1Co 15:24 Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.
1Co 15:25 For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.
1Co 15:26 The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.
1Co 15:27 For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put all things under him.
1Co 15:28 And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.
The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.
Has death been destroyed? No. Death is all around us, we live in its shadow every day. Death of people, death of animals, death in all its seeming finality. Experts rate death as the number one stress inducer in people. If you've had a death of a loved one recently you are ranked right up at the top of those experiencing high stress. Death takes things away from us. Death steals from us. Yesterday we talked a little about death being a sleep so those that are taken from us by death are only taken temporarily. We will be reunited with them into a life we can only imagine, incorruptible life, bodies of incorruption. Those of us who are middle aged notice the effects of a corruptible body more so than those who are young. We see the wrinkles, we notice the effects of aging and for us in our corruptible state those are signs of our inevitable demise. I'm not trying to be morbid, just realistic. People spend a lot of money trying to stay the hands of time on them, trying to keep the inevitable corruption of the body at bay. No one likes the reminder of their finite state, that death is going to meet them even if they live to be 100 years old, no one has defeated death except a very few of God's chosen. Christ experienced death and has the power over death and as the Bible says-- the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. God shall be all in all. This is the day I long for the day when the end comes, the day death is destroyed, the day God is all in all without any exception.
By the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior may we see the day of His coming, may we be alive and changed in a moment, in a twinkling of an eye putting on incorruption without seeing death. May this be the will of God by the grace of Jesus, through the sacrifice, by the righteousness of our Savior now and forever.
1Co 15:50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.
1Co 15:51 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
1Co 15:52 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.
1Co 15:53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
1Co 15:54 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.
1Co 15:55 O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
1Co 15:56 The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.
1Co 15:57 But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Amen!
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