The little six-year-old crept out of his family’s rental cabin and ran down to the dock at the edge of the lake. Pretending to be a pirate in the early morning sun, he was flashing his wooden sword, forcing his enemy walk the plank. All of a sudden, it was he who fell into the cold water. He couldn’t catch his breath. Gasping for air he began to sink. Refusing to give up his “sword” and weighed down by his boots and clothing, he disappeared under the waves. With water replacing the oxygen in his lungs, it wasn’t long before he was asphyxiated and drowned.
I made up that gruesome story to make this point: The subject of this lengthy chapter is as vital to Bible Christianity as oxygen is to physical life. Not only is the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ absolutely essential to our salvation… But the resurrection of every man, woman and six-year-old tragedy is one of the fundamental doctrines of our faith. When someone rips that out of the Bible not only do they negate 10% of the book of I Corinthians, but they rip out 10% of the entire Bible. As Austin pointed out this morning, the resurrection – particularly of the Lord Jesus – is found in nearly every early Christian sermon, and Christ Himself often spoke of it before it took place. Without the resurrection, Bible Christianity would suffocate and die.
While millions of Christians – genuine and merely hopeful – have spent a moment or two today thinking about the resurrection of Christ, I’d like us to consider the impact of Jesus’ resurrection on our resurrection. Paul says in this chapter, “Here is the gospel”… “That Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures.” “Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead?” “If Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain.” “If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.” “Behold, I show you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump; for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.”
Having declared and proved the doctrine of resurrection, Paul breaks out in a song of triumph. After defeating the “this life only” heretics, he almost shouts off the page: “O death, where is thy sting? O grave where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” And then as an addendum: “THEREFORE, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain the Lord.”
In his victory anthem, Paul mentions SEVERAL DEFEATED ENEMIES.
The first of which is “death.” Since the days of Adam, Eve, Cain and Abel, death has been a formidable foe to all humanity. By “formidable” I mean powerful – death is an unavoidable enemy. As Adam intimately knew: death meant the dissolution of the bond between God and man – as well as the bond between the body of that man and his soul.
In Paul’s Book of Romans study of salvation, the apostle called death a “king” of sorts – “death reigns.” Death reigns as a king, and it enslaves like a powerful tyrant. His empire began near the beginning of time, and it hasn’t ended. And he has brought his thumb down over life in every corner of God’s creation, with only a few gracious, miraculous exceptions. Generally speaking, the only people who haven’t felt death’s totalitarian regime are just hanging around to feel it in the near future. “It is appointed unto men once to die.”
Death is a universally feared enemy because he is armed with a STING. He is compared to a venomous hornet – if not a more venomous rattlesnake. Years ago, a couple hundred of us were at a church camp in Oklahoma, preparing for the evening service. Out of the corner of his eye one of the men noticed some movement along the floor, and turning he saw a potential sting and death. If I remember correctly, it was silently heading toward his wife, who had been playing the piano. Immediately, not caring that he was disrupting the service, he walked over and stomped down on a scorpion. The sting of death is something universally feared by man, and something which we’ve been trying to eliminate since day two in human history.
Paul tells us that sting of death is SIN. Sin takes the poison of the sting beyond superficial skin and muscle, into the conscience and even the heart. There are dozens of kings in this world for which I have no fear whatsoever. But there was a day when I was convinced by the Holy Spirit that I was a wretched sinner. When I learned and saw that sin had filled my heart and soul, the sting of death became exceedingly painful. I saw that death was right in front of me and there was no way for me to avoid it.
Some people say that they have no fear of death, because it is nothing more than the cessation of life. They make those claims, because they haven’t come to see the reality and extent of their sins. Sin makes death a curse, not a release. Sin brings the dying soul before the Creator, the holy Judge of the quick and the dead. Sin is a dreadful evil because it forces us to bow before the evil king and fearful tyrant – death.
Paul also refers to the strength of sin in something he calls “the law.” Elsewhere he says that he was blissfully going through life totally unaware of the scorpions and rattlesnakes. But then “the law entered that the offence might bound. By the law is the knowledge of sin, I had not known sin, but by the law.” The law is a good and excellent thing, but when the Holy Spirit wields it, it becomes a sword. It knifes away all of the protective fluff with which we insulate our hearts. It exposes our wretchedness, not only to the eyes of others, but also to ourselves. The law empowers the sting, and since we hate pain, the law comes across as an enemy.
Finally, Paul mentions one more enemy – the grave. God’s Word tells us that the grave is one of those things that are never filled or satisfied. It reflects the language of a blood-sucking mosquito or leech – “give me, give me, give me” – Proverbs 30. The grave eats a thousand meals a day and still says, “I want more. I want your sons and daughters.” Death stalks the hills like a hunter looking for another victim to take down and send to the grave. That grave takes away everything that is beautiful in human life – the smile, the sparkle in the eye, the rosy red cheeks, laughter and love.
Death, as a roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom he may devour.
