On this mountain he will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations. Isaiah 25:7
The Shroud
For thousands of years, people have used a shroud to bury their dead. A shroud is a type of cloth that covers the body. There are practical reasons for using a shroud. Wrapping a body in one helps stabilize it, making it easier to carry. A shrouded body is more sanitary to handle. Most important, however, is that the shroud is a way by which family members could give the body of their loved one a level of dignity and respect.
From time immemorial, therefore, the shroud has been a symbol for death. In paintings, literature, poetry, and song, artists have used the word “shroud” to describe things that are dark, foreboding, tragic, inevitable.
But then along comes the Lord Almighty, through the prophet Isaiah. He sees our world—the world our sin has ruined. He sees our world of decay, our world of disease, our world of injury and broken bones and violence and accidents and natural disasters and old age and decline and death. He sees it all. Then he makes a stunning promise. He promises to destroy the shroud. He promises to ensure that the shroud of death does not have the final word.
Seven centuries after Isaiah’s words, God himself came to this earth in the person of Jesus Christ. He came to destroy the power of death. To do so, he lived a sinless life on our behalf. Then he took the cause of death—our sin—and paid for it on the cross. Then he died.
After his death, loving hands covered his body in a shroud and placed it in a tomb. But the cross, the tomb, and the shroud did not have the final word. Three days later, the tomb was empty, and so was the shroud.
And so let the world around us continue to speak of the finality of the shroud, the casket, and the cremation urn. You and I know better. Jesus lives. And in him, we will too.
Prayer:
Lord Jesus, you are the death of death. Praise be to your holy name. Amen.
