This past week I learned of the passing of two men, both of whom loved the Lord Christ Jesus. It made me pause a bit and think about death … foreign to us yet reigning over all. We were made for life, after all, made in the image of God. “And God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness….’” [Gen 1:26 KJV]
God is light and life. Being made in His image is why death is so foreign and why we struggle against it. When sin entered the human race, death began its reign of terror over us. The devil was the first to tempt man to sin, and in that sin, he held the power of death. He had no power to literally take our lives, his power rested in sin and the terror of death and the following judgment.
Praise be to God, the devil’s reign of terror lasted only until the coming of the Son of God. Jesus came into our humanity and by his sinless life, death, and resurrection broke the power of death, broke the hold the enemy had on us—sin and the accompanying fear of death and judgment.
Heb 2:14-15: Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death-that is, the devil- and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. [NIV]
While our bodies are still of the earth and subject to dying, death for those whose souls and spirits are made new in Christ Jesus is simply passing from the ones we love on this side of the veil to the One we love and who loves us on the other side. We may not like the dying process, but we no longer fear sin, death or judgment.
Father, thank you for the assurance that when we depart this world You will be there with open arms to receive us in the next. Thank you, Lord Jesus, for destroying the power of death! Amen.
