Cancer Blog #66
By Brian Zimmerman
Begun on July 31, 2021
Email: dyingman1@yahoo.com
My Dying Words
Entry #66– The Removal of All Death
January 11, 2023
[Isaiah 25:6-8] 6 The LORD of hosts will prepare a lavish banquet for all peoples on this mountain; A banquet of aged wine, choice pieces with marrow, [And] refined, aged wine. 7 And on this mountain He will swallow up the covering which is over all peoples, Even the veil which is stretched over all nations. 8 He will swallow up death for all time, And the Lord GOD will wipe tears away from all faces, And He will remove the reproach of His people from all the earth; For the LORD has spoken.
Though I tend to personalize and individualize passages with promises and pronouncements on death – as many of us do – and find it worthwhile to meditate on our individual approach to the event of death, it still behooves us to remember also our great future hope of the fate of death in general. Here in this passage we are given a vision of what that fate will be. First, what God intends to happen is a celebration, a feast of rejoicing and gladness, of eating the best food and drinking the best wine. That is only the first positive, the second is a wiping away our tears of sorrow from all peoples, not just for the ethnic believing Israelites, but also the Gentile believers from all countries, indicating the great comfort that God will bring to us all. Further He will remove our reproach, our rejection and accusations and insults from those outside the covenant community against God’s people wherever they may be, not just those in Palestine. We may have an individual celebration of our personal deliverance, but there will also be a global demonstration of joy that we will share throughout the earth (and history) in the work of God for us. We will rejoice not just privately, for our individual deliverance, but as with worship, we will celebrate as a part of God’s people.
But, what is this work that causes such universal acclamation for the kindness and comfort of God? A swallowing of two things the passage tells us: first the swallowing of a covering. It isn’t entirely clear to me what that might be. Perhaps a curse, the reproach that the writer is going to mention next. Or, perhaps the ignorance that the apostle Paul refers to (in 2 Corinthians 3), replaced by the true understanding found ultimately in Christ? A third possibility is that the covering and the second item to be swallowed are one and the same. In any case, let’s continue on to the second item, which seems to be much clearer in its referent, viz., that which has been the enemy, the bête noir of the human race for the vast majority of its existence, that which causes so much worry and consternation, so much pain and sorrow (including tears to be wiped away), is the terrible item of death. And God promises that He will swallow it not for just a time, but for all time. Never again will any of the believing human race ever have to fear the affliction of death. It will be completely eliminated – not just stopped, but removed, made to disappear for all time. No wonder there is a great banquet to celebrate, to rejoice! How can we be told of such an occurrence and not want to stop whatever we’re doing and attend such a feast for such a reason! Our race’s greatest enemy will have been eliminated. And we are assured of this hope because the Lord has spoken it, and we in turn will speak great gladness and joy with Him in that wonderful feast!
Next: The Earth Gives Birth
Medical Update: Well, my oncologist has told me that it is possible that my adrenal glands (which produce the body’s prednisone (or called cortisol)) are shot. Or, it could be that the monoclonal antibody I’m taking (the Ramucirumab) is inhibiting them. In any case, my cortisol was measured and it’s extremely low, giving me most of the symptoms I’ve had for some time, particularly the lethargy. All of which brings me to his prescription: I have to go back on prednisone. I spent a long time weaning myself off of it, but it didn’t work. He wants me back on 20mg for several days, then alternating 20 and 15mg for a week or so, then dropping back to the 10mg that I have been on for a long time. I’ve started the regimen, and feel significantly better. This Friday (January 20) is my time off from treatment, then next Thursday (January 26) I’ll go for my status CT scan, and the next day, I go in to see the oncologist who’ll interpret the results and he’ll tell me what he thinks we should do, if anything.