The Last Enemy to Be Destroyed

“Ralph Hawkins’ The Last Enemy to Be Destroyed offers a hopeful Lenten journey through Scripture, exploring Christ’s ultimate conquest of death itself. Hawkins poignantly reminds us that, ‘because of Jesus’s victory, we’ve got more future than we do past.’ Enhanced by Sarah Hawkins’ twenty evocative illustrations, this accessible work traces death’s defeat from Genesis to Revelation. It provides a valuable resource for anyone seeking to understand this crucial aspect of the gospel and find freedom from the fear of mortality through Christ’s victory.”


—Bryan C. Hollon, dean and president, Trinity Anglican Seminary





“Lamenting Americans’ tendency to deny death, Ralph Hawkins urges his readers to recognize its destructive power, while at the same time focusing on Jesus as the one who defeats death by death. The Last Enemy to Be Destroyed offers a richly informed Protestant account of the meaning of Christ’s death as a substitutionary sacrifice. As an insightful guide steeped both in ancient Near Eastern cultures and in the Scriptures, Hawkins takes his readers on a hopeful Lenten journey to the final defeat of death.”


—Hans Boersma, chair in ascetical theology, Nashotah House Theological Seminary





“It is a great gift when a scholar brings his or her knowledge to the work of a pastor, when a pastor exercises his or her ministry with the acumen of a scholar. In The Last Enemy to Be Destroyed, the Rev. Dr. Hawkins leads us thoughtfully and pastorally on a path that allows us to look squarely at our mortality—the worm at the core of our existence, the elephant in every room—and to grasp the victory over death that Jesus has won for us.”


—David A. deSilva, trustees’ distinguished professor of New Testament and Greek, Ashland Theological Seminary





“At a time when we take great pains to avoid facing the reality of death, Hawkins invites his readers to lay hold of the biblical witness concerning the place of death in the economy of salvation. Just as death entered by means of Adam’s sin, so is it overcome by the victory of Christ on the cross who promises life everlasting to those he gathers into his mystical body. At once substantive and accessible, this devotional text is an ideal companion for the Lenten season.”


—Alexander H. Pierce, assistant professor of historical theology, North American Lutheran Seminary





“In stark contrast to the modern notion that death is the wholly natural end of our wholly material lives, Scripture makes clear that death is our enemy—indeed, our final enemy. In this lovely book, Ralph Hawkins comforts his readers through the biblical story of God’s destruction of death ‘by death,’ culminating in death’s final defeat by our Lord Jesus Christ.”


—Joel Scandrett, associate professor of theology, Trinity Anglican Seminary