Victory Over Death

So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall brought to pass the saying that is written: Death is swallowed up in victory. 

I Corinthians 15:54 

Death fails in the end. When Christ returns in all His glory, ‘at the last trumpet,’ He will transform all His people into immortal, incorruptible individuals who will be with Him for eternity. Here is where Paul has been going all the way along the line. He began with the gospel; went on to prove the resurrection of Christ; went from there to prove our coming resurrection, and expounded the victory of Christ over all His enemies. From there, he explained how Christ will change our body into an incorruptible, immortal body. The end result of that is, ‘death is swallowed up in victory.’ This means death fails. Ever since death came into the world because of sin, death has reigned. Everyone living eventually dies. High and low, rich and poor, good and bad all die in due course of time. None of us can successfully defeat death. Christ has defeated death. His resurrection was the initial defeat. Everything He has done since is the ongoing defeat of death. Ultimately, He will defeat death for the last time and destroy it entirely, ‘the last enemy that will be destroyed is death.’ Thus, at the second coming of Christ, He changes us completely and, ‘Death is swallowed up in victory.’ Death dies and we live. 

Great God of Life, 
we rejoice that You have defeated death. 
We praise You that because You live, 
we shall live also. 

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning