Psalm 30:3

Psalm 30:3  

Saved from the pit!

     My wife and I recently viewed an exhibition of some of the relics from the tomb of the young Egyptian Pharaoh, Tutankhamun. For over 2 hours we were treated to an explanation of the journey of the Pharaoh through the netherworld as he fought off demons and evil spirits in order to gain eternal life. There were some Biblical lessons to be learned, not least how Moses took on the Egyptian gods when the Lord sent the plagues to Egypt just 100 years before the time of King Tut!

This belief in a netherworld was common to most cultures and it is also found in the Bible. Jonah believed that his time in the belly of the whale was, “From deep in the realm of the dead.” Jonah 2:2. Job and David refer to “the pit” on numerous occasions and there is reason to believe that the ancients all believed that death would swallow them up into some dark, mysterious place to await their fate. Let us remember that Christ Himself was the first to rise from the dead! Until He conquered the grave there was no means of liberation from the gloom of death although there is evidence that the righteous and the wicked were separated beyond the tomb. For instance, the story of the rich man and Lazarus. David certainly believed this and I think his cry of liberation here is not just from the tentacles of his illness or impending demise but also from the tentacles of eternal isolation and darkness.  Praise God that the resurrection of Jesus freed men and women like Abraham and Elijah and David and Esther and Ruth and all those other dear saints of old. Praise God that death holds no terrors for us, we will be able to say like David; “You, Lord, brought me up from the realm of the dead; you spared me from going down to the pit.”  Hallelujah!

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