But Paul says, “For all of you who know the Lord,” there is VICTORY over these enemies.
“Death is swallowed up in victory.” “God giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” GOD the Father, giveth us the victory. Jehovah brings these Goliaths down and then tells us to pull out the sword and cut off their heads. He provides the victory and then tells us to enjoy the effects. I once read that this victory was planned in the Divine Mind, and produced by Divine Mercy. Infinite power obtained the victory, and infinite grace gave it to a few unworthy creatures – former victims.
This victory was accomplished through the combined efforts of the triune God. And specifically, the giant-killing stone was sent from the sling of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is what we celebrate on this Resurrection Sunday. Christ, our Redeemer/Substitute, felt the pain of death and the cold air of the grave. He felt the wrath of God for sin, and knew by experience what the law demanded for that sin, before emerging from His victim – death.
So the first and most important aspect of Jesus’ victorious death, burial and resurrection relates to the God-head. Christ Jesus met all the requirements that God had for the sinner. God’s angry frown was turned into a face more pleasant and the most appealing we will ever see. The God who was furious with us as sinners, was satisfied and pacified, by Jesus’ death on the cross. There has been made a reconciliation, and God has been propitiated.
From a different angle, Christ delivers sinners from the sting of death and guilt of sin. He delivers by His own death on the cross and by applying His shed blood to the conscience of the sinner. In other words, Christ Jesus takes away the guilt which we brought upon ourselves. Christ was made sin for us, so the sting fell upon Him, and He fell into the grave on the believer’s behalf. The Father was well-pleased with that substitution and sacrifice, declaring His pleasure by raising Christ from death – our last enemy – and emptying Joseph’s tomb. Death has been disarmed of its sting, and we are delivered from our fear of death – or at least we should be.
We are also delivered from the law. During the 1700s and 1800s Baptists struggled with a doctrine sometimes called “antinomianism.” It meant different things to different people, and perhaps that is one reason the word has disappeared. To some it meant, or means, Christians have liberty to sin, because the strength of sin in the law is gone. To others it meant that gospel preachers don’t need to preach the Old Testament or the law. And to others, as I am sure Paul meant it, salvation is not dependent on the works of the Law. To those branches Protestantism which demand obedience to the law as proof of salvation or for the completion of salvation, “antinomianism” was a huge crime. The early American Puritans persecuted the Baptists among them because they couldn’t see the truth of this doctrine. And that truth is: Christ met the demands of the Law against the sinner, and therefore the redeemed sinner is free from its legalistic demands. “Free from the law, oh, happy condition! Jesus has bled, and there is remission; Cursed by the law and bruised by the fall, Grace has redeemed us once for all.” And YET – that Law still applies to us in the sense that it shows us what sin is and how hideous it remains in God’s sight. The Law still tells us what God’s standard of holiness is.
Finally, this victory song takes us back into the earlier parts of this chapter. “Now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.” Christ is the Captain of an army of escapees from the evil king and the gulag of graves. The resurrection of “Christ the firstfruit; afterward they that are Christ’s at His coming.”
And then comes the what is perhaps the most tangible or physical part of this great victory. “Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.”
Through the death, burial and resurrection of our Saviour – death has lost its sting and its victory. As Christians we must expect to be casualties in Christ’s war with sin, in the sense that we will be slain. But our wounds, while appearing to be fatal, are only superficial, and we will come out of our graves in the same kind of victory that our Saviour enjoyed. The sting of death has been alleviated, because the law has been met, and sin has been remedied.
And that bring us to the CLIMAX of the oratory.
“Thanks be to God which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Once again, it is God who won the victory, and He graciously shares it with us. The only soldier in the battle, like David in the Valley of Elah, the only warrior in the fight was the Lord Jesus.
And with whom is this victory shared? It is with “US.” Was Paul speaking about first eleven disciples? No, because he wasn’t one of them. Was he talking about the Apostles? No. That “us” applies to himself and to all the people to whom he was writing – “The church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the Name of Jesus Christ our Lord” – I Corinthians 1:2. “In every place” includes North America; it includes the United States of America It includes the State of Idaho and little community of Post Falls. “Thanks be to God which giveth US the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Every time we think about our salvation… every time the Lord brings it to our minds… thanksgiving should spring from our hearts. Nothing in this world should make us more joyful and thankful than our deliverance from these moral enemies. Who could have ever imagined that in order to save self-ruined and self-condemned criminals… the Son of God should become incarnate; should give up himself to die… should to bare his shoulders and His hands and feet to the cross and the curse of the law… and submit to the just punishment of the law against us? People couldn’t make this up. This had to come from the heart of God. And it had to be revealed to us. “Being enriched in everything to all bountifulness, which causeth through us thanksgiving to God” – II Corinthians 9:11 and verse 15 – “Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable – indescribable – gift.”
I’ll conclude with the words of one of David’s songs, “Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing; thou has put off my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness. To the end that my glory may sing praise to thee and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks unto thee for ever” – Psalm 30.