Trajedy or Glory

Death - the ultimate statistic, the great taboo (at least in the West), the source of grief, loss, and tragedy.

Can there be any good in it?

Curiously there are times when God seems to actively bring it on. Exodus 14:4 records 'and I will gain glory through Pharaoh and all his army'. That would be Pharaoh and his army heading out to a mass watery death. A tragedy for the rest of the Egyptian people.

And John 11:4 has Jesus saying, 'This illness will not end in death. No it is for God's glory so that God's Son may be glorified through it'. Allowing the death to proceed - tragedy for Mary, Martha and others at the time.

Both stories bring death: both bring with them grief, loss, a sense of tragedy.

And yet through both 'glory' for God.

That seems odd to us, death doesn't sound that glorious. Yet both these stories show the power of God: over the threat of death in the Exodus example and literally over death in the case of Lazarus.

So these deaths bring a realisation by humans that God is God, He is in charge, above all, and that includes life and death itself.


In the Western world we now seem to keep death at bay for as long as possible. Yet even in death God's glory is manifest and can be seen.