"Victory Over Death"


BIBLE READING:  Isaiah 23-27
                The greatest gift that we have today is the complete will of God revealed to us on the printed pages of our Bibles.  The Bible contains the greatest love story that has and will ever be told.  It tells of the love that God has with His creation; our humanity.  Yet just as all good love stories, this one has a tragedy as well.  The tragedy happened during the fall of man in Genesis 3.  Not only did man sin and separate himself from God, he also began to experience what it means to be human in death. It was from that moment that God began to tell of the coming of the greatest source of love… Jesus Christ. The message of the cross of Jesus is woven into the fibers of every page of Scripture.  It doesn’t take long for us to see Jesus within the reading for the day.  Isaiah continues his prophesy of the impending doom that is coming to the various nations of the world, but He also offers a message of hope and promise.
 “And he will swallow up on this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the LORD has spoken. It will be said on that day, "Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us. This is the LORD; we have waited for him; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation." (Isaiah 25:7-9).  Thousands of years before Jesus has to hang on that cross, God is revealing to us the blessing of His coming, the promise of His resurrection and the freedom of death that comes to those who follow Him.  That day has come!  The resurrection showed us that Christ has swallowed up death and defeated it forever, wiping away the tears from our eyes and saving us.  Although death seems to sting in this life, rest assured that death no longer will have the victory over those that follow Jesus (Romans 6.3-5).
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