“Yea, the sparrow has found an house, and the swallow a nest for herself,
where she may lay her young, even your altars,
O LORD of hosts, my King, and my God.”
Psalm 84:3
David thought that the animals were honored which were sacrificed on God's altar. He was right.
In this covenant, we, not animals, are honored to die. And this time, the death is death with Christ to this world and its ways. Paul rejoiced in it:
“I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless, I live. Yet, not I, but Christ is living in me; and the life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself up for me” (Gal. 2:20).
“But far be it from me to boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom the world is crucified to me, and I to the world” (Gal. 6:14).
And Paul exhorted us to follow him into the very great honor of this death to sin and self:
“I entreat you, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship” (Rom. 12:1).
Only the sweet Son of God, Jesus of Nazareth, could make death a blessing. But in him, everything is good, and if we are in him, even dying is desirable.
