Pope Francis Dies—A Reminder of the Sad Reality of a Groaning World

It’s because of our sin that this world is broken and groaning, and eventually, all will face the day of death.

You see, in God’s original creation, everything was “very good” (Genesis 1:31)—there was no death, no suffering, no disease. The double pneumonia that Pope Francis battled before his death didn’t exist. Those bacteria didn’t invade lungs and cause respiratory issues in God’s original creation. It’s because of our sin that this world is broken and groaning, and eventually, all will face the day of death.

But yesterday, we celebrated Easter, a reminder that Christ defeated death. In Genesis 3:15, right after sin entered into the garden, God promised that he would send someone who would crush the head of the serpent. Satan and death would not get the final say because the promised Messiah, in the fullness of time, would come and die in our place—taking our penalty of death for us—and then rise again from the grave.

And now the free gift of eternal life is offered to all who will come to Christ in faith. We can’t earn salvation—Scripture is clear that no works of ours are good enough to cancel the sin debt we owe. We can’t pay it ourselves, but with his cry of “it is finished!,” Jesus paid our debt, and now, we can have our sins washed away by Christ’s perfect sacrifice on our behalf.

The pope’s death will receive many headlines in the news around the world for several days. With the constant tributes, people are going to be reminded of death—something human nature tries hard to avoid thinking about—and Christians should be burdened to do all they can to use this sad reality to tell people about the gospel, the real reason for death, the fact that death is not the end, and that faith in Jesus is the only way to heaven.

I pray that Pope Francis understood the true gospel—that faith in Christ alone, not our own works, saves us—before he passed into eternity. But I also pray his death serves as a reminder of the sad reality of death and the only hope for our sin problem—Jesus Christ and what he did on the cross.

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. (Ephesians 2:8–9)

Get More Answers on Answers News

This item was discussed today on Answers News with cohosts Rob Webb, Dr. Gabriela Haynes, and Avery Foley. Answers News is our weekly news program filmed live before a studio audience here at the Creation Museum, broadcast on our Answers in Genesis YouTube channel, and posted to Answers TV. We also covered the following topics:

• What do we owe “clumps of cells”?
• When will we say “farewell” to life on earth?
• More men are reading the Bible than before.
• And more!

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Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,
Ken

This item was written with the assistance of AiG’s research team.