Saturday, November 21, 2015
1 Corinthians 15:54-55 When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: "Death has been swallowed up in victory." "Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?"
THE RESURRECTION MAKES DEATH LOOK DIFFERENT
Have you noticed how often the apostles of Jesus, in their New Testament writings, speak of the resurrection of the dead? From this we can definitely tell the Holy Spirit, who inspired them to write the things they did, wants to impress on us the importance of this teaching. He wishes to comfort us with the certainty that because Jesus lives so shall we. He wants us to view death differently than the people of the world, and to always remember that Jesus has made death to be only a sleep from which He will awaken us.
Death is tragic. It inflicts pain and causes tears. As Jesus cried at the grave of Lazarus, we mourn at the loss of loved ones. But we don't sorrow as unbelievers. We know death doesn't have the last word, Jesus does! As He raised up the widow of Nain' son, the daughter of Jairus, Lazarus ... as He kept His Easter promise: "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up" ... so He will do on a massively grand scale on the world's final day. "The Lord will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words" (1 Thessalonians 4:16-18).
I know of a morning bright and fair
When tidings of joy shall wake us,
When songs from on high shall fill the air
And God to His glory take us,
When Jesus shall bid us rise from sleep,
How joyous that hour of waking!
(The Lutheran Hymnal, 592:3)
