2:5 “I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord, and he heard me; out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardst my voice. For thou hadst cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas; and the floods compassed me about: all thy billows and thy waves passed over me. Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight; yet I will look again toward thy holy temple. The waters compassed me about, even to the soul: the depth closed me round about, the weeds were wrapped about my head.”
There is remembrance in death, and there is hope in death, but there is also the Cross of Calvary in death. We are given a greater understanding of the Cross of Christ in the place of death than we ever got in life. There is nothing there to take our mind off Calvary. We see the waters compassed Him about even to the soul. In life we saw the waters compass Him about in His body, even to His spirit, but in death we shall see that the waters compassed Him about even to the soul. Only the soul in death can understand and appreciate the way the waters compassed Him about even to His soul. And something of what we missed in life when we looked to the Cross will be seen in death, how the weeds wrapped about His head as He plunged to the bottom under the flood of the wrath of God against sin. But then it will be too late to cry “Repent,” to those in life. We will see – too late – the frightful penalty of sin, and we will wish to cry “Repent” to those still living yet we shall not be able. Those who go into death without Christ shall see and understand also to their horror the fearfulness of the wrath of God against sin, and they will know that they refused the free offer of salvation even as they see that Christ bore their sins too and they rejected Him as Saviour.
2:6 “I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord, and he heard me; out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardst my voice. For thou hadst cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas; and the floods compassed me about: all thy billows and thy waves passed over me. Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight; yet I will look again toward thy holy temple. The waters compassed me about, even to the soul: the depth closed me round about, the weeds were wrapped about my head. I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the earth with her bars was about me for ever: yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption, O Lord my God.”
There is remembrance in death, hope in death, the Cross of Christ in death, and consciousness of death in death. We will know we are dead. “I went down to the bottoms of the mountains.” We will not only understand and appreciate all that our Lord went through for us, we will understand and appreciate our own position. “The earth with her bars was about me for ever.” We will understand in the place of death the meaning of eternity, both eternal life and eternal death. To be put in prison for ever is too awful to contemplate. The soul of Christ in death is here expressing the hopelessness of those who die without hope, those who are not in Christ when they die, with the bars of that grim prison about them for ever. Thank God, then, for our hope! “Yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption, O Lord my God.” Our hope in death is based on the sure and certain knowledge that as God did not suffer His Holy One to see corruption, neither will He leave us in death forever. Christ rose from the dead, we will rise from the dead too. It is a sure hope, not only because God has told us so, but because our Lord is risen already.
2:7 “I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord, and he heard me; out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardst my voice. For thou hadst cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas; and the floods compassed me about: all thy billows and thy waves passed over me. Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight; yet I will look again toward thy holy temple. The waters compassed me about, even to the soul: the depth closed me round about, the weeds were wrapped about my head. I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the earth with her bars was about me for ever: yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption, O Lord my God. When my soul fainted within me I remembered the Lord: and my prayer came in unto thee, into thine holy temple.”
What is in death? Remembrance, hope, the Cross, consciousness of death – and prayer. We are not cut off from God in death. The thought of being cut off by death from God would make our souls to faint, but we are not cut off by death at all. Our prayer even in the place of death will come in unto God, and reach to His holy temple. Who will pray in death? Those who do not sleep. We are taught to watch and pray, rather than sleep, and Christ is our great example. He watched, He waited patiently, and He prayed, and His prayer came in unto God into His holy temple. Christ was not only faithful unto death, He was faithful even in death itself, faithful till the moment came when He should leave the place of death, faithful in resurrection, faithful in His promises to His disciples, faithful today in interceding for us. Will He be faithful in coming again for His own? Who can doubt it, seeing He was faithful even in death.
