Isaiah 25:7-8 "On this mountain he will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples,the sheet that covers all nations; 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.” This episode reminds us that God has already defeated death. We don't have to be afraid of death. It also reminds us that we are just passing through the valley of death. We will not stay there. At the end of the episode I go over the lyrics of "Oh Death" by MercyMe. Music: "Adding the Sun" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Oh Death, You Are Dead To Me!
Isaiah 25:7-8 "On this mountain he will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples,the sheet that covers all nations; 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.”
This morning, I was thinking about using a song that I have heard a lot lately, which I thought would be really good and go with the theme of mentoring for this month. Then, while I was driving my son to school, this other song came on the radio, and I felt like it was a song we all needed to hear. The song is called “Oh Death” and is sung by MercyMe. I will go into the song in a bit, but first, let’s talk about this verse.
It begins by saying, “On this mountain He will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers the nations.” It was believed that there was a veil of sorts over the whole land that prevented people from seeing and following the Lord and living the way He wants us to live. I would say this is still true today. The enemy tries to put a veil in front of us so that we don’t want to live the way God wants us to live. He tries to separate us from the Lord.
Before Jesus died on the cross, there was a veil separating us from the Lord that was put there by God. After Adam and Eve ate from the tree, they could no longer have free access to God. From then on, only certain people could see God and talk with the Lord. However, once Jesus died on that cross, that veil was torn in two, literally. (Matthew 27:51). Now we have free access to the Lord. There is nothing separating us from talking with him. He did not want that separation anymore.
However, the enemy likes to put up walls and make us believe that the Lord is too busy for us or that God is too great and we are not worthy to talk with Him. There is definitely some sort of veil over the world that tries to dim God’s light and separate us from Him. The enemy wants us to feel separate from God because when we feel apart from Him, fear can creep in and try to turn us away from God. This verse is reminding us that God will destroy that veil just as he did the other one.
The next line is the one that reminds me of the song. It says that the Lord will swallow up death forever. I know so many people who are afraid to die. And that makes sense because we don’t want to leave our loved ones and our friends. We aren’t ready to say goodbye yet, or maybe we aren’t sure our loved ones are ready. Will they be ok without us? Will they be ok on their own? These are all questions that go through our minds when we think about death.
We also might be worried about death because no one knows for sure what it is all about. No one knows quite what to expect. We hope that we will be in heaven with God, but then we have the enemy whispering in our ear, telling us we won’t be. He reminds us of all that we have done wrong and tells us there is no way that we will get to be with God, not with what we have done. The enemy is a liar! Don’t believe him. Yes, you may have done some pretty bad things, we all have. Yet, Jesus took all of that to the cross with Him, so don’t let the enemy pile it onto your shoulders again.
The verse above also says, “The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces; he will remove his people’s disgrace from all the earth.” God is so gentle and caring that He wipes away the tears from our faces. He not only takes away our pain, but he wipes our tears too! He also removes all disgrace that we have. The devil wants us to keep our disgrace and our shame. He reminds us of it so often that it seems like we will never forget. However, verses like this remind us that God does not hold onto the things we have done after we repent for them. So, if God isn’t holding on to it, why are we?
I wanted to share this song with you today because I know a lot of people who are pretty sick. Several people listening to this podcast are chronically in pain. There are several who are listening who worry about loved ones who are sick. What I love most about this song is the upbeat music and the lyrics. When you feel down, or when you feel like you might be scared of death, or scared that the enemy might be winning the fight, listen to the lyric video of this song and sing along with it. I bet your fear will disappear.
The song begins:
You said my fate was sealed, you said my days were numbered
Case closed with no appeal, my future six feet under
Messin' with my head in ghost fashion
My heart was holdin' its breath (holdin' its breath)
Terrified of takin' my last one
Oh death, you scared me to death
This is what the enemy does. He whispers all these lies in our ears and he does it so often that we start to believe them. This is why it is so important to spend more time reading the scriptures, and surrounding ourselves with people who speak light and truth into our lives. If we hear the lies more often then we hear the truth, of course we are going to believe it. We have to make sure we are hearing the truth more often!
