“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,” Grace to You Ministries announced late Monday. “This evening, his faith became sight. He faithfully endured until his race was run. 2 Timothy 4:1-8.”

MacArthur’s influence reached far beyond his church of 5,000 people in Los Angeles’s North Valley. He wrote and edited countless books, hosted annual pastors’ conferences, and was heard on radio stations across the country. His MacArthur Study Bible sold more than two million copies, and his 34-volume New Testament commentary sold more than one million copies. On any list of the most influential American preachers of the last half century, MacArthur should easily feature in the top five.

Not that influence or success is the mark of a successful pastor. Jesus said that “among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he” (Matthew 11:11).

No, for all his far-reaching influence, MacArthur was devoted to shepherding his own local church. Over his 56-year-long ministry at Grace Community Church, MacArthur rarely missed a Sunday in the pulpit, especially before his final, ailing years. It’s difficult to imagine how a 5,000-member megachurch feels like a single family, but Grace Community Church certainly provides one to those who dive in with both feet.

I personally benefited from MacArthur’s ministry during an 18-month sojourn at Grace Community Church. There, Pastor MacArthur’s preaching exhorted me to repent of sin and pursue personal holiness. There, I was urged to read through the entire Bible in a year, and I learned not only to read it but study it. There, I learned the joy found in serving other believers in a local church, and I found that such service trained my heart to love them better.

Like any Christian, MacArthur was not perfect. He could be (and has been) criticized for everything from his church’s leadership model to his strident tone to his dispensational eschatology. Perhaps his greatest flaw was over-reliance on his own understanding and under-reliance on the spiritual wisdom of other believers.

But, amid an ensnaring, seductive, hostile culture, Christian churches don’t need more people-pleasing pastors who look to compromise or polish off the hard edges of biblical truth. This was MacArthur’s strength: he stood boldly, unapologetically, unwaveringly on the word of God. More often than not, this conviction met the need of the moment.

In the summer of 2020, after Americans learned for themselves how undeadly the COVID virus really was, Grace Community Church defied California’s stringent lockdowns. “Christ is Lord of all. He is the one true head of the church. … He is also King of kings — sovereign over every earthly authority,” they declared. “Therefore we cannot and will not acquiesce to a government-imposed moratorium on our weekly congregational worship or other regular corporate gatherings. Compliance would be disobedience to our Lord’s clear commands.”

MacArthur brought the same, fierce, kingdom-focused mindset to every issue, from the CRT debates to his experience as a segregation-defying preacher in 1960s Mississippi (before founding Grace Community Church). He knew what God’s word said, he knew how to apply it — often through illuminating references to other scriptural illustrations — and no one could move him from that position.

There have been and will be many tributes to MacArthur’s sprawling ministry from a diverse set of voices. The most important point is the one Grace to You raised in the announcement that opened this piece: MacArthur finished well. He proclaimed the gospel to millions, endured the temptations of fame and the trials of criticism, and kept trusting in the blood of Jesus until his dying breath.

In this, MacArthur achieved the aspiration of every true Christian. You and I may not preach to millions, but we can be steadfast and faithful in whatever area of responsibility God has placed us — right up until the moment when he calls us home forever. For a Christian who endures, their death is only the beginning of eternal life.