A Guide Beyond Death

Psalm 48:14 EHV, Psalm 27:13 NKJV

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Recently, somebody told me about Psalm 48, and they pointed me especially to one rather beautiful and startling verse from Psalm 48:14. It says,

For this God is our God forever and ever.
He will guide us beyond death. (Psalm 48:14 EHV)

In Psalm 48, the psalm writer is really starting at first to talk about the city of Jerusalem and what a beautiful place it was, and situated in the mountains. It was a place that enemy armies found it very difficult to scale and to successfully invade. In fact, the psalmist says, when they see all that the enemies of God’s people freeze, turn, and run away back to where they came from. The psalm writer also says of the city of Jerusalem, the kingdom of God’s people in the Old Testament. He says, God establishes her forever. So from that, we understand he’s not just speaking about the physical kingdom of Judah and Jerusalem. He’s really speaking about something that is spiritual, something that is eternal.

For there there are the gifts of mercy and righteousness, and they’re given to us through Jesus Christ our Savior. For his sake God is merciful to us, and here we receive through faith the righteousness, that is the innocence of Jesus, as we are safely at home in this kingdom of Zion. The New Jerusalem the Bible speaks of us. But again, at the very end, he has that striking statement where the psalmist says,

He will guide us beyond death. (Psalm 48:14 EHV)

This shows us that beyond the moment when our bodies die, we are still under God’s care and that we are still alive.

Jesus rising from the dead on Easter is our guarantee that what this says is very true. For Jesus promised, the one who lives and believes in me will never die. After life has left our body here, still our soul will continue to live on with him in heaven and not in the anguish of hell. Because of this promise, and because it has been fulfilled by Jesus righteousness, his perfect life for us, his death for us. God graciously forgives us all of our sins and promises a place in that eternal kingdom above, where he will guide us. First welcoming us there to its joy and then guiding us in that joy forever and ever. And knowing this, then we can say with the psalmist in another place

I would have lost heart, unless I had believed
That I would see the goodness of the Lord
In the land of the living. (Psalm 27:13 NKJV)

That’s our land. Trust in his forgiving word. Trust that he will guide you even beyond death. Amen.