St. George Chapel & the Death of Henry VIII

Behind me is St. George’s Chapel. It’s the place where Henry VIII is buried. When we follow his life, his six wives, two beheadings, we are brought to this place as a reminder of the fact that life comes to an end even to the most powerful and to the most famous.

One of the things we must do to understand death properly is to understand its humiliation. Here was a very powerful king who was very handsome apparently in his youth, and now suddenly he finds himself very sick, with sores, overweight, and it’s time to die. Even though he left a great deal of money so that he could have a wonderful tomb and a very great mausoleum, the fact is that today you walk down the aisle and you walk over his grave. You know, the Bible even says regarding Jesus Christ, he humbled himself even to the point of death.

No matter how famous or rich you are, when it comes time to die, you’re reminded of how it humiliates all of us. There’s something else that comes immediately to mind, and that is the finality of death. Once you die, it’s over. You don’t get a redo, not an opportunity to do it again. I’m sure that if Henry VIII were able to live his life again, he would do things differently. But it’s too late.

And then, of course, we think of destiny. Where do you go? The Bible says that Jesus has the keys of death and of Hades. And we know that there are two very different destinies and two very different eternities. And finally, Let’s talk about legacy. What do we leave behind? Henry VIII left behind a reign of great brutality, killing many people beside his two wives, and that’s the way we remember him. But even there, as we’ve been learning, the providence of God was working and it was under his leadership that England turned into a Protestant country. But I can’t help but ask this question. What is our legacy? How will people remember us? What will we leave behind? What will our children, grandchildren, friends say about us? And most of all, what will Jesus Christ have to say about our lives and how we lived them? George Whitefield, a great preacher, said, the true man that Whitefield was that day will declare, and you and I On that day, standing before Christ, our true selves will be evident. Let’s live for Him every day God gives us.