When God Destroys Death

Introduction: Paul in our text declares what is the very heart of the gospel, that death, man’s last enemy will one day be destroyed. Death, the cessation of human life. The grim reaper. The disrobing of our human vestures. The crumbling of our earthly tabernacle. The broken shell and the deposited seed. Death is interwoven in every aspect of human life. Our earthly state is characterized by constant dying. The birth of a new born baby is marred only by the immediate grip of the hand of death. The old die. The young die. Animals die. Even in the inanimate realm, plants wither and things decay. We are daily victims of death. Whatever we were yesterday, we are not today. In each of our earthly frame, the law of decadence and mortality are constantly at work. Each funeral reminds us that the same thief that stole our love ones will someday creep into our own comfort zone. Everything in the seen realm is changing, it is why the bible says to be carnal minded is death. In a strange way death is a human neccessity. We feed on death and by our own death become food for future existence. Death in a peculiar way provides for heaven a greater harvest.The more humans die the greater the resurrection. The greater the resurrection, the greater will be heaven’s harvest. Large amounts of money is spent trying to cover the pale face of death. The bible is a written record of birth and death. It was not a part of God’s original plan but resulted from human sin. It is an intruder, an invader, an ememy in the plan of God. Our first parents were its first captives. They disobeyed God and died the same day. We must remember that one day with God is as a thousand years. Thus, Methuselah lived 969 years and that’s 31 years short of a thousand. So man did die the day he disobeyed God. Death held men captive until the God man came. It is this joy that the Apostle Paul hoped for, a final release from earthly infirmities and suffering. Christ came to deliver us from captivity. He came down as God, but He ascended as the God man. Paul refered to death as our last enemy. It is also true in Adam that death was our first enemy. Rejoice O’ man of God, Christ has conqured death and will finally destroy him once and for all!

There are three great enemies with whom man must contend. The Law, sin and death. Sin was man’s attempt to be God. Law was man’s reminder of his own

inadequacies. Death was the result of unremoved sin. But today we can shout the victory. In Christ the demands of the law were met. In Christ sin was abolished. In Christ death was conqured and in Him death will be destroyed.

In the first place, Christ Liberated Us From Sin. We are freed from the penalty and power of sin. In glory we will be free of its presence. Just as Adam’s unrighteousness condemned us, the righteousness of Christ justified us.We are saved from sin when we accept Jesus as the Sent of God, the Son of God and the Saviour from sin. Salvation is the apprehending that Jesus Christ through His obedience and the merits of His sacrifice, made a new standing-ground before God for us. That in Christ we have a new place in God and a new relation with Him. That Christ’s righteouness was not personal but shared with every believer. In the presence of sin we stand as saved by grace. In the presence of God’s holiness, we stand in Christ’s righteouness. In the anticipation of judgement day, we stand as already aquitted, for us there is now no condemnation. We are saved, being saved and we will be saved. Whatever the gospel is, it is good news that Christ is the Saviour of sinners. He not only lived a sinless life but is providing the grace for us to be partakers of the Divine nature. It is through the life of Christ, that though our bodies are laid in the grave, a seed from whence, shall in God’s own time rise into a glorious body. The ultimate joy of the gospel is that there no sin, no sickness, no trouble, nor depth, no height which Divine love cannot reach.

In the second place, Jesus Fulfilled the Demands of the Law. The believer is not only declared righteous by God but is renewed in righteous and is progressively sanctified as he applies the word in his life. The believer keeps the law not be saved but to become confirmed to the image of Christ. The law frustrated man and reminded him of his failure. The law told us we were sinners but provided no way out. The law left us sinful, frustrated and hopless. But Christ broke into the realm of humanity and bore the penalty of the law and freed us from its condemnation. Therefore, death has no claim on the child of God. We have been justified, aquitted,vindicated and set free from the demands of the law. The sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the law but if we are in Christ, Death has no sting and the law has no hold on us!