The Victory Over Death
Dearly beloved of God, the older we get, the closer we come face to face with our mortality. If the Lord tarries we will all face death.
Through death, the Lord Jesus Christ delivered us from the fear of death that held us in bondage our entire lifetime.
Hebrews 9:27,28 WTJ
27 Just as it is reserved for men to die once and judgment afterward,
28 so the Christ, having also been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, without being offered to bear sin, to those who are awaiting him for salvation [deliverance].
All a person must do to receive salvation is to confess the Lord Jesus and believe that God raised him from the dead and they will be saved.
This is the standard by which God offers salvation. Salvation is by the grace of God to us in Christ.
God would have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
If we should die before he returns, we will be delivered from the state of death. The Lord Jesus Christ will return and raise the dead in Christ.
Those who reject the grace of God and His offer of salvation through Christ have no hope. They have nothing to look forward to beyond the grave; there will only be death and corruption for them.
I Corinthians 15:16-23 WTJ
16⌄ Moreover, if the dead are not raised, then neither has Christ been raised,
17⌄ and if Christ has not been raised, then your believing is futile. You are still in your sins!
18⌄ Then those who have fallen asleep in Christ have also perished.
19⌄ If we are having hope in Christ in this life only, then of all men we are most pitiable.
20⌄ Now, however, Christ has been raised from the dead: the first fruit offering of those who have fallen asleep.
21⌄ As a matter of fact, since death is by man, by man is the resurrection of the dead also,
22⌄ for just as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.
23⌄ Each, however, in his own order: Christ, the first fruit offering, then at his coming, those who are Christ’s.
The dead in Christ will be raised from the dead “at his [Christ’s] coming,” not at death. Until that time, the dead in Christ will sleep the sleep of death.
What happens at death? When we breathe our last breath our soul life perishes. The body corrupts and returns to dust. The holy spirit we received in the new birth will return to God Who gave it.
Philippians 3: 20, 21 WTJ
20⌄ On the other hand, our citizenship is in heaven, from where we also patiently wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,
21⌄ who will transform our humiliated body that it may have the same form as his glorious body according to the energizing by which he is able to subordinate all things to himself.
When the Lord returns to gather us up to meet him in the air, he will transform our bodies that were mortal and corruptible, so that they have the same form as his glorious body that dies no more.
We will be raised to everlasting life.
Thank God that He has given us the victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ.
According to Psalm 146:4, the day our breath goes forth, we return to the earth. In that very day our thoughts perish.
Ecclesiastes 9:5, 6, 10
5 For the living know that they will die;
But the dead know nothing,
And they have no more reward,
For the memory of them is forgotten.
6 Also their love, their hatred, and their envy have now perished;
Nevermore will they have a share
In anything done under the sun.
10 Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you are going.
The dead person knows nothing at all. The day a person dies, his/her thoughts perish. There is no consciousness, no mental activity of any kind in death.
Since there is no mental activity of any kind in death, there is no awareness of time.
The next thing the dead in Christ will be aware of will be seeing the Lord face to face and being as he is when the Lord raises them from the state of death to everlasting life.
God will send His Son to redeem us from the power of the grave. Oh, what a day that will be when Christ we shall see!
I Corinthians 15: 51-57 WTJ
51⌄ Behold, I tell you a mystery. Not all of us will fall asleep, but we shall all be changed
52⌄ in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye at the last trumpet. In fact, the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
53⌄ Moreover, it is necessary for this corruptible one to be clothed with incorruptibility and for this mortal one to be clothed with immortality.
54⌄ When this corruptible one is clothed with incorruptibility and this mortal one is clothed with immortality, then the Word that has been written will come to pass: Isaiah 25:8: “Death was swallowed up in victory.”
Thank God for the victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ. Thank God for His great love and grace and mercy to us in Christ Jesus our Lord.