No longer overcome with fear of death
But let me reveal to you a wonderful secret. We will not all die, but we will all be transformed! It will happen in a moment, in the blink of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown. For when the trumpet sounds, those who have died will be raised to live forever. And we who are living will also be transformed. For our dying bodies must be transformed into bodies that will never die; our mortal bodies must be transformed into immortal bodies. Then, when our dying bodies have been transformed into bodies that will never die, this Scripture will be fulfilled: “Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” 1 Corinthians 15:51-55 When the Lord Jesus Christ was still on this earth, the religious leaders were skeptics to his claim that He is the Messiah, the Son of God. Yet, they will not be persuaded despite of what Jesus was doing; the healing, miracles, and the messages He was proclaiming claiming that what the Old Testament prophesied has now being fulfilled by His coming. They demanded Him to show them a sign to prove His authority. But instead of a sign, He rebuked them from their unbelief and told them about Jonah from the Old Testament. “Only an evil, adulterous generation would demand a miraculous sign; but the only sign I will give them is the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was in the belly of the great fish for three days and three nights, so will the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights” (Matthew 12:39-40). Jesus showed to the religious leaders that what happened to Jonah in the Old Testament was a picture of what will happen to the Messiah. The difference is that the Messiah will die and be buried, “in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights,” but will rise again and will no longer die and remain alive forever. The fact that Christ fulfilled this sign He told the religious leaders, it provided those that placed their trust in Christ and made Him their Lord and Savior assurance that they too will be resurrected from the dead. This is what the apostle Paul was declaring from the text. Death is man’s persistent enemy over the centuries. No one, regardless of wealth, status in life, health has been able to defeat death. As soon one is born death becomes a certainty. There were many attempts done and until now being pursued trying to develop an antidote for death, yet death has not been overcome. “And just as each person is destined to die once and after that comes judgment” (Hebrews 9:27). The fact of of the resurrection is God’s answer to man’s dilemma regarding death. Christ’s resurrection proved that death has been defeated! Now He assures those that trusted Him that they will share in His victory; they need not fear death. Death now is not something to be feared but becomes a transition that frees those who trusted Him to experience the glorious, heavenly presence of God. Death will temporarily remove you from those you love but it places you in the presence of the One who loves you most. He is the One that gave His life so you could be in His presence and God’s glory is His presence. Death now has no power to rob you of the eternal life, your inheritance as a child of God. Now that you are in Christ, you can have the same confidence the apostle Paul expressed for death has been “swallowed up in victory.” “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”
Blessings,
