Listening for the Promise
Sola Publishing – Weekly Devotions
Seventh Sunday after the Epiphany – February 23, 2025
SOWeR Site — Weekly Devotional © Sola Publishing: www.solapublishing.com, 2019, written by Mark Werner. Scripture taken from ESV Bible® (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright ©2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
(permission granted to active subscribers to reproduce this sheet for local congregational use)

“The last enemy to be destroyed is death.” 
- 1 Corinthians 15:26 -
Nothing makes us more uncomfortable than the reality of death. The great enemy that is death reminds us quite painfully how helpless we are to prevent its vice-like grip from claiming the people we love, and one day laying claim to us. Death doesn’t care about who we are, how old or young we are, how rich or poor we might be, it is an equal opportunity enemy. Death will come whether we have lived the healthiest life we could possibly know or whether we’ve not taken care of ourselves. The haunting words will soon be spoken as we near Ash Wednesday, “For you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” (Genesis 3:19c)
One of the most frequently held misconceptions that I’ve come across as a pastor is how people view death as being a tool for God. It is expressed in words such as, “God needed another angel,” or “It was God’s will.” While it may be intended to serve as a word of comfort, it can and has turned people off from God. Yes, it is hard to know what to say when we are confronted with the death of a loved one. Many people standing in front of the deceased family at the casket in the funeral home don’t know what to say. My suggestion is to say very little. Assure the grieving of your love for them, that you are keeping them in your prayers. 
Death is not God’s friend. Death is not what God desires for us. But, death does not have the final word. Death’s power was destroyed in the resurrection of Jesus. In rising from the dead, Jesus freed us from death’s attempt to separate us from God. Paul wrote of this in Romans 8 where he states, “For I am convinced that neither death nor life,…will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:39) 
Like the forces of sin and the devil, death is on borrowed time. In Revelation we read that death is going to be destroyed, cast out into the lake of fire (20:14) and death will be no more (21:4). 
God does not steal loved ones away from us. In Jesus, God rescues us from death’s grip, bringing us to the joy of heaven where there is no more sorrow, crying, pain, or death. God reunites us with our brothers and sisters in Christ of every generation. Against the great enemies of God, of which death is one, this is true: God wins!