Calvary Chapel Dumaguete
Every day, all of us march closer towards our gravesite. Every minute is a minute closer to our interment. The reality of death in this fallen world has become even more tangible as the death toll of the CoViD-19 pandemic rises.
Some of the highest-paying professions make it their business to try and slow down death. Even with all the money at stake, even with how advanced we have become in the field of medicine, death still reigns. No one has been able to stop it. No one is exempt from the horror of death, as it shows us that life is fragile and short.
The Bible says in Romans 5:12 and 1 Corinthians 15:21 that death came into the world when Adam sinned against God at the Garden of Eden. God commanded Adam to not eat of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil in Genesis 2:17, but he disobeyed after his wife Eve was deceived, according to Genesis 3:6.
Today we continue to experience the consequences of Adam’s sin. The wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23a), and as Adam’s children, Adam’s guilt has been transmitted to us. We are sinners because we sin, and we sin because we have inherited the fallen, sinful nature. Just as God had warned in His command to Adam, the words “you shall surely die” applies to all who are born.
This is a problem man cannot resolve by himself. We are utterly incapable of escaping the clutches of death by our own effort. Our attempts to save ourselves from this death sentence are futile.
The solution, therefore, must come from outside of us, and this is why God sent His Son Jesus.
Jesus is the God-man who lived a perfectly obedient life to God the Father. Though He was sinless, innocent, and perfect, He died a criminal’s death on the cross to pay for the sins we could not pay for on our own. He was buried and after three days, He rose from the dead, defeating sin, death, and hell.
The resurrection of Jesus Christ is where death was finally conquered. Besides the notable exceptions of Enoch and Elijah, death had an unbeaten kill streak since Adam’s sin. That kill streak was put to an end when Jesus resurrected.
Jesus literally put death to death. He gave death a taste of its own medicine when he rose from the dead. Not only did he die for us, He killed death for us.
When Jesus rose, He rose with a body that had been transformed from humility to glory. This is what Paul meant when he, in 1 Corinthians 15:42-43, said, “What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory.”
Christ’s resurrection does not mean we will no longer face death, but that death no longer has power over us. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:54-55, “Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”
Moreover, in Philippians 3:21, Paul tells us that when Jesus comes, He will, “transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself”.
Death could not hold Christ. Jesus beat death. He beat death not only for Himself but for all who are in Christ. Because of that truth, Jesus has turned death into a time, and a place of rejoicing. Through the resurrection, Jesus has redefined what death means for a Christian. Death has become the best thing that can happen to a Christian.
Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:6-8, “So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord.”
The best thing that can happen to a Christian is to be with Christ. Paul in Philippians 1:23 tells us, “My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better.”
In other words, there is no joy in this world which can compare to the joy of being with the LORD. You see, what makes heaven so wonderful is not the streets of gold or the pearly gates, but Jesus. The psalmist in Psalm 73:25 says, “Whom have I in heaven but you?”
The glorious hope of being in the presence of God is ours because of the resurrection. If you do not have this hope yet, turn to Jesus today. Trust and believe in His finished work on the cross and His resurrection to save you.
In Revelation 1:18 Jesus said, “I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.”
This world of death is temporary, but we have a living hope which lasts forever because of the Living One who is alive forevermore.
