The Death of Death
Commentary
Most ancient cosmologies began with some sort of primordial battle between the gods and chaos, and whatever victory was achieved was only temporary. Chaos was always ready to swoop back in. By contrast our biblical history, beginning in Genesis and ending with Revelation, show God triumphant without even a hint of a battle. Chaos is tamed because the Spirit of God moves over the face of the deeps. Revelation demonstrates God’s total control.
So, in these three passages Isaiah, the revelator, and Jesus face the awful figure of death, which seemingly reduces life to dissolution and chaos, and vanquish it, like some primordial battle between ancient gods. The heavenly Banquet described in Isaiah, the defeat of death and the institution of true peace and rest predicted in Revelation, and the emotional response of Jesus (he wept) to the shattering pain shared by his friends, Martha and Mary, call to mind that death’s victories are only temporary, and that in God’s time all will be well.
Isaiah 25:6-9
In the poem “The Second Coming” by William Butler Yates the poet writes, “Things fall apart; the center cannot hold….” That’s how things seem nowadays, and how they seemed in Isaiah’s time, as politically and spiritually it looked the end of the Davidic kingdom was upon them. Indeed, that’s how things looked by the end of chapter 39.
However, this passage is an island of hope in the midst of chaos. Here we see a banquet spread out. Maybe there’s a memory here of the incident where Moses and the seventy elders walk partway up Mount Sinai, where they meet and eat with God. There are also echoes of this heavenly banquet in the later mythology of the rabbis, who believed that Leviathan, that great beast, would be the main course served to the righteous.
In God’s action of swallowing up death forever, there’s also an echo of the ancient Canaanite myth, where Baal in cosmic combat swallows up the ancient Gods Yam and Mot, the Ocean (chaos), and Death. Though God’s revelation made it clear no such battle took place, the people were aware of the mythology of their neighbors. The Isaiah eschatological description of a heavenly banquet contains echoes of a primeval battle between the Spirit of God, hovering over the face of the deep, defeating the gods of Chaos, Formless and Void. So, while there’s no suggestion these ancient gods exist, but the framework of the mythology would have been known to all. Isaiah is prophesizing in an extremely chaotic time where death rules international politics. Nations are swallowed up. Chaos reigns God is ending all that in this promise that beyond the present suffering there will be a moment when these things are no more. Death? You’re dead!
Revelation 21:1-6a
God’s final victory is made complete with the new heaven and the new earth. For some who love sailboats and deep-sea fishing, there may be some alarm that the revelator tells us, as if this were good news, “and the sea was no more,” but the picture is in line with Isaiah’s vision of the victories against Chaos and Death, tohu and bohu, Formless and Void. Considering how many thousands of shipwrecks have been discovered and salvaged over the years in the Mediterranean, it’s no wonder that the ancients thought of the sea as the source of chaos and destruction. And those who truly know the seas know how quickly a peaceful day can turn into terror. The elimination of the sea is not something one needs to worry about literally, but to understand that security, safety, and peace are the inheritance of the redeemed. Using the image of a wedding, one hears that God, the groom who was absent (like the parable) setting up a strong livelihood and preparing a home for the new family, has finally arrived, and the bride, waiting faithfully, has her hopes fulfilled. No more tears. No more sorrow. And we have experienced many. Death will be no more. Mourning and crying and pain will be no more. The waters are tamed. Yam and Mot (See Isaiah passage) are destroyed, and our God reigns.
John 11:32-44
When Jesus gets the word that his good friend Lazarus is sick and in danger of dying, he deliberately stalls because, as he assures his disciples, “This illness does not lead to death; rather, it is for God’s glory, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” Accordingly, though Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus, after having heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.
And Lazarus died.
Now Jesus knows what he plans to do — it’s not going to be a matter of healing the sick but raising the dead. And he wants to make sure Lazarus is good and dead. That’s because in those days people believed that when someone died their spirit hovered nearby for three days before taking off for their eternal destiny. Maybe it wasn’t easy to just let go at first.
So, by waiting to make sure Lazarus had been dead for four days Jesus was making sure that no one could say that the spirit of Lazarus was hanging around nearby and that he raised himself by re-entering his body. But you know, that’s technical stuff. What matters is that all this talk about God being glorified, and Jesus being glorified doesn’t take away from the grief Martha and Mary felt when their good friend let them down and didn’t arrive in time.
If this is how Jesus answers the prayers of his close personal friends what chance do we have?
But rather than take Jesus to task, I want to remind us of what Martha and Mary did. First, Martha directly challenged Jesus — “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him.”
When Jesus proceeded to talk theology, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” She responded with this powerful affirmation of faith: “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.”
Mary made the same accusation: “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” But she also gave him an offering of his tears, and his response “Jesus wept” Mary invited Jesus to truly become one of us, not just to be God present, walking in our midst, but to truly understand how great this burden of sorrow we share can be.
And If this is how Jesus answers the prayers of his friends, it’s important for us to respond as his friends did — honestly, powerfully, and faithfully. We can take hope that Martha and Mary lost their brother — and it was only for a time. And our losses, our griefs, our sorrows, are also for a time.
