DEATH HAS BEEN SWALLOWED UP IN VICTORY.
In the name + of Jesus.
I was listening to the radio in my car the
other day, and I heard it reported that the first death by West Nile Virus was
confirmed in Michigan. If it was the
first such death and it is already September, that’s pretty rare. The fact that I could say, “I know who that
was,” is even more rare. For over a
week, you were hoping for better test results and for a happier outcome. We said prayers for her recovery. We asked for healing so that she could return
home. We committed her to the Lord’s
care.
It may not have looked like it, but Cheryl
Crenshaw was in the Lord’s care the whole time.
Psalm 139 says, “In your book all of them were written. Days were determined, before any of them
existed” (Psalm 139:16). It may have
been rare that the Lord used West Nile Virus to mark the end of Cheryl’s time
on earth, but the Lord had this date marked out from the very beginning. The Lord had never lost control. Although you may not be happy about the outcome
of her stay at the hospital, Cheryl Crenshaw is enjoying the most blessed
outcome every Christian hopes for—life in everlasting glory.
From our side of heaven, it does not look
glorious. How could it? Death seems to have claimed victory because
it has claimed a loved one. In fact,
death seems to have taunted Cheryl and boasted of victory for a long time. Death claimed her beloved, Bob, some 26 years
ago. Death claimed an infant son from her even before that. And although
Cheryl’s various ailments and health concerns did not result in death, they
were a continual reminder that bodies fail and death awaits us all.
Everyone knows that all people will
die. No one gets out of this world alive. Cheryl’s death certificate may say something
related to West Nile Virus, but the Bible tells us why all people die. “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). Not everyone gets West Nile Virus, but everyone
is a sinner. Since everyone is a sinner,
and since death comes as a result of sin, death claims victory over all of
us.
Or so it seems.
“Thanks be to God, who gives us the
victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:57)! God the Father has had mercy upon us in
our sinful condition and sent his Son to rescue us from the tyranny of
death. Our joy is not merely that Jesus
Christ wins us eternal life, but that he brings to us the resurrection from the
dead.
If Jesus had come just to give us eternal
life and we would go on living forever in this world, just imagine the sorrows
and pains that we would endure without end!
How many wars, how many natural disasters, how many pandemics, how many
injuries, how many doctor’s appointments would we have to live through? So, Jesus does not just clear out the hospitals
from time to time, sending people home only to become more weary and more
frustrated over a world that never gets better.
The Lord loves you too much to let you go on and on with life in a
sin-corrupted world.
God the Father sent Jesus Christ to swallow
up death in victory. To do that, Jesus
had to take away our sin. He bore our
sin in his body when he went to the cross.
There, he absorbed the curse for all of it. Since Jesus has taken your curse and died for
your sin, he has rescued you from its condemnation. Cheryl Crenshaw stood before God in judgment
when she left this world, but the Lord had already told her what her judgment
would be: “There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus”
(Romans 8:1). Having been baptized
into Christ, Cheryl already died once. Sin
was put to death in her, and God raised her up a saint. She was purified and clothed in Jesus’ righteousness. She may not have known when her last day
would be, but she did know what her future was because Jesus secured it for her. Death has been swallowed up in victory, and
life eternal is the prize.
Although Cheryl’s baptism gave her the
status of a saint, her body was not quite there yet. These bodies of ours are still corrupted. With Cheryl, that was evidenced by her
getting tired, walking with a cane, and contracting a virus. But the Savior shows us that neither sin nor
death has the last word. Jesus went into
death in order to put an end to its rule over us. Jesus was laid in a grave with a body that
was bruised, beaten, flogged, and pierced.
It could not have been pretty.
Jesus let the grave swallow him so that he could destroy it from the inside
out. Jesus burst forth and swallowed death
in victory. When Jesus rose from the dead,
he came with a body that was glorified.
His mortal body was raised immortal—forever victorious over death and
decay. Jesus did not merely overcome
death; now he owns it.
This is the victory Jesus won for Cheryl
and for all who believe and are baptized.
This body, which has been reduced to dust and ashes, will be restored at
the resurrection. On that day, it will
return in glory. As St. Paul wrote, “Once
this perishable body has put on imperishability, and this mortal body has put
on immortality, then what is written will be fulfilled: Death is swallowed up
in victory” (1 Corinthians 15:54). Cheryl
will not only have eternal life, she will have a risen body that will be imperishable. It will never get sick or grow frail. She will have a risen body that will be immortal. She will never die again, for she has a living
Savior who promises that she will live with him. He has swallowed up death in victory.
Maybe it seems like death mocks us and
taunts us, but Jesus has turned the tables on death. Now we get to mock death and taunt the grave:
“Death, where is your sting? Grave,
where is your victory” (1 Corinthians 15:55)? Grave, do you boast that you hold Cheryl’s
ashes? Go ahead. We will get them back. Death, do you think you have won a
victory? You are nothing but the door to
heavenly glory. For all who live in
Christ live forever. Here, we live in
weakness; there, we live in glory. “Death,
where is your sting? Grave, where is
your victory” (1 Corinthians 15:55)?
In the end, you get nothing. The
victory belongs to Jesus Christ and all those who are his.
Death has been swallowed up in victory. Whatever weaknesses Cheryl had to endure are over. Whatever sorrows she faced have passed. Whatever struggles she knew she does not have to deal with anymore. Her anxieties are done. Now there is only peace and joy and rest. And soon comes the resurrection where she will be risen, rejuvenated, and restored, body and soul, to live in the new heavens and the new earth where all things are new. “Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:57)!
In the name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy
Spirit. Amen.
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