So I hated life, because what is done under the sun was grievous to me, for all is vanity and a striving after wind.” (Eccl. 2:17) If this living-death is all we have to look forward to, then our past, present, and future are hopeless and futile, a cursed existence.

Spring is one of my favorite seasons. In particular, I enjoy being surprised by our elm tree. It looks very scraggly in the winter and then, all of a sudden, tiny, new green leaves emerge. And before you know it, the tree is covered in a canopy of bright, green, and glorious foliage, which provides much appreciated shade and beauty. The new life that is seen each year is a picture of how lovely the new life we have in Jesus Christ is.

The Lord is the one who possesses and gifts life to all creation.

The first verses of the Bible are overflowing with life. In Genesis we learn that the Lord is the one who possesses and gifts life to all creation: plants, animals, and all creation find their existence by his Word and will. The particular care God takes of gifting life to man is noted in Genesis 2:7, “Then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.” And the breath of God is that which gives this life.

Unfortunately, man turns from this life-giving trajectory established by God, the one who is life, and decides instead to entertain a friendship with a murderer, the evil one (John 8:44). This rebellion plunges all mankind into a state of living-death; while we may be walking, talking, breathing, and thinking, we are spiritually dead, separated from the life of God that knows no darkness, deterioration, or death.

We see the signs of death everywhere around us.

Life after separation from God culminates in a physical death and final separation from God in judgment. Every day then is “lived” as a walk toward death, each day is a bit closer to closing the deal…

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