1 Corinthians 15:55 - Death: R.I.P.
We are here today to announce the passing of a faithful attender of this church for many years. In fact this faithful one has been coming virtually since this church began. Although he’s not here every single week, we are often reminded of his presence. He hasn’t long to live, to be sure. Not much breath is left in his lungs. He is certainly only on life support. And in fact, there is soon coming a day when he will be just a memory.
Yet we do not mourn his soon demise. In fact, we say, “The sooner the better.” Who is this faithful church attender? His name is Death, and he will soon be gone from us. Because of what Jesus did on Easter Sunday by rising from the grave.
Today we will look at the life and times of death. How did he come into being? How has he spent his life? And what was the final blow that ended his up on life support, barely hanging on until the day he is no more?
It all began in a garden called Eden. I believe I can pinpoint the exact date of death’s birth! It was conceived in Adam and Eve’s temptation and birthed the moment Adam & Eve sinned. For Romans 5:12 says this: “Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned.” The parent of death is sin. The consequence of sin is death. Death comes for all who have sinned, which is frankly all of us.
You see, there once was a time before death’s birth that this old world was a pleasant place to live. There were no thorns; no thistles. No pain. No hard labor. The fruit of the land yielded itself willingly. The human body was made perfectly to last throughout eternity. But Death changed all that! He brought along with him thorns, thistles, pain and hard work. The human body began to decay and deteriorate.
Well, it wasn’t long before Death took his first victim, once again, as a result of sin. You’ve heard of Cain and Abel, the two brothers who had a dispute over how to please God. Cain introduced his brother Abel to Death out of jealousy. The Bible says death was crouching at Cain’s door, and Cain opened up that door. So Death came to Abel as a result of Cain’s sin. No different today. Innocent people everywhere suffer and die because of others’ selfishness. Death is the consequence of sin.
Well, we continue to look at Death’s long and exciting life. He became quite famous. At just the mention of his name, people learned to cower in fear. They began to look for ways to avoid him.
For example, Sarah Winchester’s husband had acquired a fortune by manufacturing and selling rifles. After he died of influenza in 1918, she moved to San Jose, California.
Sarah was convinced that the dead souls of the many Indians who lost their lives because of Winchester rifles haunted her. Sarah sought out a medium to contact her dead husband. The medium told her, “As long as you keep building your home, you will never face death.”
Sarah believed the spiritist, so she bought an unfinished 17-room mansion and started to expand it. The project continued until she died at the age of 85. It cost 5 million dollars at a time when workmen earned 50 cents a day. The mansion had 150 rooms, 13 bathrooms, 2,000 doors, 47 fireplaces, and 10,000 windows. And Mrs. Winchester left enough materials so that they could have continued building for another 80 years.
Today that house stands as more than a tourist attraction. It is a silent witness to the power that Death has, to hold millions of people in fear. In fact, Hebrews 2:14-15 says that a solution was needed to free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of Death. For quite some time Death had a stranglehold of people’s lives.
But that changed one day. One day it was as if God Himself looked at His watch and said, “It is time.” The Bible says in Galatians 4:4 – “But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law.” This son, Jesus, was born into the old order of things. Where sin and death were the law, as Romans 8:2 tells us. Sin and Death ran the show. You couldn’t avoid or escape either one.
Well it took 30 years for Death to realize he had met his match, but it happened. Jesus began doing miracles. Raising people from the grave, to be precise. This had happened in the Old Testament occasionally. And Death certainly felt cheated then, too. I mean, Elijah, who had raised a boy from the grave, was transported to heaven without ever dying. How cheatful could that be? But aha, Death did the final say with Elisha, the other dead-raiser back then. Elisha died, and so did the people he brought back to life. Elijah was a minor hiccup for Death, but Death won in the end.
Until Jesus. Jesus seemed to be different. He didn’t seem to be afraid of Death. As if Jesus knew something Death didn’t. As if Jesus was not afraid to lay His life down anytime He wanted to. Well, Death decided to wait because his partner Sin was working overtime. The religious leaders began to hate Jesus and decided, like Cain, to introduce an innocent man to Death. Partly out of jealousy and hatred, but partly to protect the honor of God, which they thought Jesus was disgracing.
