Daily Devotions
Death, a Servant to Christians
Reading for October 11th: Matthew 27-28
But the angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen..."
Matthew 28:5-6
How are we to view death? How is death described in scripture?
One way death is portrayed for us in scripture is as an enemy. "The last enemy to be destroyed is death," Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 15:26. Death is an unrelenting enemy, possessing an unquenchable desire to crush and destroy. It steals away those we love and leaves in its wake lives full of brokenness, emptiness, and loneliness.
No, death is not our friend.
But the Bible has more to say about death. The child of God not only sees death as an enemy, he sees death as a SERVANT.
After a long section where Paul tries to help the carnally minded Corinthians to see him and other preachers as servants, he sums up his thoughts with these words: "For all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or DEATH or the present or the future--all are yours, and you are Christ's, and Christ is God's." (1 Cor 3:21-23, emphasis mine, dcm)
How is this possible? How does death actually SERVE the child of God? It serves by giving God's child what he desires most. It gives him a new life with God.
So while it is true that death is an enemy, he is a defeated enemy. As soon as Jesus took his first breath in that tomb, death was rendered powerless. The destroyer was destroyed, the master became a slave, the enemy became our greatest ally.
There is no fear of this enemy. This enemy has been forced to serve us. Indeed, instead of fearing death, the child of God can confidently say, "To die is gain."
Father, we give you thanks for our victory in Christ Jesus!
