Friday, March 23, 2007 at 1:01am
Between the living and the dead
Column: For His Glory
He was dying and everyone knew it. That night a church member called me because our pastor was sick and asked me to have an anointing service at a hospital. I was nervous; I had never officiated in an anointing service. I am training for the ministry, but leading out in this service was new to me.
Many thoughts and emotions raced through my mind after that phone call, until I settled on a story in the Bible found in the book of Numbers. As I remember it, a plague had broken out in the camp of Israel and many people were dying. Moses quickly interceded for the people and was told that in order to stop the plague, Aaron must run among the people with the censor and those with whom the incense would come in contact would be healed.
There is one powerful verse in that story that summarizes what ministers in moments like these are supposed to do: "He [Aaron] stood between the living and the dead, and the plague stopped" (Numbers 16:48). That in essence is what I was being asked to do the very next morning. I was to stand "between the living and the dead." Incense in the Bible, you know, is usually a symbol for prayer. I called a friend of mine for some advice, and then I spent some time in prayer, pleading that God would use me for His glory during the anointing service.
I woke up early and prayed some more, because I was feeling unworthy of such a privilege. I felt very humbled that the King of the Universe would allow me to intercede for someone's eternal destiny. I arrived at the hospital at 7:30 a.m. and went toward the critical care wing, and you could smell death in the air. I stood right next to the patient. I did not know him, and this was the first time I ever saw him. I stood staring at what I can imagine was a once vibrant, healthy life now laid prostrate, helpless and on life support.
It hit me suddenly, the renewed realization that God never intended death to be a part of our lives. I stood next to a man who had never laid his trust in Jesus, and now I was about to plead for his soul. As I contemplated about the frailty of life, I felt overwhelmingly secure that I had the best life insurance this universe could offer, because I have accepted Jesus. Oh, you may have life insurance that pays a death benefit, but that is for the people you leave behind, I have that too. Yet the only policy that protects your own life for eternity is the blood of the lamb Jesus Christ. Now I was going to make one final appeal to a man who was unconscious and lying on his deathbed.
Moments later I met up with his wife, a church elder and four other church members, and we entered the room together to have the anointing service. We had a moment of silence so that everyone could clear their hearts before God. Then the elder spoke to the patient, in the chance that he could hear his voice, and pleaded for him to accept Jesus as his personal savior. When he finished, I read Psalms 20 and pleaded as well, if he could hear my voice, that he should cry out to Jesus because Jesus can save souls to the utmost. Then the elder and I prayed, and when I finished I anointed the patient's forehead with oil and we left the room in a meditative silence, knowing God had heard our prayers.
Today, two days after that service, I found out the patient had died, and yet I feel a peace, knowing that God was in that room making one final appeal through His servants, myself included. God never gives up; it is not in His character. He loves you too much. How merciful and loving He is that in the life of a man who did not outwardly accept Him, He had people interceding and making one final appeal for his soul. God today is making an appeal to you: Whether you have accepted Him or not, you need to commit or recommit your life to Him today.
I cannot say what is the eternal destiny of this man in the hospital; I leave that up to God. Yet I know I felt the Holy Spirit's presence in the room and death flees in the presence of Holy power. Would I be surprised if I saw him in heaven? No, I would not be surprised, because of a verse found in the book of James which reads: "And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven" (James 5:15).
There was faith in that room, and this verse says that a prayer offered up in faith will bring forgiveness to a sinner, and Jesus died for sinners. My desire is that I can meet this man beside the tree of life and tell him that a group of believers stood between the living and the dead on his behalf.
— — —
Gio Marin is an author, currently working on a master of divinity degree at Andrews Seventh-Day Adventist Theological Seminary, with a dual emphasis on systematic theology and church growth & evangelism. Visit For His Glory, the blog, and send an email to {email GioMarinColumn@aol.com}GioMarinColumn@aol.com{/email}. © copyright 2007 by Gio Marin
Many thoughts and emotions raced through my mind after that phone call, until I settled on a story in the Bible found in the book of Numbers. As I remember it, a plague had broken out in the camp of Israel and many people were dying. Moses quickly interceded for the people and was told that in order to stop the plague, Aaron must run among the people with the censor and those with whom the incense would come in contact would be healed.
There is one powerful verse in that story that summarizes what ministers in moments like these are supposed to do: "He [Aaron] stood between the living and the dead, and the plague stopped" (Numbers 16:48). That in essence is what I was being asked to do the very next morning. I was to stand "between the living and the dead." Incense in the Bible, you know, is usually a symbol for prayer. I called a friend of mine for some advice, and then I spent some time in prayer, pleading that God would use me for His glory during the anointing service.
I woke up early and prayed some more, because I was feeling unworthy of such a privilege. I felt very humbled that the King of the Universe would allow me to intercede for someone's eternal destiny. I arrived at the hospital at 7:30 a.m. and went toward the critical care wing, and you could smell death in the air. I stood right next to the patient. I did not know him, and this was the first time I ever saw him. I stood staring at what I can imagine was a once vibrant, healthy life now laid prostrate, helpless and on life support.
It hit me suddenly, the renewed realization that God never intended death to be a part of our lives. I stood next to a man who had never laid his trust in Jesus, and now I was about to plead for his soul. As I contemplated about the frailty of life, I felt overwhelmingly secure that I had the best life insurance this universe could offer, because I have accepted Jesus. Oh, you may have life insurance that pays a death benefit, but that is for the people you leave behind, I have that too. Yet the only policy that protects your own life for eternity is the blood of the lamb Jesus Christ. Now I was going to make one final appeal to a man who was unconscious and lying on his deathbed.
Moments later I met up with his wife, a church elder and four other church members, and we entered the room together to have the anointing service. We had a moment of silence so that everyone could clear their hearts before God. Then the elder spoke to the patient, in the chance that he could hear his voice, and pleaded for him to accept Jesus as his personal savior. When he finished, I read Psalms 20 and pleaded as well, if he could hear my voice, that he should cry out to Jesus because Jesus can save souls to the utmost. Then the elder and I prayed, and when I finished I anointed the patient's forehead with oil and we left the room in a meditative silence, knowing God had heard our prayers.
Today, two days after that service, I found out the patient had died, and yet I feel a peace, knowing that God was in that room making one final appeal through His servants, myself included. God never gives up; it is not in His character. He loves you too much. How merciful and loving He is that in the life of a man who did not outwardly accept Him, He had people interceding and making one final appeal for his soul. God today is making an appeal to you: Whether you have accepted Him or not, you need to commit or recommit your life to Him today.
I cannot say what is the eternal destiny of this man in the hospital; I leave that up to God. Yet I know I felt the Holy Spirit's presence in the room and death flees in the presence of Holy power. Would I be surprised if I saw him in heaven? No, I would not be surprised, because of a verse found in the book of James which reads: "And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven" (James 5:15).
There was faith in that room, and this verse says that a prayer offered up in faith will bring forgiveness to a sinner, and Jesus died for sinners. My desire is that I can meet this man beside the tree of life and tell him that a group of believers stood between the living and the dead on his behalf.
— — —
Gio Marin is an author, currently working on a master of divinity degree at Andrews Seventh-Day Adventist Theological Seminary, with a dual emphasis on systematic theology and church growth & evangelism. Visit For His Glory, the blog, and send an email to {email GioMarinColumn@aol.com}GioMarinColumn@aol.com{/email}. © copyright 2007 by Gio Marin