Oh Charlie Kirk, how we will miss you....

Oh Charlie Kirk, how we will miss you….

I’ve never seen social media blow up like it has today, not even when President Trump was shot.  So many people are speaking to Charlie Kirk’s goodness and brilliance.  And now, this young and beautiful human being is gone.  But why…why?!  Why him? Why now?  He made our country better and he gave courage to those who felt silenced.  And now he is silent, but not really.

Such a senseless act of demonic possession, and yet, none of this took God by surprise.  Charlie Kirk is now a martyr.  Think about the first Christian martyr, Stephen.  All we know about Stephen is what we learn on the day he died.  He was born for that day.  He was born to die.  The Jesus-haters of Stephen’s day were trying to shut down the spread of the Gospel and thus, crush the Church.  But the gates of hell did not prevail then, and they won’t prevail now!  Stephen’s death not only didn’t stop the Church, it actually caused the message of the Gospel to spread like wildfire.  And when Stephen was murdered by the Jesus-haters, Jesus. who was seated at the right hand of the Father, stood up.  This is the only time in Scripture since His ascension we are told that Jesus stood up.  He welcomed Stephen home.  He welcomed Charlie home.  Just like Stephen’s death caused the Gospel to spread like wildfire, so will the death of Charlie Kirk.

The cloak of Stephen was cast at the feet of Saul (later renamed Paul).  Paul never forgot this scene.   We will never forget the scene we have witnessed today.

But still, our hearts cannot help but cry out to God, “why?”.  The Apostle Paul expresses in 1 Cor. 13:12, “For now, we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face.  Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.”  In 1st Century Corinth, mirrors were not like our mirrors today.  They were polished metals like brass. To look at one’s reflection in a piece of polished brass would have been to see one’s reflection darkly.  Paul is expressing to us here that the knowledge we have of divine things on this side of heaven is minimal compared to what it will be when we see Jesus face to face.  

Right now, we are seeing this whole senseless murder through a mirror dimly, but one day, we will know and it will make sense. Charlie Kirk now sees clearly through that mirror. Jesus told His followers in Mark 13:13, “You will be hated by all for My name’s sake.”  Therefore, the events of today should not be shocking to any of us.

The spirit of antichrist is already at work in this world.  And that spirit hates God, family, life, authority, the true Church, and the Word of God.  All of those who are championing this senseless act of violence do not know God.  They are under the delusion of the evil one because they have refused to love the truth of God.  (2 Thess. 2:10-11)

The Old Testament prophet, Habakkuk, was warned by God that the nation of Israel would be taken into captivity for their sin.  He was deeply grieved, but Habakkuk knew that God would deliver His people one day.  In the last verses of this book, Habakkuk writes something that I often hold onto during dark days.  Habakkuk chose to worship God on his worst day.  We must do the same.

Though the fig tree should not blossom and there be no fruit on the vines, though the yield of the olive should fail and the fields produce no food, though the flock should be cut off from the fold and there be no cattle in the stalls, yet, I will exult in the Lord, I will rejoice in the God of my salvation, the Lord God is my strength, and He has made my feet like the hinds’ feet, and makes me walk on my high place. Hab. 3:17-19

In 1955, Hananah Hurnard wrote a book that has become a Christian classic, Hinds Feet on High Places.  Ms. Hurnard took the title from these verses in Habakkuk.  This book is a classic and if you haven’t read it, I encourage you to do so .  The main character in the book is a young woman named Much Afraid.  She goes on a journey with the Shepherd to the high places and she is accompanied by 2 companions, Sorrow and Suffering.  The book is an analogy of the Christian life and as you read through it, you will understand that in order to get to a higher and deeper level with the Shepherd, one must experience sorrow and suffering.  It is about the struggle of life and the journey of sanctification that believers go through on earth.  There are so many beautiful and poignant passages in this book, but one of my favorite echos the words of Habakkuk:

“In all the world, I have no one but you.  Help me to follow you, even though it seems impossible.  Help me to trust you as much as I long to love you.”  Hannah Hurnard

Suffering goes hand in hand with the spread of the Gospel.  This is one reason why all those prosperity preachers do not speak the truth of the real Gospel.  

I have no doubt that Charlie Kirk wanted to go to the heights with God and now, he is there.  He was not afraid to speak the truth of the Word of God, and he was consistently leaning into the God of his salvation regardless of the evil that was going on around him.  He is now walking with the Lord on high places.

Friends, if the worst they can do to us is to give us a 1-way ticket to heaven, then that’s not too bad.  The love that Charlie had for God and for His Gospel will now spread further than it already has. 

We grieve not for where he is, but for where he is not.