Heidelberg Meditations - Day Four

"That I, with body and soul, both in life and death, am not my own"

"and death"

In one of Tim Keller's sermons he talks about how bravely Christian martyrs have faced death. He compares the bravery of the martyrs with the desperation of Jesus the night before he was crucified. Keller's point is Jesus wasn't just facing death. He wasn't sweating blood because of the nails or the tree. The blood and agony were because of the cup. He knew he was about to experience hell and be separated from God the Father. For the first time in eternity, the Trinity was going to know separation. The reason so many martyrs have faced death so bravely is because they knew their Savior had taken death's sting. There is no longer anything to fear because the only thing that scared Jesus has been removed from the believer's reality. Death cannot contain Jesus, and because we are united with him, it cannot contain us. Death and the grave have no sting or victory.

Believing the worst thing that could happen to us is actually the passage into the faithful arms of the Savior frees us to live radical lives of service to him and our neighbors. There is truly nothing to be afraid of because Jesus, like David, has won the battle against the giant. Like the Israelites, we win because he won.

We belong to him. We are so tightly united with him we can say we sit in heavenly places. Death will never separate us from his goodness.