“May 21, 2024 - Victory in Jesus”

Monday, May 20, 2024

Victory in Jesus

Reading:  1 Corinthians 15:50-58
    
    Paul’s teaching on the resurrection reaches a crescendo here.  “I tell you this, brothers:  flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable”(1 Cor 15:50).  We must be made immortal to receive the ultimate blessings God has planned for us.  “Behold!  I tell you a mystery.  We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.  For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed”(1 Cor 15:51-52).  Not everyone will die, but the resurrection means that all of us will be changed together.  If we do die before that moment, we can remain confident that we will be raised and transformed as well.  The change will be instant—“in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye”—at the end.

     This is huge.  It fulfills this great promise from Isaiah:  “Death is swallowed up in victory”(1 Cor 15:54, Isa 25:8).  It fulfills this triumphant statement from Hosea:  “O death, where is your victory?  O death, where is your sting?”(1 Cor 15:55, Hos 13:14).  God has long foretold the conquering of death and has begun to fulfill it in Jesus’ resurrection.  Paul explains:  “The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.  But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ”(1 Cor 15:56-57).  Jesus eliminates sin through his sacrifice and fulfills the law.  He has defeated death from the inside.  Now we live free from sin and free from the law—and will someday live free from death.  God “gives us the victory” he has achieved over death.

     Death is our great enemy.  We are powerless before it.  Worse, we deserve death for our sin and can do nothing to avoid this disaster.  Death also consigns our works to oblivion:  what good are my daily choices to help others and live a holy life if I am just going to the grave?  This is the great power of the resurrection.  Jesus has defeated death and now God “gives us the victory.”   We will live again.  Our sins are removed.  And we are deeply motivated for daily service to Jesus because “in the Lord your labor is not in vain”(1 Cor 15:58).

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One Thing to Think About:  What will life be like without death?

One Thing to Pray For:  Endurance to keep abounding in Jesus’ work until he returns
 

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