II Corinthians 1:7 “For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life: 9 But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead: 10 Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us;”
The Lord makes it clear that we should expect to have many great troubles in our life of service to Him; He put it this way, “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” (Matthew 16:24); that is, be willing and ready to endure great tribulation and sufferings (our “cross”) in our Lord’s service. Paul illustrates his point that the Lord is always our “consolation”, by sharing how he and those with him were consoled and helped when the Lord had “delivered” them “from so great a death”. He explains that they “were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life” and they “had the sentence of death in” themselves; that is, their trouble was so bad that they simply could not bear it, it required more “strength” than what they had, it was so bad that they began to think that it might be better to die, and they thought they were going to die. Paul wanted the “brethren” to know about this “trouble” and how the Lord had “delivered them from so great a death” so that we might be comforted and consoled in our times of great trouble. He explains that, by this awful experience, they learned “that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead”; that is, the God of our consolation even has the power to raise “the dead”, so He has the necessary power to deliver us no matter how serious our troubles may be. In their own minds, they were as good as dead; so, essentially, the Lord had indeed raised them from “the dead”. Therefore, based upon the promises of the Lord and their own experience, Paul concluded that it was our Lord “Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us;”; that is, He has “delivered” us in past troubles, He is delivering us right now, and He “will yet deliver us” in our future troubles that we are sure to encounter in His service (John 16:33).