“Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace.” —Luke 2:29 ESV
Departing, in the original Greek, carried the idea of being released from an assignment. But people of that day applied this word to how a Christian should think about death.
To “depart” was sometimes used in speaking of a prisoner released from his chains. Isn’t that what happens when a child of God dies? We’re released from bondage to sin, from broken bodies that hinder the freedom we feel inside.
It also referred to a ship untied from its mooring. Isn’t that what happens when a child of God dies? Having been held fast in place, we feel the rope fall away, freeing us to head toward our desired destination.
For a believer, death is release, freedom, passage, home. To live in true reality, for a Christian, is to live with an eagerness and expectancy of final uniting with Him. That’s what I sense in Simeon’s song, a freedom entirely dependent on that baby in his arms. The One whose birth we’ve celebrated this season is both our means of life and our liberation in death.
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The First Songs of Christmas: A 31-Day Advent Devotional: Meditations on Luke 1 & 2 ©2018 Revived Hearts Foundation
Scripture taken from The ESV
Make it Personal
How can the certainty of life forever with Jesus impact the way you approach your current difficulties each day?