ONE source records that 13 times the amount of people who are living are dead. This would mean that there are way more dead than those who are alive.

Death has ruled as king among the living and is so powerful that various cultures have personified, mythologised, or symbolised it. Whether it be the Grim Reaper of lore, the Pale horse of the Apocalypse, the Greek god of the underworld, Hades, or Tartarus — a place lower than Hades in Greek mythology — death or its representation continues to be alive among us.

Who wouldn’t welcome a time when only one last death remains, that is, a time when death meets its final death. This would mean a time when the novel coronavirus would no longer plague mankind with any other sicknesses, a time when hoodlums, rapists and murderers — some of the greatest threats to our health — are no more.

The Bible, which has explained the cause of death, sin, has likewise spoken of a time when death will be no more.

Death’s undoing

Isaiah 25: 8, 1 Cor 15:26, and 1 Cor 15:55

Both the Hebrew and the Greek scriptures, popularly called the Old and New Testaments, are one on the point that death will no longer have the hold it has on us.

Is 25:8— “He will swallow up death forever.

The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears

from all faces;

he will remove his people’s disgrace

from all the earth.”

The Lord has spoken.

Imagine a time when death is swallowed up forever. Imagine not having to think when your parents are going to die or sometimes when you are going to die. Death is so powerful and evil that not even the Devil is referred to as the last enemy. The last enemy is death [1 Co 15: 26, “The last enemy to be destroyed is death”]. What a period of joy it will be when death is finally swallowed up in a grave!

1 Cor 15:55 — “O Death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?”

Mocking is not a good thing, but if it’s one time it seems okay, it is in this text where death, who has taunted us, is now being taunted.

What of so many people who have died? The Bible holds out a promise for individuals who God deems worthy of a resurrection. Imagine seeing your dead loved one again, or someone ravaged by death come to life? What joy would overtake us, and possibly tears, but tears of joy. Jesus Christ, while on Earth, performed many resurrections. One popular one is at John 11 when his friend Lazarus died. This and other resurrections while on Earth are a fore gleam of what Christ will do when he decides to take full charge of Earth’s affairs.

In the meantime, let us seek to delve into the Bible, God’s living word, to learn more about this time when death and suffering will be no more.

If you have any questions or would like to discuss how the Bible can further be of comfort in these times, please contact Warrick Lattibeaudiere, a minister of religion, at wglatts@yahoo.com.