We are hurt. We are broken. We are struggling. It is a great thing when our prayers are answered, but sometimes we feel like our prayers are not being answered. And perhaps they’re not being answered just yet. But just as we sometimes need to make a follow-up call to see what the holdup is, we need to lift up follow-up prayers, and to continue to pester God — and throughout it all, to continue to be faithful and speak honestly and faithfully.
So, in these three passages Isaiah, the revelator, and Jesus face the awful figure of death, which seemingly reduces life to dissolution and chaos, and vanquish it, like some primordial battle between ancient gods. The heavenly Banquet described in Isaiah, the defeat of death and the institution of true peace and rest predicted in Revelation, and the emotional response of Jesus (he wept) to the shattering pain shared by his friends, Martha and Mary, call to mind that death’s victories are only temporary, and that in God’s time all will be well.
Isaiah 25:6-9
In the poem “The Second Coming” by William Butler Yates the poet writes, “Things fall apart; the center cannot hold….” That’s how things seem nowadays, and how they seemed in Isaiah’s time, as politically and spiritually it looked the end of the Davidic kingdom was upon them. Indeed, that’s how things looked by the end of chapter 39.
However, this passage is an island of hope in the midst of chaos. Here we see a banquet spread out. Maybe there’s a memory here of the incident where Moses and the seventy elders walk partway up Mount Sinai, where they meet and eat with God. There are also echoes of this heavenly banquet in the later mythology of the rabbis, who believed that Leviathan, that great beast, would be the main course served to the righteous.
In God’s action of swallowing up death forever, there’s also an echo of the ancient Canaanite myth, where Baal in cosmic combat swallows up the ancient Gods Yam and Mot, the Ocean (chaos), and Death. Though God’s revelation made it clear no such battle took place, the people were aware of the mythology of their neighbors. The Isaiah eschatological description of a heavenly banquet contains echoes of a primeval battle between the Spirit of God, hovering over the face of the deep, defeating the gods of Chaos, Formless and Void. So, while there’s no suggestion these ancient gods exist, but the framework of the mythology would have been known to all. Isaiah is prophesizing in an extremely chaotic time where death rules international politics. Nations are swallowed up. Chaos reigns God is ending all that in this promise that beyond the present suffering there will be a moment when these things are no more. Death? You’re dead!
Revelation 21:1-6a
God’s final victory is made complete with the new heaven and the new earth. For some who love sailboats and deep-sea fishing, there may be some alarm that the revelator tells us, as if this were good news, “and the sea was no more,” but the picture is in line with Isaiah’s vision of the victories against Chaos and Death, tohu and bohu, Formless and Void. Considering how many thousands of shipwrecks have been discovered and salvaged over the years in the Mediterranean, it’s no wonder that the ancients thought of the sea as the source of chaos and destruction. And those who truly know the seas know how quickly a peaceful day can turn into terror. The elimination of the sea is not something one needs to worry about literally, but to understand that security, safety, and peace are the inheritance of the redeemed. Using the image of a wedding, one hears that God, the groom who was absent (like the parable) setting up a strong livelihood and preparing a home for the new family, has finally arrived, and the bride, waiting faithfully, has her hopes fulfilled. No more tears. No more sorrow. And we have experienced many. Death will be no more. Mourning and crying and pain will be no more. The waters are tamed. Yam and Mot (See Isaiah passage) are destroyed, and our God reigns.
John 11:32-44
When Jesus gets the word that his good friend Lazarus is sick and in danger of dying, he deliberately stalls because, as he assures his disciples, “This illness does not lead to death; rather, it is for God’s glory, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” Accordingly, though Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus, after having heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.
And Lazarus died.
Now Jesus knows what he plans to do — it’s not going to be a matter of healing the sick but raising the dead. And he wants to make sure Lazarus is good and dead. That’s because in those days people believed that when someone died their spirit hovered nearby for three days before taking off for their eternal destiny. Maybe it wasn’t easy to just let go at first.
So, by waiting to make sure Lazarus had been dead for four days Jesus was making sure that no one could say that the spirit of Lazarus was hanging around nearby and that he raised himself by re-entering his body. But you know, that’s technical stuff. What matters is that all this talk about God being glorified, and Jesus being glorified doesn’t take away from the grief Martha and Mary felt when their good friend let them down and didn’t arrive in time.
If this is how Jesus answers the prayers of his close personal friends what chance do we have?
But rather than take Jesus to task, I want to remind us of what Martha and Mary did. First, Martha directly challenged Jesus — “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him.”
When Jesus proceeded to talk theology, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” She responded with this powerful affirmation of faith: “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.”
Mary made the same accusation: “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” But she also gave him an offering of his tears, and his response “Jesus wept” Mary invited Jesus to truly become one of us, not just to be God present, walking in our midst, but to truly understand how great this burden of sorrow we share can be.
And If this is how Jesus answers the prayers of his friends, it’s important for us to respond as his friends did — honestly, powerfully, and faithfully. We can take hope that Martha and Mary lost their brother — and it was only for a time. And our losses, our griefs, our sorrows, are also for a time.
We are hurt. We are broken. We are struggling. It is a great thing when our prayers are answered, but sometimes we feel like our prayers are not being answered. And perhaps they’re not being answered just yet. But just as we sometimes need to make a follow-up call to see what the holdup is, we need to lift up follow-up prayers, and to continue to pester God — and throughout it all, to continue to be faithful and speak honestly and faithfully.
