Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Death Be Proud? Perhaps for Some.

Thinking again about the Isaiah 57 passage, "... the righteous are taken away to be spared from evil. Those who walk uprightly enter into peace; they find rest as they lie in death," (Isa 57:1b-2).

I was reading about King Jeroboam's tragic reign over the splintered northern kingdom of Israel. The account from 1 Kings 13-14 indicates that, despite God's provision, Jeroboam led Israel into the worst rebellion they had ever seen up to that point. However, Jeroboam had a young son who was good. The irony is that God strikes the child with a fatal illness. In His explanation to Jeroboam's wife, God says, "I am going to bring disaster on the house of Jeroboam.... As for you, go back home. When you set foot in your city, the boy will die. All Israel will mourn for him and bury him. He is the only one belonging to Jeroboam who will be buried, because he is the only one in the house of Jeroboam in whom the Lord, the God of Israel, has found anything good." (1 Kings 14:12-13).

I don't know about you, but this significantly enhances my understanding of how God overcomes the sting of death. What I'm beginning to think is that God allows death to come prematurely in some cases to actually prevent evil from destroying lives. Consider again, John the Baptist...

1 comment:

Sandi said...

It's like the question for a question.You think about something in the scriptures(question), find the answer looking for something else, and that leads you to thinking, (questioning), something else. God reveals himself to us by us questioning the scriptures and Him answering with a question that leads to further study. God is good!