Psalm 68:20

Psalm 68:20

Escape from death!

Sin brings death! The ultimate consequence of all sin is death. The wages of sin is death. People pursue sinful practices hoping for a pay-out, they will get one – death. All have sinned, so all will die. What a miserable state we human beings are in for, so far as I am aware, no one has cheated death, no one has been able to buy or create life, everyone ends up with a gravestone. And death hurtles towards us all at a pace that quickens as we grow older, and there is no way to avoid that terminal appointment.

That is why there is such a note of joy and anticipation in this verse, “Our God, (as opposed to all the others) is a God who saves; from the Sovereign Lord comes escape from death.” David is anticipating a form of existence beyond this life, death was not the end, he hoped for life even though resurrection had not yet been invented! This conviction about a future existence is described by him in Psalm 16:9-11. “Therefore, my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure, because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead, nor will you let your faithful one see decay. You make known to me the path of life; you will fill mewith joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.”

We are able to flesh out David’s hopes because of the empty tomb in the garden close to Golgotha. Our God surrendered Himself to the grasping tentacles of death and His earthly life was taken at a relatively young age. There would have been no hope for us sinners if the tomb had retained its corpse. But, on the third day Yeshua rose to life, and we can now sing David’s Psalm with conviction. We will never die. Death has been conquered. Sin’s power has been broken. We are saved! Hallelujah!  

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