In Memoriam

“Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.”

1 John 3:2 ESV

Relatively few individuals in history have had as far-reaching an impact on the condition and direction of the ministry of the church as Dr. R.C. Sproul.  His books, study materials, lectures and radio broadcasts have influenced millions to think more clearly and biblically about the gospel of Jesus, and to live out of a faith informed - and reformed - by the great truths of the Reformation, truths hammered out over the centuries by individuals who, in many cases, validated those truths with their lifeblood.  

Yesterday afternoon, R.C. entered the very presence of the Lord he had served so long.  The world is so much the richer for his having lived among us, and the poorer for his having gone out of it.  I find it interesting that I was listening to his radio broadcast earlier in the day, in which he was teaching on the above-quoted passage.  He referred to what is being described by the Apostle John as the “beatific vision,” that is, seeing the resurrected, exalted Christ as He actually is, in all His glory.  Not a pre-incarnate “theophany,” not a vision, not a dream, but the actual Second Person of the Holy Trinity, seen with the purified, unveiled eyes of the heart.  He emphasized that, at the moment we who are in Christ actually see Him, our sanctification will be complete, and we will be “like Him.”  No more shades of sinfulness, no more wrestling with our flesh, no more impure, mixed motives.  No pain.  No more tears.  Complete holiness, complete joy, complete satisfaction - forever.

It is this reality that R.C. enjoys today!  Taught on it in the morning; realized it in the afternoon!  Though I am saddened at the visible church’s loss of this great man of faith and wisdom, I rejoice for him.  Though I personally have the sense of having lost someone whose teaching has so directed and strengthened my faith and ministry, I have the confidence of seeing him again - in much better circumstances.  In the very presence of Jesus.  Thank you, Dr. Sproul.  And thank you, Jesus, for giving this man to your people, and to the world.