Reading
SAA Notes
This chapter is rich in symbolism – the Lord’s Supper, death destroyed, the wiping away of tears and suffering. Many and great promises are yours!
SJA Notes
* Lord God, please plant Your word deep within us today, and grow it, that we would be good soil and bear much fruit.
“He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces,”
The idea of death and God’s power of it can be found throughout the scriptures.
In Hosea 13 we read,
“I shall ransom them from the power of Sheol; I shall redeem them from Death. O Death, where are your plagues? O Sheol, where is your sting?”
And we can clearly see Paul crossing the same territory in 1 Corinthians 15, as he speaks of the final day when the last trumpet will echo and reverberate throughout time and space,
“When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: ‘Death is swallowed up in victory.’ ‘Oh death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sing?'”
So what does it mean that God will swallow up death forever? What succour will He bring, to wipe away tears of sorrow and loss and human travail from our faces?
Paul goes on,
“The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
What is this? This seems strange, but … God gives to us the victory of death! What an incredible thing.
But how?
Jesus. He is the answer, as He is from Genesis to Revelation – Jesus is the pivot and the crux and the nexus. All the promises of God find their “YES” in Him.
Turn to Jesus. He is the answer.
* Mighty God,
Thank You for Jesus, that through Him You give us the victory over death.
Thank You that we can rest assured that You have swallowed up death, that in glory it will be no more.
Hallelujah, what a Saviour You are!
Amen.