Living in the Light of the Resurrection

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. I Corinthians 15:50-56

Reflecting on his salvation, a Christian powerfully realizes the promises of God. At the moment of justification, when God’s grace intervenes rescuing a sinner from eternal damnation, one grasps the great promise of Romans 10:13 that “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (ESV). As the Christ-follower continues to journey through discipleship, he becomes aware that God works in him, fulfilling His promise to bring him “to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:13, ESV). However, the fullness of salvation will be realized when God glorifies believers with imperishable, immortal bodies. This glorification is redemption in its most total sense.

If they have given us anything, the events of this past year have produced in the hearts of God’s people a longing for full redemption. A world saturated with blights like a pandemic, racial strife, and economic instability creates a yearning for everything to be made right. As Paul writes to the Romans, we “who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies” (Romans 8:23, ESV). With such a desire, we should be eternally thankful for a faithful Father. Just as He fulfilled His promise of our justification and is fulfilling His promise of our sanctification, He will fulfill His promise of our glorification. Let’s look at the verses of this text to see how He will do so. 

Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,

Paul unshrouds a great mystery here. In the Biblical sense, a mystery is understood by spiritual revelation rather than human perception. Paul tells the Corinthian Christians something they could not discover by intellectual pursuit. Only God could reveal it to them. The Apostle uses sleep as a metaphor for death. Not all Christians will die, but there will be a final generation who will be transformed into glorified bodies at the return of Jesus before they ever face death.

in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.

Jesus will gather His people (both dead and on the earth) to Himself in a single moment. A day is coming when in God’s eternal plan, He will resurrect those who have died in Him. Then, in a moment, He will bring them together with all the redeemed on the earth, and each one will receive an immortal, imperishable, glorified body.

For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.

To “inherit the kingdom of God” (V. 50) and live in eternity future, our perishable, mortal bodies that are filled with the frailties wrought by the fall must be changed entirely. By the power of God, sin and the curse will be removed, and we shall be made imperishable and immortal. 

“When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:

“Death is swallowed up in victory.”

“O death, where is your victory?

O death, where is your sting?”

For those not in Christ, death has its sure sting. Such a sting is expressed in Edgar Allen Poe’s famous poem, The Raven. Lamenting the death of his beloved Lenore, Poe writes about the shadow of death from which, he says, his soul “Shall be lifted—nevermore.”  In Christ, the Apostle Paul’s outlook is much different. Convinced of Christ’s victory for believers, the Apostle Paul taunts death. 

“The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Living in the light and promise of the resurrection is the experience are no longer under the law. The penalty of the law, which is death, was removed from us by the victory of our Savior. Before God, we are no longer guilty sinners. 

Oh, what a glorious life is ours, living in the light of the resurrection! Our mortal enemy is a defeated foe by the power of Jesus. As Charles H. Spurgeon once said, “I will not fear thee, death, why should I? Thou lookest like a dragon, but thy sting is gone. Thy teeth are broken, oh old lion, wherefore should I fear thee? I know thou art no more able to destroy me, but thou art sent as a messenger to conduct me to the golden gate wherein I shall enter and see my Saviour’s unveiled face forever.”