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“Christ Jesus … has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.” II Timothy 1:10b
Of all the fears that grip the hearts of modern men and women, no fear is greater than the fear of death.
We know how to kill but we don’t know how to die. When we face the prospect of our own death, we don’t know what to say or what to do. You cannot avoid death or put it off. When your time is up, your time is up.
This is a subject we’d rather not talk about, especially on such a happy occasion. But if we can’t talk about death on Easter, when can we talk about it? The very essence of this day is a celebration that one man has slipped through the grave and come back to tell us about it. Death could not hold him. And now he holds the keys of death and hell.
Our text makes a wonderful affirmation when it declares that Jesus has destroyed death. There is but one problem with that thought. Death does not appear to have been abolished. If death has been destroyed, someone forgot to tell the undertakers. People still die every day. The cemeteries fill up and new ones open. It seems there are more dead underneath the earth than those living on it. There is no end of funeral homes, mortuaries, wakes, and weeping spouses. And there is no end to cancer, strokes, heart attacks, sudden accidents, unexplained tragedies, ethnic cleansing, and bombs in the night.
Death we have aplenty, where is the resurrection? How can we say that death has been abolished when death seems to stare us in the face every day?
I think the most obvious answer is that we die because of sin. Romans 5:12 tells us that death came to the world because of Adam’s sin. First there was Adam, then there was sin, then there was death. Sin always leads to death and as long as sin exists in the world death will never be very far away.
Death is so certain there is an entire industry built about the expectation of your death. It’s called the life insurance industry. The only reason you buy life insurance is because someday you are going to die.
If you lived forever, you’d never need life insurance. But you buy life insurance precisely because you know the fact of your death, you just don’t know the time of your death.
When you die, the coroner will fill out a death certificate for you. There’s a space on that certificate that says “Cause of Death.” If we understand the Bible, the answer is always the same: “Sin.” Not sickness, not cancer, not an accident, not old age. Those are merely symptoms of the one great cause of death: Sin.
However, Christ destroyed death
The word translated “destroyed” in II Timothy 1:10 means to render powerless. When Jesus rose from the dead, he broke the power of death forever. And one day death itself will die. Until then death has taken on new meaning for the Christian. This is what Jesus meant when he said, “Whoever lives and believes in me will never die” (John 11:26). Death for the Christian is a temporary interruption, a passing from one stage of life to another. That is what Paul meant when he declared that to live is Christ, and to die is gain (Philippians 1:21).
Let’s pause to consider the bare facts surrounding Good Friday and Easter Sunday. Did Jesus not die? Yes. Was he not buried? Yes. Did the women not weep? Yes. Where, then, is our hope? It rests not on Good Friday or in the long hours of that lonely Saturday. Our only hope may be found in what happened early on Easter Sunday morning. If Jesus was nothing more than a man, then we have no hope at all. And our dreams of immortality are just that – idle dreams. But there is good news from the graveyard. There’s an empty tomb in the cemetery. It’s the tomb of Jesus Christ. He died on Friday afternoon, they buried him on Friday evening, and by Sunday morning his tomb was empty. This is God’s good news – that death could not hold him, that the grave could not keep him, that he is the Lord of life, the King immortal and eternal. How did he destroy death? He could only conquer death by entering the realm of death, yanking the keys from the hands of the devil, unlocking the door, and marching out on Easter Sunday triumphant over the grave.
He died like we die. He was really dead, actually dead, completely dead. He wasn’t partly dead or mostly dead. He was as dead as any person could be. And from that state of death God raised him back to life. He himself walked into that dark valley alone. He faced cold death and looked into its awful face. He stared down death, broke its power, and walked away victorious.
One day death will die! O God, let that day come soon!
***
Four thousand years ago, Job asked this question, “If a man dies, will he live again?” (Job 14:14a) That is the greatest of all the questions, it is the one great question Easter was meant to answer.
Have you ever touched a dead person? Have you ever experienced the cold, clammy, waxen feel of death? There is no movement in the nostrils, no twinkle in the eyes, no smile on the lips. Death feels terrible, unreal, unnatural. When we stand over the body of someone we love, we feel helpless, angry, defeated and afraid. Death is sobering, frightening, terrifying. No wonder the Bible calls it “the last enemy” (1 Corinthians 15:26). No one has ever lived who hasn’t trembled before the Grim Reaper.
Deep in our hearts, we wonder what will happen when our time comes to cross the Great Divide. How will it be with us when we have to go through the valley of the shadow of death? Will we be afraid? Will our faith stand the test?
The Bible tells us that the sting of death is sin (1 Corinthians 15:56). Consider that picture for a moment. How do you take the sting out of a bee? By taking the sting yourself. Then the bee can hurt you no more. Christ took the venom of death. Death stung him and killed him. But death could not keep him dead. He took all the venom of death so there is none left for his people to fear. Death for us is no longer a curse but a blessing. The New Testament calls it “sleep” because when you sleep, you plan to wake up later.
We will be raised, restored, recognized and we will be rested. Isn’t that a wonderful thought? We will rise rested – and shall be at rest even while we serve the Lord forever.
All of us will face death someday. But for those who know Jesus, death holds no fear. We’re not afraid of the darkness for Jesus is the Light of the world.
We won’t stay in the valley of the shadow of death for Jesus has said he will be our guide. We may die, but we won’t stay dead. Jesus has the keys and one day he is going to come back for us.
Are you trusting the man who rose from the dead? Jesus is alive and standing with open arms inviting you to accept his offer of eternal life. The door to Heaven is wide open. I invite you to take a step of faith and allow Jesus to prove to you that he is alive. I extend to you a personal invitation to consider becoming a Christian: If your soul is hungry for something more than you have found, try Jesus. If Jesus is knocking on the door of your heart, make sure you open the door.
Each of us has an appointment with Death sooner or later. But that is a cause for rejoicing – not for fear, provided we have put our trust in the One who holds the keys of life and death.
People of God, rejoice. Easter has come again, death has been defeated, and someday will be destroyed completely.
.A dapted from Keep Believing Ministries
