You hide Your face, they are troubled; You take away their breath, they die and return to their dust. You send forth Your Spirit, they are created; and You renew the face of the earth. (Psalm 104:29-30)

Seeing that our God is the Giver of life, He is the only One with the authority to take it justly. I say “justly” because, since the day when Cain murdered his brother, wicked men have taken it upon themselves to destroy the lives of others. They do so because they are of their father, the devil, who is a murderer from the beginning (John 8:44). In fact, if the Adversary and his minions had the power and authority to eradicate all life, there is no doubt that they would do so. So suffice it to say that, were it not for the protection, the goodness and the Presence of God, all life would perish.

Thankfully, as His people, we do not have to live in dread of those who would do us harm because we have this promise: “The Lord is with us. Do not fear them” (Numbers 14:9). That said, because we came from dust, we are destined to return to dust when God retrieves the breath He placed within us. However, thankfully, that is only a temporary situation for He has also promised that He will return the breath to us when He raises us up to life eternal. It is written that, in His hand is “the life of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind” (Job 12:10), meaning that only He can take life and then restore it. He is the One who holds the keys of Hades and Death (Revelation 1:18), which is to say that the realm of darkness has never, and will never be the final arbiter of where our soul will spend eternity.

It is written that the prophet Ezekiel was shown a vision of a valley littered with the bones of multiple dead. He is asked, “Son of man, can these bones live?” (Ezekiel 37:3). As the narrative continues, the prophet is instructed to prophesy to the wind and say, “O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord!” Then the Sovereign Lord declares, “Surely I will cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live” (Ezekiel 37:5). The point is that there is day appointed when the Lord will cause His breath to enter our sleeping bodies and raise us up to live with Him throughout eternity.

There have always been those who doubt the reality of the resurrection, and I would suggest that in so doing, they have insinuated that the Lord is not sovereign — that death is. But we know better; though we may go the way of the grave, if we are in Him, we will be awakened from our sleep by His Voice and the renewal of breath. And in that day it will be said, “Death is swallowed up in victory. O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?” (1 Corinthians 15:54-55).

Blessings and Shalom,  

Bill