This week saw the death of two presidents. Neither was fairly or popularly elected. One was Gerald Ford, the other was Saddam Hussein.

Gerald Ford died of "natural causes" in his old age here in the states and there was much said about his intellect and his office. I suppose this is fitting, to speak well of the dead.

It seems to me that there is much more talk of the other president to die this week.
Saddam Hussein was hanged in his country for crimes against his people. While this is a victory for justice and the people of Iraq who were terrorized by his reign, I see no reason for joy or rejoicing. Just as I see no joy nor find reason to celebrate when a condemned man is executed in our own country.

For a man to be executed tells of terrible things that had caused his own condemnation. It also tells us that a man is dead, a creature in God's image is spent. God Himself tells us that He takes no pleasure in the death of anyone. How much more so for us to see one whom we can reasonably assume has died without faith in Christ. Temporally it is a victory for justice. Eternally it is a victory for sin, death and the devil. That is not a thing to celebrate.

Furthermore, the fate of the noose and following torment in hell is the only thing that each one of us has merited. We have ever offended God in our sin and justly deserve both His temporal and eternal punishment. That God instituted government to bear the sword to punish evil men shows us the dark heart of all men, and the frailty of life.

My friend the Reverend Steven Billings has sumarized it concisely in these words:

It is a sad day.

Not because I have any sympathy in particular for a man who embodied
evil so vividly, but because Satan, death and hell have claimed
another victim.

"Say to them, 'As I live!' declares the Lord GOD, 'I take no pleasure
in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn from his
way and live'"
(Ezekiel 33:11a).

Justice has won. Thanks be to God. But we ought not celebrate in the
streets. We hang our heads and grieve that it had to be won at such cost.

"The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away. Blessed be the name of the
LORD"
(Job 1:21b).

Lastly, what cause for celebration and frivolity can there be in the death of a sinful man? The most important and valuable death of all time is something we don't even celebrate. We observe Good Friday with somber repentance, quiet reverence. We DO celebrate the new life of Easter morning, but not the death of Good Friday. Every death should remind us of that death, the death that gives us life. It is only through that death, and the new life of Jesus' resurrection, that stops us all from getting what we all deserve: The fate of the Saddam's of the world.

Therefore do not ejaculate with glee at the death of this president. Instead, remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return, and give thanks to God for that perfect death which won eternal life for you. It is finished.