Death Swallowed Up in Victory

A DEFINITE PROMISE OF blessings to all people through his “seed,” or offspring, was given to the Patriarch Abraham. To him God said, “In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.” (Gen. 22:18) Many centuries later, the Apostle Peter spoke of a future period, under the rulership of Christ, when there would be “times of restitution [restoration] of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.” (Acts 3:21) Peter then adds in verse twenty-five: “Ye are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed.” Thus the apostle reveals that the blessing, which God promised would come to all mankind in due time through the seed of Abraham is, in reality, their restoration and deliverance from sin and death in the “times of restitution of all things” during Christ’s kingdom.

The promise that God made to Abraham was reiterated to his son, Isaac, and his grandson, Jacob. (Gen. 26:1-4; 28:10-14) Jacob had twelve sons, and toward the end of his life he gathered them around him and pronounced individual blessings upon them, which took the form of prophecies. To his son Judah, Jacob said, “Thy father’s children shall bow down before thee. … The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.”—Gen. 49:8-10

The name Shiloh means tranquil, or peaceful. It is one of the Old Testament titles assigned to the seed of Abraham and suggests that this promised Deliverer, Christ Jesus, would be a peacemaker among the people, as well as a peacemaker between God and men, and would restore the harmony that existed before man transgressed divine law.

In Isaiah 25:6-9, we are presented with another promise descriptive of the blessings that will reach the people in the Messianic kingdom. One of these will be the destruction of death. The Lord will “swallow up death in victory,” the promise reads, and will “wipe away tears from off all faces.” Another blessing to reach the people through the administration of this government is described as the destruction of the “face of the covering cast over all people.” This is a “covering,” or veil, of superstition and misunderstanding pertaining to God and to his loving purpose in the creation of man, and his plan for restoring him to life.

Included in this covering, which at the present time hides divine truth from the people, are all the God-dishonoring theories arising out of Satan’s lies. We can thank God, however, that all the false notions which Satan has weaved into a covering and thrown over the eyes of the people will be removed. Moreover, since in this same kingdom death is to be “swallowed up in victory,” it will become true for the first time since the transgression in Eden that there is “no more death.” (Rev. 21:4) All the dead will be brought forth from the grave and be given the opportunity to live forever upon the earth.—John 5:28,29, Revised Standard Version