1 Corinthians 15.54
Our text is the climax of Paul’s famous chapter on the resurrection. ‘Death is swallowed up in victory.’ These are words that Christians get excited about and rightly so – but only if we understand what they mean. The last thing that we need today is another empty slogan, words that people get excited about but without knowing why. So, let me tell you what I want to happen as a result of today’s sermon. I want you to be excited, excited about what Jesus did at His resurrection and about what He is doing now. I want you to be filled with joy as you live in this fallen world. I want you to be so up that people will look at you funny. And to that end I want you to understand the words of our text. So, for the sake of the joy of your soul, I ask that you to listen as I work to explain what Paul is talking about.
Let’s start where the text starts. Let’s talk about death. Death is not an original part of Creation. It came in later as something abnormal. Death is here because of the curse of God. Remember what He said to Adam about that one tree. ‘In the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.’ But then, ignoring God’s warning, he ate. As a result, he and the rest of Creation experienced death. Let me remind you that death is not defined as that moment a heart stops beating. It is much more involved than that. To be sure, whenever your body doesn’t work right – whether it’s cancer or the common cold – that is an expression of death. But death also shows itself in other ways.
When relationships are damaged, that’s death. By God’s original design, we are to be in relationships of love with everyone else. No walls, no phony smiles, no ‘polite’ conversations. But that is not where we are. We all have our walls. The only difference is how high they are and how far out from our hearts we build them. And it gets worse when we do allow someone in close to our heart and then something goes wrong and we are wounded. That’s when the walls tend to get a bit higher and more excluding. What is that but death?
The problem isn’t just in terms of relating to other people. We have problems dealing with ourselves. Who here doesn’t understand the wrestlings of the Apostle Paul when he wrote, ‘The good that I want to do I don’t do but rather the evil that I don’t want to do, that’s what I do.’ Who here has never wrestled within himself, trying to sort things out but unable to it? And confusion takes hold, along with a taste of hopelessness. Isn’t that also death?
Let me add to one more. Think of the young Jesus. Because He knew the Scripture prophecies about Himself, He could say, ‘I know what my life will be like. I know what’s going to happen to me when I grow up. I’m going to be single all my days, wander about as a preacher, make lots of enemies and die alone as a criminal.’ He knew. But consider us. We don’t know the future. What do we tell ourselves when we are young? ‘When I grow up I’m going to be married, have lots of kids, and be happy all the time.’ Or fill in the blanks with what are – or were – your own hopes and dreams. But as you know, life is filled with surprises and disappointments. Doors of opportunity that you were ready to walk through suddenly get slammed in your face. You find yourself touched by failure, sometimes your own failure and sometimes the failure of others near you. And life turns out to be not exactly what you expected. That doesn’t have to mean that life is completely black. But we all have seen and still see some gray at the edges. This too is death.
It’s at this time that some folk might begin to think that I have painted a picture that is too bleak. But it’s a fact that there are others for whom I haven’t been bleak enough. What matters is this. I’ve been faithful to the Scriptures. I have described death more or less as they picture it. It does no good for anyone to try to hide from it, cover it up or even just soften it a little. And I’ll tell you one reason why. Your joy in the Gospel is at stake. The degree of your joy and excitement in Jesus’ victory over death is tied to the degree of your grasp of the awfulness of this death. King David wrote these words at the end of one of his Psalms: ‘But the king shall rejoice in God; all who swear by him shall exult…’ Words of great joy and excitement. But listen to how he started that very same Psalm: ‘O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.’ David understood death’s grip on this life, making it a dry and weary land. And one place it shows is in his joy in Jesus and what He has done to this death. Your experience of the joy of the Gospel is tied to your seeing death for what it really is. That is where we must all start. Jesus’ victory over death will not make sense unless you understand what He has conquered.
That’s all about death. Now we’re ready for the rest of our text. ‘Death is swallowed up in victory.’ This word translated, ‘swallowed up’, paints such a great picture. Let me show you another place it is used in Scripture. Remember when Moses and Aaron first went to Pharaoh and Aaron threw down his staff and it became a serpent? ‘Then Pharaoh summoned the wise men and the sorcerers, and they, the magicians of Egypt, also did the same by their secret arts. For each man cast down his staff, and they became serpents. But Aaron's staff swallowed up their staffs.’ Do you see what happened? Each of the Egyptian magicians’ serpents was consumed by Aaron’s serpent until, at the end, there was nothing left but Aaron’s serpent. ‘Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs.’
