Reasons for death. The Righteous, the Sinners, and Those in Between

Now, as to dying. It is very important to remember that death is in the hands of God. He says, " I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal; neither is there any that can deliver out of My hand."(Deuteronomy 32: 39). In the Book of the Apocalypse, Christ says, "[I] have [in My hands] the keys of hell and of death." (Revelation 1: 18). The keys depicted in the Savior's hands in the icon are symbol of the fact that the Lord has complete authority over Hades and death. Note that He is not holding the keys to Paradise. They are kept by the Apostles and their successors, i.e. by the priests who remit people's sins.

Why does God call a person at some given moment? Ordinarily, we do not know all of God's judgments, but there exist certain notions, certain general concepts that demand individual clarificatios. Often, one dies when he has sufficiently matured to enter into eternity. As it is written in the Gospels, "So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground; And should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how. For the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear. But when the fruit is brought forth, immediately he putteth in the sickle, because the harvest is come." (Mark 4: 26-29). So, the Kingdom of God develops within the person. As soon as that person has matured unto eternity, he is immediately taken away. By the way, the rate of maturation is in no way related to ordinary time.

Here is what the book of the Wisdom of Solomon has to say on the subject: "...the souls of the righteous are in the hand of God, and there shall no torment touch them. In the sight of the unwise they seemed to die, and their departure is taken for misery, and their going from us to be utter destruction, but they are in peace. For though they be punished in the sight of men, yet is their hope full of immortality. And having been a little chastised, they shall be greatly rewarded: for God proved them, and found them worthy for Himself. As gold in the furnace hath He tried them, and received them as a burnt offering. And in the time of their visitation they shall shine, and run to and fro like sparks among the stubble. They shall judge the nations, and have dominion over the people, and their Lord shall reign forever. They that put their trust in Him shall understand the truth, and such as be faithful in love shall abide with Him; for grace and mercy is to His saints,and He hath care for His elect.(Wisdom of Solomon 3: 1-9).

The Lord continues, "But though the righteous be prevented with death, yet shall he be in rest. For honorable age is not that which standeth in length of time, not that is measured by number of years. But wisdom is the gray hair unto men, and an unspotted life is old age. He pleased God, and was beloved of Him: so that living among sinners he was translated. Yea, speedily was he taken away, lest that wickedness should alter his understanding, or deceit beguile his soul. For the bewitching of naughtiness doth obscure things that are honest; and the wandering of concupiscence doth undermine the simple mind. He was made perfect in a short time, fulfilled a long time, for his soul pleased the Lord: therefore hasted He to take him away from among the wicked. This the people saw, and understood it not, neither laid they up this in their minds, that His grace and mercy is with his saints, and that He hath respect unto His chosen. Thus the righteous that is dead shall condemn the ungodly which are living; and youth that is soon perfected the many years and old age of the unrighteous." (Wisdom of Solomon 4: 7-16).

Do you see what the question of maturity is in the eyes of God? It sometimes happens that the Lord leaves an already matured righteous one on earth for a time. This is done so that the person might bear witness to eternity before men. The person is already sufficiently mature, and is already living life eternal here on earth, but the Lord keeps him alive so that through him, someone might be brought to God. Here we can see that everything the Lord does is according to His will.

Now, as to sinners. The Lord takes away sinners when they have reached the limits of evil. That is also something obvious to us. The person carried on disgracefully, and the Lord took him in the act, when he had reached the point of evil. But here as well, there are sometimes exceptions. For example, the Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, crossed the line into evil, but the Lord left him alone. Why? So that He might demonstrate upon him God's power and glory, so that all peoples might hold the Name of God in awe. He graphically made it clear how you should not behave, and what would happen to those who behave badly. The Lord specifically states that in His eyes, [Pharaoh] was already a dead man, but that he was left alone so that the fullness of Divine Might could be demonstrated - as a graphic exhibit to make a point, if you will. It is in this vein that here are cases of extremely lawless people remaining on earth.

The Lord leaves them here specifically so that He might then demonstrate His glory upon them, and remind people that they should not become attached to the earth. The earth is not the Kingdom of God, in the sense that it is not a place where people will live for eternity. Blessed Augustine raises the question of why even righteous peoples are sometimes given evil rulers. After all, we know that rulers are installed not by man, but by God. He installs kings, and He brings them down, as He wills. God does so in order that people not get used to it, that they not think that all their hopes should be tied to the country's earthly successes. That is why he sends evil rulers, so that man might be distracted from earthly vanity and instead might seek after the Heavenly Kingdom, which is incorruptible. I think that during the reign of Boris Nikolaevitch Yeltsin, people did not become very attached to the earth. Thus, the Lord accomplished His work.

But let's get back to the subject. Finally, there are the other people ,the so-called "in between," whom the Lord also takes away. This happens because God knows that after someone has matured, he can fall into some grievous sin, and so He takes him away before that can happen. These are the principal directions that are taken as death approaches. Naturally, we do not know the span of time alloted to us. There have been instances in which the Lord has revealed to someone when death would come, but such cases are rare . Why? Because otherwise, man would say, "My death is not for a long time yet. Right now, I will go on a spree, and later will repent, and that's that." Later, that repentance would not follow, as the habit of sin would have become second nature, and the man would be incapable of entering into eternity.