Three Deaths

Isaiah 49:14-16

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I heard a quote one time, it was really interesting, and it’s from a book that talks about different perspectives on the afterlife.

And the quote goes like this: “There are three deaths. First, when the body physically dies. Second, when the body is consigned to the grave. And third, when among all the living, no one remembers your name or your deeds.” I read that quote one time, and I just thought to myself, “Well, that’s such… a final perspective on the afterlife.” And, you know, that’s a common motif throughout the world. The ancient Greeks wanted to live forever using glory, essentially, and that’s how some people of in our own world think about how they’re gonna live forever. “Well, my legacy will live forever. My deeds will live forever.” But if you really think about what that ends up meaning, really the easiest way to be remembered is to do something bad, right? To do something that’s terrible. And sometimes that’s why people do terrible actions, is to be remembered for them.

Now, you and I know that there are actions that we have committed that we would like people to forget about them, that we don’t want them to be remembered. Maybe the good stuff we say, “Yeah, please remember that. Please remember me for those things.” But we have a Heavenly Father who has seen all of our actions, everything we’ve done, the good, the bad, the ugly, and He still loves us.

He sent His Son, Jesus, to live and die for us. Let us read from Isaiah chapter 49.

But Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me,
And my Lord has forgotten me.
Can a woman forget her nursing child,
And not have compassion on the son of her womb?
Surely they may forget,
Yet I will not forget you.
See, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; (Isaiah 49:14-16)

What a beautiful message, beautiful Gospel message from Isaiah, where God makes it so plain to us that He takes this comparison of a woman and her nursing child. What woman could forget her child? He says, “Even if they were to forget,” basically impossible, right? “I will never forget you. See, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands.”

Well, Jesus has inscribed you on the palms of His hands. Literally, His arms were pulled apart from Him. Nails were driven into Him to pay for all those sins, the sins that we commit that we want God to forget about, the sins that maybe we said we want our glory to shine through them. And just as remarkable, Jesus, after He died, rose again, triumphant over sin, death, and the devil. And those three deaths I talked about earlier? Jesus has undone all of those three deaths.

That first one, right? Jesus is going to stand on the last day and say, “Come out of the grave.” So your body will be made alive, and you will be raised from the dead incorruptible. You’ll be just like Him, never perishing, in perfection.

Through faith in Jesus, your sins are forgiven and God will never forget every good action you’ve done. Those actions of love for your neighbor, for your spouse, for your child, God will not forget you. God be praised for this gift, for this antidote, for this solution to those three deaths.

Amen.