‘Death is swallowed up in victory.’ That is, death is consumed by life until there is no death at all. Imagine that: no death at all. At that point everything changes. Our bodies always work well. Hearts never stop beating. Every day you awaken rested and ready to go. No aches or pains. Not even a sniffle. The same applies to our relationships. No walls. Everyone is welcomed into your heart. No one ever disappoints. No wounds to the heart. Only and always love. And as we deal with ourselves, there is no confusion. None. We understand ourselves ever so clearly. And even hopes dreams are resurrected. So, instead of living in some dry and weary land, home is more like this place that Isaiah described. ‘… waters break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert; the burning sand shall become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water…’ Death is consumed until all that is left is life. And it is for that reason that, ‘…the king shall rejoice in God; all who swear by him shall exult…’
It’s here that someone is thinking, ‘But that’s not what’s happening now. I don’t see life standing alone. I still see – and feel – death.’ Yes, that’s true. And Paul knew that when he wrote our text. Listen again to the whole sentence. ‘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."’ Our text is not about what now is. It is a description of what Jesus is working toward right now. Jesus is aiming at a world where death is gone, consumed by life. Paul is telling us about Jesus’ plans for this world. And this isn’t some secondary topic of the Bible. This is the Gospel. Jesus came to save a world. His plan is not to save a few souls that they might exist in some vague spirit world doing nothing. Jesus has come to rescue this world from death in all its forms. Jesus’ goal is to swallow up death until it is no more so that all that is left standing is life. And because He is the resurrected Lord over all, He will most certainly accomplish that. The crowning moment of His success will be His visible return to a rescued world. Our text is Jesus’ promise of these things. And that is one reason why we can rejoice and be so excited.
But this is not just about the future. It also explains the present. What is Jesus doing now? He is in the process of completely defeating death, of swallowing it up in victory. The key battle was won when Jesus walked out of that tomb. But as crucial as that was, it isn’t the only battle. Jesus continues to battle and defeat His enemy. So, every time a person is turned from his evil ways and places his faith in Jesus as Savior and places his life in His hands as Lord, death loses another battle. Every time a Christian lowers a wall and opens himself to another person, even just a bit, death loses another battle. Every time a Christian stands over his own shattered dream but still believes Jesus will resurrect it, death loses another battle. And every time a nation enacts a righteous law and some social evil is suppressed, death loses another battle. Do you see why I say that we Christians, of all people, can be full of joy and excited? There will be times when we will need to do that through tears. Death is not yet gone, and we still feel its sting. But we know that one day Jesus will finish His work and then death will be gone, never again to wreak its evil. In that we can rejoice.
So, here’s David and he visits the armies of Israel to see his brothers. While he’s there, Goliath, the giant, stands before those armies and utters his challenge. And the men of Israel run in great fear. After all, it is Goliath, the giant. But David takes up the challenge and with his sling and five smooth stones from the brook he confronts Goliath, this supposed giant. After hearing Goliath’s proud and mocking words, David flings a stone. The giant falls. David takes Goliath’s own sword and chops off his head. At this the armies of Israel charge their enemies and consume them in battle. You’ve all heard about this before. But understand why the Spirit recorded these events. David is a stand-in for Jesus. Goliath is Death. You stand among the armies of Israel and you’re watching. Jesus is at the brook gathering His stones. The supposed giant, Death, approaches with its proud and mocking words. The men of Israel run in fear. After all, it’s Death. But you stand fast. You know what’s going on. You know how it’s going to end. So, you get yourself ready to charge as you watch Jesus about to fling His stone. And then you follow Jesus until the enemy is consumed, until death is swallowed up, until all that is left is life. The complete victory is not here – not yet. There are more battles to fight. But we know how it will all end.
And now we have a slogan that means something. Now we have a slogan that we can get excited about. ‘Death is swallowed up in Victory!’ All Praise to Jesus!