Whoa, you ain't my king though
Whoa, where did your sting go?
Oh death, I will not be afraid
In the end, you will lose
I will dance on your grave with the one who buried you
You ain't nothin' but a stone that my savior rolled away
Set you straight and set me free
Oh death, you are dead to me
(Oh dear, you are dead to me)
This chorus is great because it shows the enemy that we are not afraid. God is our King; He is the one who decides everything. The enemy has no say. If we can stop thinking of the enemy as this giant thing that can take us down and start thinking of him like it talks about him in this song, I am sure we would feel stronger. This song says, “I will dance on your grave with the one who buried you. You ain't nothin' but a stone that my savior rolled away. Set you straight and set me free.”
God already defeated death and sin when He sent His only Son to be sacrificed for us. We don't have to be scared of death. Death was already defeated when Jesus rose again. We don’t have to be scared of it! God already won the war of good vs. evil and death vs. life. I love how the song says that we will dance on the devil’s grave with the one who buried him!
My faith don't flinch, it's alright
Devil, come get off of my shoulder
You thought you had the last laugh
You thought this song was over
Whoa, you ain't my king though
Whoa, where did your sting go?
Oh death, I will not be afraid
In the end, you will lose
I will dance on your grave with the one who buried you
You ain't nothin' but a stone that my savior rolled away
Set you straight and set me free
Oh death, you are dead to me
Oh death, you are dead to me
The enemy always thinks he has the last laugh or the last word. He refuses to accept that he has lost the war. We need to be on guard to protect ourselves from the enemy but we don’t need to be afraid of him. If we are constantly turning back to the Lord. If we are rooted in the Lord and His love for us, then the enemy doesn’t stand a chance!
The song goes on to say:
Yeah, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of you
I know I'm just passin' through, oh yeah
Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of you
I know I'm just passin' through, oh yeah
Oh death, I will not be afraid
In the end, you will lose
I will dance on your grave with the one who buried you
You ain't nothin' but a stone that my savior rolled away
Set you straight and set me free
Oh death, you are dead to me
I like this last verse too because it reminds us of something very important. It says, “Yeah, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of you. I know I'm just passin' through.” This is important for us to know. Yes, we will be in the valley sometimes. Yes, the enemy will attack us sometimes, and yet the Lord is always there with us. He will always be there to save us. We are stuck in that valley, and no matter how much it feels like it, you aren’t going to stay there forever. You are just passing through to pick up whatever you need for your next adventure in life. Maybe you need more perseverance, resilience, strength, peace, healing, whatever it is that this valley is teaching you. You are just passing through to level up so you can make it through the next season of your life.
I pray this song makes you smile. It makes me smile when I hear it on the radio. It makes me smile when I imagine myself dancing to this song on top of the devil’s grave with Jesus. It makes me smile when I think about how God rolled away the stone and rose so we could be forgiven. It makes me smile to remember I am just passing through this valley, and even though it seems like I have been here forever, I will get out of it. I invite you to look up this song on YouTube, Spotify, or wherever you listen to music and hear this song today. It really is a great song with a great beat.
Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today! Lord, we love you. Please help us to remember we are just passing through this valley. Please help us to see that you have already defeated death, and we have nothing to be afraid of. Please help us to walk in your light and not in the darkness. Please help us to stand firm in the truth that you are our Lord and you have defeated evil. We thank you Lord and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’s holy name, Amen!
Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. I look forward to meeting you here again tomorrow. Remember Jesus loves you just as you are, and so do I! Have a blessed day!
Today’s Word from the Lord was received in October 2024 by a member of my Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group. If you have any questions about the prayer group, these words, or how to join us for a meeting, please email CatholicCharismaticPrayerGroup@gmail.com. Today’s Word from the Lord is, “Be bold. Be not afraid to speak my words to those you meet. Be courageous in times of trouble. I am your God, and I am there to help you.”