The Death of Death

On this mountain the LORD of hosts will make for all peoples

  a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine,
  of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined.
 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.”
 For the hand of the LORD will rest on this mountain,
  and Moab shall be trampled down in his place,
  as straw is trampled down in a dunghill.
 And he will spread out his hands in the midst of it
  as a swimmer spreads his hands out to swim,
  but the LORD will lay low his pompous pride together with the skill of his hands.
 And the high fortifications of his walls he will bring down,
  lay low, and cast to the ground, to the dust (Isaiah 25:6–12).

There is one thing that all people everywhere agree is certain: we will all die.

We mentally postpone it and avoid it. We don’t talk about it and generally don’t think about it. It is awkward to discuss and painful to ponder. But it is unavoidable. The most healthy and longest-lived people on earth are, from about age 30 on, dying. Metabolism slows. The risk of various diseases gradually increases. Quickness on the basketball court inevitably wanes. No vitamin, no nutritional supplement, can stop the process of aging. We have become experts in hiding the appearance of aging, but aging itself is our master, not our servant. And one day, perhaps far off or perhaps very soon, the heart will stop beating and we will exhale one last time. We will be swallowed up by death.

According to the Bible, however, this is not the way it is supposed to be. Death is an intrusion. It is unnatural. Although death is certain in this current age, it is a foreign invader. Consider the three pictures the Bible gives us of human life without sin: Adam and Eve before the fall, Jesus, and the new heavens and new earth. Death is present in none of these: Adam and Eve died only after they sinned (Gen. 2:17); Jesus died but rose again, conquering death (Acts 2:24); and death will no longer afflict us in our final state (Rev. 21:4).

Here in Isaiah 25 we glimpse the great promise of what God will one day do for his people. “He will swallow up death forever” (v. 8). Death will die. Death will not have the last word. To die feels so unnatural to us because we were made to live forever. And for those who trust in Christ, we will live forever—in transformed but fully physical bodies, on this globe, reigning with him.

We know this to be true because we have been united to a Savior who entered into death and came out the other side, taking us with him. Indeed, though we will die physically one day soon, we who are in Christ have already been raised spiritually (Rom. 6:4; 1 Cor. 15:20–23). Resurrection life has broken in on our messy little lives. One day soon we will be the resplendent, radiant men God made us to be.

Adapted from the ESV Men's Devotional Bible