“What good would I have been to Lazarus to be resurrected from the dead if ultimately he had to die anyway—of what good would it have been to Lazarus if He were not He who is the resurrection and the life for everyone who believes in Him! No, it may be said that this sickness is not unto death, not because Lazarus was raised from the dead, but because He exists; therefore this sickness is not unto death. Humanly speaking, death is the last of all, and, humanly, speaking, there is hope only as long as there is life. Christianly understood, however, death is by no means the last of all; in fact, it is only a minor event within that which is all, an eternal life, and, Christianly understood, there is infinitely much more hope in death than there is in life… “
Introduction, The Sickness Unto Death, p. 8