Well, Death met Jesus head on one Good Friday. Hebrews 2:9 says Jesus tasted Death and suffered Death. Philippians 2:8 says Jesus became obedient to Death. This man, who had raised Lazarus just weeks before, couldn’t seem to save Himself. The man who performed Death-defeating miracles became just another victim to Death’s tactics. Jesus didn’t faint. Jesus died that day. And Death rejoiced!
But God’s plans were a lot more subtle than what Death, or anyone, could see. Jesus died as an innocent man, in another person’s place. The man scheduled to die was named Barabbas. But Jesus took his place. Now, the name Barabbas literally means “son of father.” That is, anyone who’s alive a child of their father. Anyone of us could have that name, child of father. So when Jesus died in Barabbas’ place, He died in everyone’s place. Jesus took the death sentence for every one of us. Death didn’t count on that. Jesus dying once for everyone?
But the full extent of God’s plan appeared at the crack of dawn on Sunday morning. Death was still wallowing in his victory when an angel came to Jesus’ grave. This is odd, thought Death. The angel blinded the guards and they fell unconscious. The angel then heaved the stone away from the grave. Whether Jesus was in there and then walked out, or He wasn’t there at all, I can’t say. All I know is that where Jesus had lay, there were simply grave clothes, burial wrappings. Jesus was no longer dead. He was alive! Jesus spoke with his companions, his loved ones, his family and friends for some 40 days after that Easter Sunday. This was confirmed by eyewitnesses and was spread around the world.
Romans 1 says that the resurrection confirmed that Jesus was indeed the Son of God, an immortal who stepped into this mortal world, took on human flesh, and suffered what all flesh suffers… Death. But as they say, you can’t keep a good man down. The day that Jesus rose from the grave was the day Death got its sentence of Death. And we can say, as Paul did, quoting Hosea 13 from the Old Testament, “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?”
So what did Jesus do to defeat Death? Romans 6:9-11 gives us a clue. V9 – “For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him.” You see, since He defeated Death once, but then was raised with a glorified, immortal, imperishable body, He cannot suffer Death again. So then, Paul says this about Jesus’ new life: “The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.”
And then, Paul says this about us: “In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.” Understand that as followers of the Death-Defeater, we are guaranteed victory. Because Sin and Death have no permanent power over us, we can walk in new life. We can walk not as slaves to sin and fear. It’s promised to us.
So where does Death fit into our lives today? If Jesus defeated Death on Easter Sunday, how is it that we still die? What Jesus did back then, as I said, was put Death on Death Row, approaching the judgement day. He put Death on life support, still around but not with the power and energy it once had. 2 Timothy 1:9-10 holds a key to understanding this: “This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.”
The word “destroyed” is better translated “rendered useless or powerless”. That is, Jesus took the sting out of Death. He removed the finality of it, the harshness of it. Because, now, when a believer dies, he immediately enters into God’s presence. For the believer, Death is not a curse but, a blessing.” The famous Baptist pastor D.L. Moody used to say, “Some day, you will read in the papers that D.L. Moody of East Northfield is dead. Don’t believe a word of it! At that moment I shall be more alive than I am now!”
So as we prepare to say goodbye to the faithful church attender known as Death, let’s remind ourselves of the final outcome. 1 Cor.15:26 – “The last enemy to be destroyed is death.” We turn to the book of Revelation for that final destruction: Rev.20:13 – “Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death.” Hades is the place of the dead. Hades is called the grave in the OT. That is, the waiting room for the final judgement. So, Death and the grave will one day be swallowed up in victory. The victory belongs to Jesus, and if we belong to Jesus, that victory belongs to us as well.
Easter Sunday is more than chocolate bunnies and colored eggs. Easter is the day Death entered Death Row. His time is running short because Christ is the winner. Easter reminds us of the new and fresh start God gives us over Sin and Death.
So what about you today? Do you live in fear of Death? Are you still a slave to it? Are you still a slave to the tomb, the old way of life you came in here with? Do you need a new life? A resurrection? A new start? Will you let Jesus change your life? Will you let Him give you victory over the fear of death? Will you let Him give you victory over the sin that so easily entangles you?
(With many thanks to the author of the sermon "The Day Death Died".)
NOTE: We had cardboard tombstones set up around the stage because our kids’ Easter musical that morning. At the appropriate time, I picked one of them up, and as I threw it down on the ground, I said, "O death, where is your sting?" It was a powerful illustration.
