Articles by Desiring God The Day Death Tried to Swallow Life
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Apr 5, 2026 A reflective Easter meditation that treats Death as a character in Scripture and literature. Short reflections compare Solomon, Shakespeare, and Aslan to show humanity’s subjection before the resurrection. The talk traces the seeming triumph of crucifixion, the empty tomb’s revelation, and the hope that Christ’s rising breaks death’s grip and points to its final end.
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Death's Universal Reign Before Easter
- The podcast personifies Death to highlight how Easter flips humanity's hopeless trajectory under the sun.
- Clinton Manley traces literary and biblical voices (Isaiah, Solomon, Macbeth) to show death's universal, crushing reign before Christ.
Good Friday Looked Like Death's Triumph
- Manley retells Good Friday as death's apparent triumph when Jesus is crucified and laid in the tomb.
- He uses imagery (gullet, maw, Aslan on the stone table) to depict Death celebrating a seeming victory over the Lord of life.
The Empty Tomb Exposes Death's Miscalculation
- Easter's empty tomb reverses that scene: the living cannot be found among the dead, exposing Death's miscalculation.
- Manley argues Death swallowed immortality when it swallowed Christ and therefore couldn't hold him.
