[54]When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: "Death has been swallowed up in victory." [55]
"Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?" [56]The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.
Are you afraid of dieing? Does death seam like the ultimate unknown to you? Let me tell you a short story.
God had a plan from the very begining (do you ever wonder when the begining was? It was a long time ago that's for sure!) When the time was right, he came to us in the body of a man whom his earthly mother named Jesus. Jesus walked our earth and felt our human pains. He even felt the pains of sin when he lifted your sins onto his back in Gethsemane. You know this story, I'm sure. But there's more - the best part.
Jesus took our sin--the sin of all humanity--on his shoulders and he bore it to a hill where separation from God broke his heart and killed him. But that was not the end. When Jesus said, "It is finished," he didn't mean it's over. He didn't say, that's all there is left of me. He said, it is finished! I did it! It's done! He said, Victory is mine! I've paid the price. And then he died.
Jesus was laid away in a tomb just before the Sabbath, and after the Sabbath he rose up from the dead. He conquered the grave, and the ultimate plan of salvation was complete. Jesus conquered the grave.
So what does this mean to us? It means that a) we are sinners saved by grace, b) Jesus knows about death. The second of these I will emphasize. Jesus lived on this earth in complete obedience to Father God. When he took up his cross and died on it, his obedience to the Father was complete - he lay down his life and became obedient even to death. Paul sums this up quite thoroughly in Phillipians 2:
[6]Who [Christ], being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, [7]but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness. [8]And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross!
-Phillippians 2:6-8
What then is the result of Christ's obedience to death? Let's read on through the next few verses:
[9] Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name,
[10] that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, [11] and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Wow. Because Christ was fully obedient, even to death, God the Father gave him the victory and exalted him. (It wasn't a small exaltation either). Jesus was victorious over death!
[9]For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. -Romans 6:9
Where, O Death is your sting? Where is your victory?! Why do you fear death? Why are you afraid to suffer? Jesus done it already. Why do we fear for those about to die? Jesus holds the keys of death itself!
If you don't find this exciting then please, wake up!
God holds the keys to hell and one day he will open that place for Satan. Jesus holds the keys to death and one day, many of us who are now alive will die. Many have already died. It will be disputed possibly till Jesus returns what will happen to us when we die, but be at peace in your heart, because Jesus is victorious over even death itself.
When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: "Death has been swallowed up in victory." -1 Corinthians 15:54
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