On this mountain [the Lord Almighty] will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples; the sheet that covers all nations; he will swallow up death forever. (Isaiah 25:7,8)Israel's enemies referred to in Isaiah's writings are Assyria, Babylon, and the smaller surrounding kingdoms as referenced in the oracles against the nations (chapters 13-23). In chapters 24-27 Yahweh takes on and even more powerful foe; death, the enemy of all peoples.
Your dead will live; their bodies will rise. You who dwell in the dust, wake up and shout for joy. Your dew is like the dew of the morning; the earth will give birth to her dead (26:19). Not likely the work of the 8th century BC Isaiah ben Amoz, these are considered to be the last additions to the book of Isaiah. [1] They mark an evolution of thought regarding life and death and the resurrection of those who belong to God.
We read in the earlier writings of David: I am set apart with the dead, like the slain who lie in the grave, whom you remember no more, who are cut off from your care (Psalm 88:5).
Consider the words of Jesus: I am the resurrection and the life (John 11:25). And finally Paul: Where, O death, is your victory (1 Corinthians 15:55)?
The message to Israel (and us too) could be: If even death cannot stand against our God, then is there any enemy he cannot defeat?
Death isn't final.
What does that mean to you?
[1] Walter Brueggemann, An Introduction to the Old Testament (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2003), 164.
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