In the Beginning: Precious in the Sight of the Lord

by Ken Ham on January 1, 2024

Featured in Answers Magazine

Psalm 116:15 says, “Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints.” But why would the death of a Christian be precious to God? Isn’t death a judgment because of our sin?

My new book deals with the issue of death. The title hints at the conflict that death poses: Divine Dilemma: Wrestling with the Question of a Loving God in a Fallen World. Now that’s something Christians (and non-Christians) really do wrestle with. How can we talk about a loving God when we see death, disease, and suffering all around us?

Illustration by Viktor Miller-Gausa

Ken Ham, President/CEO
Answers in Genesis

When a loved one dies, we grieve. It’s ugly. Yet God calls the death of one of his saints “precious.” Why?

It’s so easy to look at the suffering and death of a loved one and question how a loving God could allow this. But consider the context. When God created all life on this earth, he said everything was “very good” (Genesis 1:31). There was no death or disease. But after God made Adam and Eve, he gave Adam a test of obedience by giving him all the trees to eat from except one. If Adam ate from that tree, he would “surely die” (Genesis 2:17). Adam disobeyed God by eating the forbidden fruit, thus bringing sin and the judgment of death into the world.

When Adam rebelled, he and his wife, Eve, immediately died spiritually by being cut off from the perfect intimate relationship they’d had with God. They also started to die physically, with Adam dying 930 years later.

Because humans are made in the image of God, we have a soul that lives forever. Our bodies are really a “tent” in which we live (2 Corinthians 5:1). When our bodies die, our souls live on. However, as sinners, we can no longer live with God.

God’s Word states that we “once were alienated, and hostile in mind doing evil deeds” (Colossians 1:21). Humans are alienated from God because of sin. That’s why God promised a Savior (Genesis 3:15)—a promise fulfilled 2,000 years ago when God’s Son became the God-man to pay the penalty for our sin on the cross and offer us that free gift of salvation.

For those of us who trust in Christ for salvation, when our bodies die, we go to be with God forever and await a bodily resurrection. No wonder he calls the death of his saints “precious.”

“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.” (John 5:24)