Death is Swallowed Up in Victory - 1 Corinthians 15:54-57

Devotional Thoughts on 1 Corinthians 15

Week 12
 
Death is Swallowed Up in Victory - 1 Corinthians 15:54-57The word enduo in the Greek is used by Paul many times in his letters.  It has the idea of “putting on” or being “clothed with” something.  Paul would frequently exhort us to take off certain practices, and to put on new ones in keeping with our relationship to God in Christ Jesus.  

He uses it in our passage to describe the future experience of perishable, or corruptible, bodies being clothed with imperishableness, and mortal bodies being clothed with bodies that are not subject to death.    This will be the time when the prophecy of Isaiah, Chapter 25, verse 8, will be fulfilled:  “ He will swallow up death for all time, And the Lord God will wipe tears away from all faces, And He will remove the reproach of His people from all the earth; For the LORD has spoken.”  

The context of this fascinating passage is remarkable for its comprehensiveness.  In verse 6, the Lord of hosts will prepare a lavish banquet for all peoples on His mountain.  He will (verse 7) “swallow up the covering, which is over all people, even the veil which is stretched over all nations.”  Then comes our verse.  Following the promises to remove the veil stretched over all nations (possibly mortality), and swallow up death, Isaiah tells us that God will wipe away tears, remove the reproach of His people (Israel) from the whole earth.  Following that a saying will go forth: “Behold, this is our God for whom we have waited that He might save us; this is the Lord for whom we have waited; let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation.”

What a beautiful promise, to Israel, of course, but quite obviously to “all peoples.”  The veil cast over the nations, the reproach of Israel, and the curse of death will all be done away with by our LORD!

The reference to the sting of death is found in Hosea 13:12-14.  The people of God, represented by Ephraim, are described as those who are bound up in iniquity with their sin stored up.  Because “he” is not a wise “son,” “he” is not prepared to deal with the pains of birth; holding back from doing what is right.  God asks if he should ransom His people from the power of the grave (Sheol) and redeem them from death.  It is as if He cries out, “O Death, where are your thorns?  O Sheol, where is your sting?”  If the Lord were to ransom them, Death would lose its thorns, and Sheol would lose its sting, but the time for that had not yet come; so compassion was, for a time, hidden from His sight.

So, the sting of death was sin for them, as it is for us, and the power of sin is in the law – that is the failure of humans to live up to the standard of righteousness the law reveals.  “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ.” (Romans 6:23).  Yes, the time of ransom and redemption was to come, and it came in the person of Jesus, the Messiah.  He defeated death and the grave and removed the sting of the thorns!  

“But let God be thanked for He has given us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”  There is victory in life and victory in death, for Jesus is the resurrection and the life!  The pain of death, and the questions of where and how it will come, are swallowed up in the absolute confidence we can have that being absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.  

Jesus prayed, "Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You, even as You gave Him authority over all flesh, that to all whom You have given Him, He may give eternal life.  This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. (Jn. 17:1-3)

Now let us pray, “Father, I thank you that through the gift of your Son and His death in my behalf, bearing my sin, I have been freed from bondage to sin, and have been given life that will never end.  Whether I die physically or never face death and am taken immediately from life into your presence, I have your promise that death has been swallowed up in victory.  I believe that neither death nor the grave has any power over me.  Thank you, my God, for leading me and my brothers and sisters in Christ in victory.  I cannot wait to see you, but if for a while you would have me remain in this world with its challenges, triumphs, trials, sorrow and pain to point people to Jesus, I will willingly remain here, looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of my faith!  Amen.”