God uses some men to accomplish His purposes in ways that we can never imagine. One of those men was John MacArthur, who is now face to face with his Lord and Savior after passing away at age 86 on Tuesday night.
Grace to You, MacArthur’s radio and later streaming ministry, announced his death on Facebook:
Our hearts are heavy, yet rejoicing, as we share the news that our beloved pastor and teacher John MacArthur has entered into the presence of the Savior. This evening, his faith became sight. He faithfully endured until his race was run. More information will be available soon.
I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and teaching. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths. But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.
2 Timothy 4:1-8
MacArthur was born in Los Angeles in 1939. Preaching was in his DNA; four generations of men before him were pastors, and his father had a radio ministry as well. He had dreams of becoming a professional football player, but a serious car accident changed the trajectory of his life forever.
After serving in ministry under his father for a few years, MacArthur became pastor of Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, Calif. Dr. Albert Mohler explains how Grace grew under MacArthur’s visionary leadership:
Let’s just say that John MacArthur was doing something different at Grace Community Church when he became pastor in 1969. He started preaching, verse by verse, chapter by chapter, book by book. As a young man, he had hoped to preach through the entire New Testament, verse by verse. That was accomplished, by the way, on June 5, 2011. Sunday by Sunday, passage by passage, he studied the text, then read and explained the text ... faithfully and powerfully.
Under John’s preaching, church attendance doubled, then did so again. It grew into the multiple thousands, leading to a near-constant process of growth and development at the church. His sermons were made available on cassette tapes and then they were broadcast on radio (and eventually streamed on the internet). Untold thousands listened to John’s sermons, one after the other.
He grew as a preacher and his public influence grew explosively. If you listen to a message from his early ministry at Grace and compare it to his later years, you will not find any difference in conviction. What you do find is a growing depth of understanding and a greater sense of biblical theology, joined to a more comprehensive understanding of theological structure.
He spent 43 years preaching verse by verse through the New Testament, completing that series in 2011. In addition to his pastoral duties and his ministry with Grace to You, MacArthur became president of The Master’s University and The Master’s Seminary.
MacArthur didn’t shrink back from his convictions. His robust complementarian stance made him a target for criticism, and he didn’t hesitate to call out pastors he believed were unqualified for the pulpit.
Possibly his most public controversy was his church’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic closure orders. Los Angeles County declared that churches couldn’t meet in person, but MacArthur contravened those orders. The county sued the church, which countersued the county for violating congregants’ First Amendment rights. The parties reached a settlement where the county and the state paid Grace $400,000 each. Nobody at the church got seriously ill, according to MacArthur.
World Magazine explains the incredible reach of Grace to You:
The programs reached listeners in Ecuador, where missionary Florence Judd served as a nurse. Once, she canoed to a remote tribe and was surprised to find Domingo, a headman, listening to MacArthur in Spanish. “I wouldn’t have known it,” she said, “except that the Gracia a Vosotros theme tune was playing.”
“I really did not expect to fight the battles I have fought,” MacArthur once said. “I never thought I would spend most of my life on the broader evangelical front defending the gospel and sound doctrine.” That he did, and he did it effectively.
“John MacArthur will be greatly missed and deeply mourned,” Mohler writes. “He demonstrated faithfulness over a long lifetime of honorable ministry — a remarkable gift to Christ’s church. His race is now complete — and what a remarkable race it was. But, remember this: Pastor John MacArthur would be the first to say that the priority above all other priorities is that the faithful exposition of Holy Scripture continue until Jesus comes. Soli Deo Gloria.”
To that, I can only add, “Amen.” I have no doubt that MacArthur heard, “Well done, good and faithful servant... Enter into the joy of your master” (Matthew 25:23) the second he came eyeball to eyeball with Jesus.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member