Sheol

"He brings down to Sheol and he raises up," 1 Samuel 2:6.

(Wait - what's Sheol? Hades. The Grave. The place where dead people go.) So who brings down and raises up to and from Sheol? Jehovah God does. God takes dead people there. And God, God alone, raises up dead people to life. The dead have no capacity to raise themselves! (Nor does any fool zombie virus or drug or cryogenics.) The dead rot away into dust - that's why it's called death. Dust does not reintegrate itself into a living being. Dust hopes nothing. But! While he lived, Jesus professed to God: You will not abandon my soul to Sheol or let your holy one see decay. So in him, we, the living, hope.

As we visit a brother or sister today, we express our deepest hope in the power of our God. And together, we offer joyful thanksgivings that God raised Jesus up from Sheol.