“Your Dead Shall Live”

Read Isaiah 26:14, 19. What is the contrast between those who will

perish forever (Isa. 26:14; see also Mal. 4:1) and those who will

receive eternal life (Isa. 26:19)?

The book of Isaiah presents a major contrast between the majesty of

God and our human fragility (see Isaiah 40). Though we are like the

grass that withers and the flower that fades, the Word of God remains for-

ever (Isa. 40:6–8). Despite our human sinfulness, however, God’s saving

grace is available to all human beings and becomes effective even to the

Gentiles who embrace His covenant and keep the Sabbath (Isaiah 56).

In the book of Isaiah, the hope of the resurrection is broadened sig-

nificantly. While previous biblical allusions to the resurrection were

expressed more from personal perspectives (Job 19:25–27, Ps. 49:15,

Ps. 71:20), the prophet Isaiah speaks of it as including both himself and

the covenantal community of believers (Isa. 26:19).

Isaiah 26 contrasts the distinct destinies of the wicked and the righ-

teous. On one side, the wicked will remain dead, without ever being

brought to life again, at least after the “second death” (Rev. 21:8). They

will be completely destroyed, and all their memory will perish forever

(Isa. 26:14). This passage underscores the teaching that there are no

surviving souls or spirits that remain alive after death. Speaking about

the final destruction of the wicked, which comes later, the Lord stated

elsewhere that the wicked will be completely burned up, leaving them

“ ‘neither root nor branch’ ” (Mal. 4:1, NKJV).

On the other side, the righteous dead will be raised from death to

receive their blessed reward. Isaiah 25 highlights that the Lord God “will

swallow up death forever” and “will wipe away tears from all faces” (Isa.

25:8, NKJV). In Isaiah 26 we find the following words: “Your dead shall

live; together with my dead body they shall arise. Awake and sing, you

who dwell in dust; for your dew is like the dew of herbs, and the earth

shall cast out the dead” (Isa. 26:19, NKJV). All the resurrected righteous

will participate in the joyful feast that the Lord will prepare for all people

(Isa. 25:6). The final resurrection will bring together all the righteous

from all ages, including your beloved ones who already died in Christ.

Imagine if we didn’t have any hope, any assurance, any reason to

think that our death was anything but the end of everything for us.

And then, even worse, anyone who ever knew us would be gone, and

soon it would be as if we never existed and our lives never meant any-

thing at all. How does this fate contrast with the hope that we have?