Text: Isaiah 28:9-22; Revelation 20:11-16; Luke 1:5-25
In America, one of people’s greatest fears is death. In years past surveys have shown that the only thing Americans fear more than death is public speaking (causing the joke that if you’re at a funeral, you’d rather be in the casket than giving the eulogy!). The reason for this fear could be a number of things. It could be that the unknown is what frightens us. Maybe it is that we fear the end. Perhaps it’s best not to speculate on why we fear death; we should just note that our fear of death causes us to make odd and rash decisions many times in our lives.
This is what the prophet Isaiah charges the people of Israel with. The people had forsaken their faith in the Lord, because of their fear of death. They had “made a deal” with death and the grave (“Sheol”) so that they would not be destroyed “when the overwhelming whip passes through.” The people did not want to have to face the judgment that comes with death, so they made deal with death to escape it. This deal comes back to haunt them. God sends “a cornerstone” that will wipe away the people regardless of any deal they think they’ve made. Their deals with death will be annulled when the Righteous One comes.
Death and the grave no longer have room to make deals, because they have been defeated. The Righteous One, Jesus Christ, has already come down from heaven. He suffered and was killed, but he rose again to defeat the powers of death and to overcome the snare of the grave. They no longer have power over him, and consequently, anyone who puts their faith in Jesus Christ will also overcome death and the grave when He returns. Christ’s resurrection promises us a future day when we will rise from the dead and live with death under our feet – or better, under the feet of Christ.
The truth of the matter is this: the roles have been reversed, and everything has changed. We no longer have death to fear, but death has Christ to fear. Revelation even goes so far as to say that Death and hell will be thrown into the Lake of fire when Christ comes again to judge the world. Not even those things that have offered “a way out” as a temptation to God’s people will escape the judgment of God. Death has nothing that can bring fear to those who put their trust in Christ, but death has everything to fear in light of the triumph of Christ.
The only hope any of us have at escaping death and judgment is not through making a deal with them. It is only through faith in Christ that we can hope to find life where death would be expected. It is only in light of the triumph of Jesus over the grave that we can trust that God will rescue us from the snare of death and hell. It is only because of Jesus that we can hope and have no reason to fear. We should long for his coming so that all of ours fears may vanish and all of our hopes be realized.
