December 1, 1927 – October 7, 2025
On the first day of December in 1927, Charlie and Mary Tomberlin welcomed their first son. They wanted to give him a strong name. Parents often give names to children that reflect strong character. Charlie’s father was named Judge Mershon; and his grandfather was named Major Dobby. Those names reflected wisdom and leadership. Charlie and Mary named their newborn son William Edward. The name William means “strong-willed warrior.” The name Edward means “prosperous guardian.” Both names were introduced to the English world by renown 11th century kings – William the Conqueror and Edward the Confessor. A boy given the name William Edward was expected to have royal character. Bill lived up to his names. He was a prince of a man.
When I think of Bill Tomberlin a number of superlatives come to mind – wise, good, faithful, gentle. To my mind, the word that best describes him is upright. He had perfect physical posture. When he stood, he was straight. When he walked, he walked straight – upright. He was a man of upright character. The psalmists asked rhetorically,
LORD, who may abide in Your tabernacle? Who may dwell in Your holy hill? He who walks uprightly, and works righteousness, and speaks the truth in his heart (Psalm 15:1–2).
The LORD knows the days of the upright, and their inheritance shall be forever (Psalm 37:18).
The best judge of a man’s character is his family. Bill married Joyce Rainwater on July 11, 1952. Bill was twenty-four years old, and Joyce was seventeen. Joyce once told me that she loved Bill ever since she was a little girl. Bill and Joyce loved each other seventy-three years. Bill and Joyce had four remarkable sons – Mickey, Gary, Robbie, and Eddie – four of the most talented, and best men I’ve ever known. Then came the grandchildren, the great grands, and the great-great grands! To be a part of the family, to know this family, is to be blessed.
The first Psalm proclaims a life well lived:
Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful; But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and in His law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper (Psalm 1:1–3).
This describes a person who is deeply rooted, standing upright, straight and walking tall, who life bears much good fruit.
Because Bill was an upright man, he had little tolerance for foolishness. His deep voice could sometimes be heard in strong rebuke. He and Joyce reared four sons. They all loved and respected him, and sometimes feared him. Bill walked the straight and narrow path and he expected his sons to do the same.
Bill heard the gospel from an early age because his mother was a Pentecostal preacher. In those days the best way to get to church was a horse drawn wagon. We have a family picture of that horse and wagon carrying several children to church.
Several years later, in 1964, Bill attended a Pentecostal revival at the Baxley City Gym. There, Bill confessed Jesus as Lord. From that point on, Bill and Joyce, with their sons, were a fixture at the Baxley Church of God.
Bill lived for ninety-seven years. Eddie recently said, “I guess I thought he was supposed to live forever.” When we have someone in our lives that long it’s hard to lose them. Bill’s long life is a testimony to human mortality. Death claims all of us. Psalm 90 compares the brief life of humans to the eternal nature of God. With God, 1000 years is as a day. But for humans
We finish our years like a sigh. The days of our lives are seventy years; And if by reason of strength they are eighty years (or even 97 years), Yet their boast is only labor and sorrow; For it is soon cut off (Ps. 90:9-10 NKJV).
The psalmist tells us not to boast in long life because even the longest life ends in death. Death claims the young and old, the rich and poor, the powerful and the weak. In Genesis we read “So all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years; and he died” (Genesis 5:5 NKJV). Those three words – and he died – are repeated in Genesis 5 nine times. Even Methuselah, who lived 969 years, died. There is one exception – “Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him” (Gen. 5:24 NKJV). The message of Genesis 5 is that long life is not the most sacred and honorable blessing that can come from God. Rather, to be lifted into God’s eternal presence is the greatest honor.” Bill Tomberlin walked with God and God took him.
The apostle Paul wrote, “And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins! Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.” If Jesus Christ is not risen from the dead, then nothing else matters. Death comes and all of us will vanish into dust. In one of the most depressing and despairing texts in all of the Bible, an ancient wise man said, “What profit has a man from all his labor in which he toils under the sun? One generation passes away, and another generation comes” (Eccl. 1:3-4 NKJV). In just a couple of generations we will be forgotten.
But Jesus does not leave us in such despair. In the person of Jesus Christ, the eternal and all-powerful God has assumed human nature – body, spirit, and soul. Jesus is fully human and fully God. In Christ, God has taken upon himself the sins of humanity and the sufferings of humanity, including the totality of death. Jesus suffered and died at the hands of Pontius Pilate. He was buried and descended into hades, the abode of the death. After three days, He rose from the dead. Everything that the Son of God took upon himself has been healed. Christ put an end to the agony of death!
Paul proclaimed,
But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive (1 Corinthians 15:20-22 NKJV).
Because Christ has been raised from the dead everything changes! Despair gives way to hope, sorrow gives way to joy, mourning gives way to dancing, death gives way to eternal life. Paul exclaimed,
The body is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body” (1 Corinthians 15:42–44 NKJV).
The words spiritual body do not suggest a ghost-like, immaterial, non-physical existence. Rather, it means a real body that shares in the glory and power of the resurrected Christ, a body animated and empowered by the Holy Spirit. Resurrected humans do not become angels. Rather, resurrected humans are conformed to the image of God son. Paul said, “We shall bear the image of the heavenly human” – Jesus Christ.
Even as we confess our faith, Death stings! When a loved one dies our hearts break, we groan in deep pain. We suffer shock, denial, depression, and even anger. Death is the greatest challenge to our faith. Nothing prepares us for the sting of death. Even so, we gather together to sing and confess our faith. The hope we have in Christ has changed the nature of our grief. We do not grieve as those who have no hope. The sting of death gives way to the victory we have in Christ Jesus. On Tuesday, Oct 7 at 6:10 PM, Bill Tomberlin fell asleep in this world. At that same moment he was awakened to eternal life in the world to come!
Bill once told me that he was in the room when his grandfather, Judge Mershon, was dying. Several of the children and grandchildren were gathered there. He said among his grandpa’s last words were, “Youngins, this religion will do to die by.” Bill lived a life of faithfulness. He walked tall and straight. Today he stands tall in the presence of God, as a member of the great cloud of witnesses. He is no longer frail and weak, but vigorous and strong. He is no longer an old man; he is an everlasting man. His voice resonates from the heavens. His testimony is: “Youngins, this religion will do to live by, and die by.” He challenges us to walk upright, walk tall, be confident in the faith.
