Jesus Christ turned death, the ultimate tragedy, into the ultimate triumph. And for anyone who knows and loves Jesus Christ and accepts His death and resurrection, for themselves, that same triumph belongs to them.

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Death will be an escape into the presence of Jesus Christ, because Christ made the way.

 

This is the thought that Paul expands in 1 Corinthians 15:54 to 58. In this passage, Paul changes character.

Paul is the epitome of logic. Everything comes cranking out of Paul's brain in just exactly the right fashion. And it all fits together and slots together like a well-oiled machine. He's very logical, very prosaic, and very defined.

 

And all of a sudden, Paul blows his whole cool right here. And he stops his logical process, and his soul explodes all over this page. And what is normally logic breaks into rhetoric. And what is normally prose breaks into poetry...and all you see here is Paul, the emotional...and he begins to cry out of the victory that he has over death.

 

Christ rose from the dead. He came out of the grave. Did He have a different body when He came out of the grave? He sure did. He had the kind of a body that was very different. Not only did he have hands and legs and arms and all of the things that make up a human body and scars, nail prints in His hand, not only that, not only did He eat, He actually ate with His disciples. But beyond that, He walked through a wall.

 

Christ had a different body. It was a body that had characteristics of human body, and yet it was a glorified body that could walk through a wall. And when it got ready to leave, it just left. And He ascended. That's what a glorified body's like. And Christ received His when He rose.

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The Christian gets his glorified body at the Rapture of the church, when Christ comes to catch away His church. And all those people that have died, their bodies are gonna be resurrected. Now, remember this, if you're a believer and you would die today, you're a Christian. Your spirit would go to be with Christ. Absent from the body, present with the Lord. But your body goes into the grave. When Christ comes, your body comes out of the grave.

 

Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:

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Verse 55 and 56 "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? Death, you've had it. You're a conquered enemy. Christ beat you and made a way for me to do it. I have to wait a while, but that's all right. It's secure. Death, where is your sting?"

 

Verse 56, he says, "The sting of death is sin... You see, sin is what brings death...and the strength of sin is the law." The law is what spells out sin, and sin brings death. Notice those three things, because we have three enemies. Three enemies that...that wanna slay us. 

The law wants to slay us.

Sin wants to slay us.

And death wants to slay us.

You see, the law says, "You break me, and you die." Sin says, "You commit me, and you die." Death says, "You die."
All three of those enemies wanna kill us.

 

Paul says in Romans 6:14, "Because you were crucified with Christ, sin has no more dominion over you." Sin said, "You have to die." I died in Christ. That took care of sin.

So my two enemies are gone. I died to the law when Christ came into my life and bore my death. I died to sin, my sin killed Christ, didn't it? He bore my sin. That was the death that my sin required. So the law is taken care of. Sin is taken care of.

I've only got one enemy to go, and that's death itself...

 

There is one enemy to put down, and that enemy is a defeated enemy. Christ defeated him at the cross and in the grave. And so death is going to be destroyed.

But the law was taken care of first, and sin was taken care of second, and then you have this truth in chapter 15
verse 26, after the law was taken care of and sin was taken care of, "The last enemy that shall be
destroyed is...what?...death." So I'm just waiting for that day to take place.

 

Paul knew where the source of his victory was. It was God who gave the victory and used Christ to bring it out. God worked through Christ.

The source and author of the victory is God, and no power but God's power could defeat the mighty death, and God defeated death. And to do it He used Christ. That's what he says when he says, "He did it through Christ."

 

What about the person who doesn't know Christ? What about the person who doesn't love Jesus Christ? Is there a resurrection for him? What about the person who's never invited Christ into their life, who's never appropriated His death and resurrection? Is there a resurrection for that person?

 

In John chapter 5 verse 29, this is what it's called. "The resurrection of damnation."
 

 

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