Death is a parable that explains that we are ALL ONE, irrespective of our skin colour. ALL MEN (regardless of how they look) die:
Ecclesiastes 3:1-2 (NKJV)
1 To everything there is a season,
A time for every purpose under heaven:
2 A time to be born,
And a TIME TO DIE;
A time to plant,
And a time to pluck what is planted;
Ecclesiastes 8:8 (NKJV)
8 No one has power over the spirit to RETAIN THE SPIRIT,
And no one has power in the DAY OF DEATH.
There is NO RELEASE from that war,
And wickedness will not deliver those who are given to it.
Now, when ALL MEN die, Ecclesiastes 3:20 intimates what happens to them, “All go to ONE PLACE: all are from THE DUST, and all return TO DUST.” (“All” here refers to both men and animals in context.). Ecclesiastes 12:6-7 as well similarly informs us, “6 Remember your Creator before the silver cord is loosed, or the golden bowl is broken, or the pitcher shattered at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the well. 7 Then THE DUST will RETURN to THE EARTH as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it.”
So ALL MEN turn to dust, whether brown, black or white. This refers to decomposition. Just like God said to Adam in Genesis 3:19, “In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for DUST you are, and to DUST you shall return.” Recall that man was formed out of dust at the beginning: “And the Lord God formed man of the DUST OF THE GROUND, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.” (Gen 2:7)
So, if ALL flesh would eventually come to dust, how then can we use THAT (flesh) to segregate and discriminate? This reveals that skin colour is inconsequential in the end. The skin won’t remain that way forever. Just a few hours into death, the colour of the skin changes drastically!
Death is therefore a parable educating us on the fact that the color of a man’s skin must NEVER be used as a factor to include or exclude him.
(For a thorough treatment of this subject, you may consult the sermon-series “God Wants The World! PART 2” by Pastor Josh Banks, which deals with the concepts of RACE, SKIN COLOUR and ETHNICITY from the Bible)
© Josh Banks Ministries. 2021.
