Day 320: 2 Timothy 4:9–18

The Lord will rescue me from every evil work and will bring me safely into His heavenly kingdom. To Him be the glory forever and ever! (v. 18).

Paul knew without a doubt he was soon to die. Yet he was no masochist. He wasn’t begging for the guillotine. He simply looked at life through the window of these words: “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain” (Phil. 1:21). Our journey together has been an effort to study the heart of a man who could sincerely make such a statement. Christ had profoundly transformed Paul’s attitude toward life and death.

1. Paul saw death as a departure. He did not say, “The time for my death is close.” He said, “The time for my departure is close” (2 Tim. 4:6 hcsb). His entire life was a series of departures. He followed the leading of the Spirit through Judea, Syria, Cilicia, Galatia, Pamphylia, Asia, Macedonia, Achaia, and Italy. He never knew what awaited him as he entered a city, but one result was inevitable—as surely as he arrived, he would depart. God never let him hang his hat for long. “Our citizenship is in heaven,” he had said (Phil. 3:20 hcsb). To him, settling in would be pointless until then. Paul had faithfully done his time in Rome and, predictably, another departure awaited him. This time, he was going home.

2. Paul saw death as a rescue. Paul didn’t see death as a defeat. He did not believe the enemy finally had his way. He saw death as a rescue! We tend to define the word “rescue” an entirely different way. God certainly rescued Paul many times on this earth, just as He has rescued us, yet Paul knew the greatest rescue of all awaited him. Death was not God’s refusal to act; death was God’s ultimate rescue. Oh, if we could only understand this difficult truth, how different our perspectives would be. Paul not only saw death as the ultimate rescue from evil; he saw death as a rescue from frail, limited bodies.

3. Paul saw death as a safe passage. Remember the words of 2 Timothy 4:18. God will not only rescue us, but He will bring us safely to His heavenly kingdom. Earlier we learned the original Greek meaning for the word “rescue.” Rhuomai means “to draw or snatch from danger, rescue, deliver. This is more with the meaning of drawing to oneself than merely rescuing for someone or something.” God is not simply trying to snatch us from danger. He desires to draw us to Himself spiritually, then one day physically. When our ultimate rescue comes, God’s purpose is to deliver us to Himself—safely.