The Apostle Paul tells how in the end we have victory over death. Now this is a future event, but it has compelling implications for each of us. If Jesus did not really rise to a new life in a physical body, we might as well just live for this earthly life and do as we please.
Paul Gives Insight into Victory over Our Final Foe
1 Corinthians 15: 51 But let me reveal to you a wonderful secret. We will not all die, but we will all be transformed! 52 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. 53 For our dying bodies must be transformed into bodies that will never die; our mortal bodies must be transformed into immortal bodies.
54 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
55 O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?”
56 For sin is the sting that results in death, and the law gives sin its power. 57 But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ.[1]
Our God of Victory
In the above passage, Paul quoted from Isaiah. Isaiah 25:7 There he will remove the cloud of gloom, the shadow of death that hangs over the earth. 8 He will swallow up death forever! The Sovereign Lord will wipe away all tears. He will remove forever all insults and mockery against his land and people. The Lord has spoken! 9 In that day the people will proclaim, “This is our God! We trusted in him, and he saved us! This is the Lord, in whom we trusted. Let us rejoice in the salvation he brings!”[2]
This is the God we serve, a great God who gives us victory over death. He even cared enough to foreshadow what He would do through Messiah in the yearly feasts of Leviticus 23. As we allow the Holy Spirit to open our eyes to insight from God, our faith continues to build, and we have hope for the future.
To hear more about victory over death, listen here:
https://podpoint.com/light-of-christ-church-podcast/foreshadowing-of-the-cross-first-fruits
[1] Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188.
[2] Ibid