The Sting of Death

I opened the door this morning to head out for my morning walk. The pre-dawn sky was still filled with stars. As I stepped out the door, I picked up the morning paper to put it inside the house. I was stunned by one of the headlines. “Crocodile Hunter Killed by Stingray.”

Steve Irwin, known worldwide as the “Crocodile Hunter,” has entertained people for years through his Animal Planet television shows. Each week Irwin would wrestle crocs, tangle with venomous snakes, and educate his television audience about exotic animals. He was enthusiastic, passionate, and seemingly fearless.

I spent part of the day working on this article, in one of the local Starbucks. At the table next to me sat a couple and they were talking about the tragic death of Steve Irwin. As I eavesdropped on the conversation, I could hear the couple saying things similar to what was said in my own home this morning. “Wow. The kids have grown up watching Steve Irwin.” I can remember a time when my three daughters were much younger, when we saw Irwin on television for the first time. The program was about the life of an Australian dingo (a wild dog). In our home, Irwin was affectionately known as “The Dingo Man.”

Irwin leaves behind his wife and sidekick, Terri, and two children, Bindi Sue (8, and named after one of Irwin’s favorite crocodiles and his dog) and Bob (2). In 2004, Irwin received worldwide criticism for taking infant Bob into a crocodile enclosure while he fed the man-eater whole, dead chickens, during a show at Australia Zoo.

Irwin was filming a new show in the Great Barrier Reef, about the world’s deadliest sea creatures, at the time of his death. According to published reports, Irwin was swimming in shallow water when he swam overtop a stingray. He must have startled the animal, which reacted by thrashing its tail. The barb at the end of the stingray’s tail, which can reach up to a foot in length and contains gelatinous poison, is capable of penetrating a quarter-inch of plywood. The stingray’s barb pierced Irwin’s heart. Experts say that the injury was like being stabbed in the heart with a box cutter or a dirty dagger. Apparently, there have been only seventeen recorded deaths by stingrays.

As I walked around my neighborhood this morning, I prayed for the Irwin family. I also prayed for the likely millions of people familiar with Irwin who might be contemplating the manner and suddenness of his death and, in turn, might be thinking about their own mortality. I prayed that the Lord would use the tragic death of this contemporary icon to draw unsaved sinners to repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. Throughout the morning, the following passage of Scripture was on my heart and mind.

“O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” ~ I Corinthians 15:55-57

Sin is the “dirty dagger” that has pierced the heart of every person—man, woman, and child—since the fall of man, in the Garden of Eden. Just as the venom from the bite or sting of a poisonous animal travels through a persons bloodstream destroying healthy cells and tissue, sin, having penetrated every person’s heart, has infected every aspect of a person’s life—his or her thoughts, emotions, motives, and actions. And just as venom, if not arrested and counteracted, will kill the person infected, “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23a). The inevitable end of a life infected by sin—if that life is not saved by stopping and reversing sin’s deadly course through the gift of repentance, and by the direct and miraculous intervention of God’s saving grace through the atoning and redemptive work of Jesus Christ on the cross—is not only physical death, but also eternal death in hell.

Steve Irwin entered the water this morning to do what he has done thousands of times: interact with the animal world around him. He knew that his chosen profession and passion was dangerous, but he likely entered the gorgeous and majestic reef not thinking that he would soon stand before a holy and righteous Judge—God, the maker of heaven and earth, and his Creator.

I do not presume to know where Irwin has now begun to spend the rest of his eternal existence—heaven or hell. I did not know the man, and I did not know his heart. “There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the One who is able to save and destroy (James 4:12a), and I’m not Him. However, I can say with absolute certainty (because this is what the Bible teaches) that if Steve Irwin had never repented of his sin and put his faith and trust in Jesus Christ alone for his salvation, then the heart-piercing strike of a scared stingray is nothing compared to the eternal sting, pain, and misery he is now experiencing in hell. “He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides in him” (John 3:36). And Jesus said, “Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:28).

If Irwin had never repented of his sin and put his faith and his trust in Jesus Christ, then he is like the rich man in the parable of The Rich Man and Lazarus. “In Hades he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and saw Abraham far away and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried out and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus so that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue, for I am in agony in this flame’” (Luke 16:23-24). As I think about Irwin’s death, knowing I cannot pray a dead man into heaven, my hope is that the rich man’s eternal punishment and existence is not Irwin’s.

The good news is that if you are reading this, your time has not yet come. Your day of judgment has not yet come. “And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment” (Hebrews 9:27). The God who gave you life has granted you yet one more day (a gift you do not deserve) to turn from your sin and put your faith and your trust in Jesus Christ alone for your salvation.

“The power of sin is the law.” God has given you a conscience, so you know that you have broken His Law, His Commandments. Have you ever told a lie? Have you ever stolen anything, no matter how insignificant the item may be to you? Have you ever taken God’s name in vain, using the name of the God who has given you life to curse or express disgust? “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain” (Exodus 20:7). Have you ever hated another person? “Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer; and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in Him” (I John 3:15). Have you ever looked at another person to lust after them? Jesus said, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery’; but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed with her in his heart” (Matthew 5:27-28).

Then, if the above is true of you, by your own admission you are a lying, thieving, blasphemous, murderous, adulterer at heart. Maybe you’re thinking that you may have broken one or two of God’s laws, but you’re not guilty of breaking all of them. Maybe you think that if there are people in the world who are “worse sinners” than you, God will let you off the hook. Not so fast. The Bible says, “For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all” (James 2:10). You have violated God’s Law and are therefore deserving of His final judgment—a sentence of eternal punishment.

“But thanks be to God, who gives us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (I Corinthians 15:57). Your only hope is Jesus Christ. “[God] made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (II Corinthians 5:21). Jesus Christ, fully man and fully God, died on the cross to pay the full penalty for your sins.

Read the following very carefully. “For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life” (Romans 5:6-10).

Not only did Jesus Christ die on the cross for your sins, He rose again. And He is alive today! “To these [Jesus] also presented Himself alive after His suffering, by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days and speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God” (Acts 1:3).

You will only avoid the wrath to come if you know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. There is no other way. Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me” (John 14:6).

You will only avoid the wrath to come if you know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. There is no other way. Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me” (John 14:6).

Repent. Turn away from your sins. “Therefore repent and return so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord” (Acts 3:19).

You cannot and will not earn or deserve heaven. “For by grace you have been saved, by faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9).

Believe with your heart that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. Submit to Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior so “that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9).

If after reading this you’ve come to realize your need for salvation, through faith in Jesus Christ alone; if you do not want to spend eternity in hell, separated from God; then submit to Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. Pray—asking Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior. Acknowledge your need for His forgiveness. Tell Him that, with His help, you want to turn from pursuing sin in your life to living a life that is pleasing to Him. And thank Him for the salvation that only He can provide. Through faith in Jesus Christ alone, you will avoid the sting of eternal death and instead live the promise of the free gift of eternal life, which only Jesus Christ can give.

Then find a solid, Bible-believing, Bible-teaching church. Spend time in fellowship with other followers of Christ who will help you grow in your newfound faith in Him. Read the Bible every day and obey what it says. Spend time with the Lord in prayer, every day. And tell others about who Jesus Christ is and how He saved you from the just punishment for your sins.

If you need help finding a good church in your area, we would love to help you. If you do not have a Bible, or cannot afford one, we would like to give you one.

© 2006