Death – Page 4 – The Nexus

Digging in Deeper: 2 Samuel 12:22-23

November 28, 2018November 20, 2018Leave a comment

“He said, ‘While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept, for I said, “Who knows whether the Lord will be gracious to me, that the child may live?’ But now he is dead. Why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he will not return to me.’” (ESV – Read the chapter) ‬‬

This is the climax of one of the most emotional stories in the life of David. A good case can be made for this being one of the top five most emotional stories in the whole of the Hebrew Bible. When looking back at this verse and taking it through the lens of the New Covenant, many have seen this as a verse of great comfort. I’ve used it as such. But, the only way to experience that hope is to see it through that New Covenant lens. It’s a good reminder that Jesus has to be the interpretive framework we use for the Hebrew Bible. Anything else and it won’t do us any good. Read the rest…

Morning Musings: Revelation 6:9-10

March 19, 2018March 14, 2018Leave a comment

“When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne. They cried out with a loud voice, ‘O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?'” (ESV – Read the chapter)

This verse has long been really encouraging to me during times of loss. We have to be careful crafting doctrines from a single verse, but the picture John paints here seems to suggest pretty clearly (especially when paired with Jesus’s parable of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16) that those who have died before us are in some sense aware of what is happening here on earth. They may be dead and gone, but they are still somehow able to see and know what’s going on here. Read the rest…

Morning Musing: Ezekiel 37:13-14

February 7, 2018February 5, 2018Leave a comment

“And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I am the Lord; I have spoken, and I will do it, declares the Lord.” (ESV – Read the chapter)

We serve the God who is in the business of bringing life where it does not exist. He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living. Where there is death, He transforms it into life. Read the rest…