What the Death of Charlie Kirk Teaches Us About God's Ways
"The resurrection of Jesus is a fact of history. It really happened. Jesus rose from the dead." ~ Charlie Kirk
The death of Charlie Kirk has sparked discussions on the need to speak the truth in love, the necessity of courage, the cry of the widow, and the pursuit of justice, among other prevailing themes that have surfaced in various media.
But the death of Charlie opens a rich motif that runs through every single biblical story. In the Scriptures, Christian martyrdom always leads to multiplication. This order is embedded in God's created order. Where there is death, there is resurrection; Death is a seed planted that will bring forth a harvest.
Whether these moments are actual terminations of human life or the endings of human seasons, these themes of death and resurrection pervade the biblical narrative. God loves to kill and make alive. He loves to judge and restore. He loves to bring day one into existence, bring it to death with evening and morning, and then start a new day.
Even amid death, God is still working loudly in the silence of our existential dilemmas. God does not hide in times of national chaos, but he shows himself even more clearly. His theme of death and resurrection is displayed with even greater clarity. In fact, in such times, his death carries on greater meaning and his resurrection brings forth greater confidence.
At the beginning of time, when darkness and void prevailed, God brought light. In fact, his first creational act was to illumine and resurrect the world with his light. So too, we learn and grow in times of uncertainty because we know that resurrection always accompanies death. We are often content in keeping our lives dark and void to avoid the resurrection light of Yahweh. But God is an ever-present help shining our way and challenging our deaths by providing glimpses of resurrection.
Our country is facing the death of someone beloved, particularly in the Christian world. Times like these prompt us to reflect on death and resurrection. If such a difficult season leads us to harden our hearts and refill our sin prescriptions or to bask in the darkness and void, we will never know Easter joy. We will never see the goodness of God’s resurrection project for our lives. But if we recognize that every new phase of history presents an opportunity to experience death and resurrection, then we are entering into that blessed project. And to whom much is killed, much is resurrected.
The death of Charlie was not in vain. God was and is preeminently sovereign over everything. God was sovereign the second after that bullet struck Charlie, and he was sovereign when he called Charlie home, and he will always be sovereign, even on that last day when Charlie’s body will be joined with his heavenly soul. Then, death and resurrection will be complete. Charlie will be made whole again, and his body will be glorified for all eternity. Death will be no more.