The Shadow of Death

Today I was at a funeral of a woman who was a fully dedicated follower of Christ in the Cork area. The sermon given by the pastor of Lee Valley Bible Church in Ballincollig had an insight I thought was very good and wanted to share it here.

The pastor (I cannot remember his name) spoke on Psalm 23. Some of his insights I’ll repeat below.

Psalm 23 talks about going through the valley of the shadow of death. The pastor focused on the fact that the word used is “shadow.” Why shadow?

What is a shadow? It is imaginary, a projection and not something substantial. It is the result of two other things; substance and light. So when referring to the shadow of death, the substance is death and its shadow is caused by light – the light of the world. So why is the psalmist only going through the shadow? The answer is to focus on what happened to its substance. The substance, death, is discussed in the previous psalm; 22. This psalm is a clear, prophetic description of Christ’s death on the cross, which Christ fulfills just by exclaiming the first line as he hung there. Jesus experienced the full substance of death. But we do not. We only go through the shadow.

This is a beautiful picture. Jesus, who calls himself the light of the world, experienced the full weight and measure of death so we would not. He took our place. We only face a shadow.

This is emphasized in the Psalm even more by stating not that Christ sent us on ahead, but that he is with us. He went through death – its substance, so that as we now go through death, we only go through its shadow.

Thank you Lord!

Pride Comes Before the Fall

It is a parable we say quite often, and not without backing. Over and over we see it happening in our lives – someone experiences something great, glorifies himself for it, then is soon after found eating their share of humble pie.

I have been reading through the book of 2 Chronicles for my personal studies lately, and noticed something absolutely fascinating about what happened to at least two kings of Judah. The first that caught my attention was Uzziah in 2 Chronicles 26. This young man was brought into power at just the age of 16! Amazing to think that when we are just getting excited about getting our driver’s licenses, this man is inheriting the throne over Judah! He also held this power for one of the longer periods for the kings – 52 years. Then comes the description of him in verses 4 and 5. He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord. Notice particularly what verse 5 says:

He set himself to seek God in the days of Zechariah, who instructed him in the fear of God, and as long as he sought the LORD, God made him prosper.

First, he had a good teacher. Zechariah the prophet had a proper focus on God and was able to convey that to Uzziah. It seems Zechariah was wise enough to point out to this young king that the king’s prosperity was dependant on on his seeking the Lord.

Uzziah seemed to listen, for even again in verse 8 he is noted as growing very strong, in verse 10 he is described as being very wealthy, and his army was continually growing and becoming more and more fortified. Then comes a bad omen in verse 15;

And his fame spread far, for he was marvelously helped, till he was strong.

Something is wrong. The focus is off. Rather than focus on the strength of his God, the camera is zeroed in on Uzziah. Verse 16 then describes his downfall;

But when he was strong, he grew proud, to his destruction. For he was unfaithful to the LORD his God and entered the temple of the LORD to burn incense on the altar of incense.

Pride got in the way. He thought he could do anything, even to the point of disregarding the prescriptions in the Law for how sacrifices were to be offered and by whom they were given.

I have to wonder what happened. He did what was right in God’s eyes, until his own pride got the best of him. How can we avoid that? Too often we become proud in our accomplishments, wanting to focus on the many things that we have done. It seems to me Uzziah like other kings did not do something that Scripture repeatedly encourages us to do: remember. In our Bible studies and in our preaching, we want to find the next greatest thing, we want to make new discoveries, plumbing the depths of Scripture. But in doing this we too easily forget the fundamentals. We forget.

So even in this Christmas season, maybe it is important that we take time to remember. Remember the message of the Gospel. Remember the baby born in Bethlehem, that he was born to die. Remember, as Paul states, who we once were and still are.

Remember.

Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called "the uncircumcision" by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands-- remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. (Eph. 2:11-13)