by Timothy W. Burnett
This is the truth of God�s word found in 1Corinthians 15:55-58. Verse 54 ended with, ��then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, �Death is swallowed up in victory.� The same quote continues in verse 55, ��O death, where is your sting? O grave, where is your victory?�� The quote possibly refers to the information found in Isaiah 25:8.
More light is shined in verse 56, �The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.�
This is fantastically dynamic information! The sting or painful bite unto death is the sin nature that is genetically bound in all of mankind. It started with Adam�s disobedience and was passed down through the generations. There is one exception; that is our Lord Jesus Christ whose life came not from a man, but from God in heaven. God sent an angel to Mary and the Holy Ghost came upon her and conceived a child in her. If Jesus� father would have been a man, then he would have had sin nature in his blood also, making his blood no better of a sacrifice as any other person. But his blood was without sin nature in it, and his was the perfect sacrifice according to God�s perfect timing and will.
The strength of sin is the law. Guess what? When you get born-again, you are no longer under the curse of the law. As it is written in Romans 6:14, �For sin shall not have dominion over you. For you are not under law, but under grace.� With Christ in you, sin has no more dominion in your life. You no longer fall under the jurisdiction of God�s law, but under God�s grace and mercy. This is astounding! It all ties together perfectly. Because you are no longer under law, you are no longer bound by the strength of sin nature. Since you are no longer bound by the strength of sin, you are freed from the sting of everlasting death.
With all this in mind, �Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. For you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord� (1Corinthians 15:58). Keeping in mind the victory which God in heaven gave through His son Jesus Christ, each of us who are born-again brothers and sisters in Christ are reminded that our individual laboring in the service for our Lord Jesus Christ and for his Father and ours is not in vain. So, no matter how we are feeling or what we are experiencing in life, God lovingly exhorts us to not completely give up.
Read Ephesians chapter three again and notice what is said after the references to the mystery which was hidden, but now is revealed. Which is that �the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs [with Jesus Christ] and of the same body [of Christ], and partakers of His [God�s] promise in Christ by the gospel.� Next week we will look it this chapter more closely.
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