Tag: death

Jesus Sustains Our Life

Even in the best of circumstances, life is a fleeting and fragile commodity.

“What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.”

When our bodies are strong and health is abundant, it can be easy to forget that we were made from dust:

“The Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.”

But dust we are, and our bodies crumble the very moment God’s breath leaves us.

“O Lord, make me know my end and what is the measure of my days; let me know how fleeting I am! Behold, you have made my days a few handbreadths, and my lifetime is as nothing before you. Surely all mankind stands as a mere breath!”

Again, God says to all of us who imagine that life is long and death is far away:

“Man in his pomp will not remain; he is like the beasts that perish.”

But there is profound hope contained in this blessed promise:

“Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.”

This refers to Christ, the very Word of God. He alone is the One who sustains our lives, who keeps our hearts pumping and our life-blood flowing through us. He is more essential to our continued existence than air:

“In him we live and move and have our being.”

And while this is true of all creatures, those of us who have believed in Him have a different kind of life coursing through our veins:

“For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.”

Thank you, Jesus, for sustaining my life and the lives of those I hold dear. Teach us to let go of our earthly desires, that we may be filled with Your Spirit and live forever!

“My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”

“Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you.”

Jesus Killed Death

For as long as anyone can remember, death has reigned on the earth.

“Sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned.”

Because of Adam’s transgression, everything living is held under death’s sway:

“Remember your Creator in the days of your youth… before the silver cord is snapped, or the golden bowl is broken, or the pitcher is shattered at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern, and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.”

Death is not a rightful ruler, but a usurper appointed by God to curse the earth and subject it to futility. It is not a part of the way things were meant to be, but an enemy, a destroyer, an abomination that causes desolation.

But praise be to God that by His unfathomable wisdom, Jesus has defeated death by submitting Himself to it. No one took His life from Him; He laid it down of His own accord, and three days later took it back up again. His resurrection is the ruination of death’s reign, and His eternal life guarantees its ultimate destruction.

“Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”

Death itself has been sentenced to death, and one day soon that judgement will be executed:

“Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire.”

Then the new heavens and the new earth will teem with indestructible life:

“The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together; and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze; their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den. They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain.”

By dying on the cross, Jesus put death to death so that we might live. Praise His holy name!

“May your hearts live forever!”

Jesus Cherishes the Death of His Saints

“Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.”

Just as He who was the resurrection and the life had once to die, so all who have been given eternal life must die as well. For the believer, this death is not eternal, spiritual, ‘second death,’ but rather a fleeting and momentary passing from the mere hope of glory into its supreme realization. Death is the means by which the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality.

But precious in Jesus’ sight is the death of His beloved! He cherishes those moments when those who are His, sensing their immanent departure from this world, open their hearts to Him and embrace Him. He is honored when His people stand against the accusers and confess Him despite caves of lions, fiery furnaces, or scourging whips. He delights to receive souls into heaven that are weary of fighting sin and offer them eternal rest, and He loves to satisfy every longing of the hearts of those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.

The reason we are baptized into His death is so that we will also be united with Him in His resurrection. And when that day comes, the prophetic vision will be fulfilled:

“Death is swallowed up in victory.”

“O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”

Lord, Your death is forever precious in our sight. Thank you for loving us, even unto death!