Death, Where is your sting?

I used to think about Adam and Eve and how awful a thing it was to be caught in the first terrible wrath of God against mankind. Sad. Dreadful. Tragic. They tried to cover it up; they made excuses; but the sentence of death came into the world.

The Accusation

Today, as I meditated on the death of the husband of a dear friend, the Lord showed me the mercy in God’s judgment in Eden. When Eve and then Adam decided to partake of the forbidden fruit, they obviously did not physically die immediately, but they began to decline toward the expiration of their mortal flesh. Before the partaking of the fruit, death was not a thing at all. There were only two people in a perfect environment with a personal, face-to-face fellowship with God. We don’t know how long this lasted. A few verses doesn’t necessarily indicate a short time.

Then the temptation … the fruit … the sin … the judgment … and death entered into the human experience. Yes, death seems like a pretty cruel punishment for eating a piece of fruit, worse even than the fate of Jean Val Jean, imprisoned for life for stealing a loaf of bread, Jonathan Edwards with a Stephen King twist. God is supposed to be a just God, right? 

And today … our inheritance: “… death came through a man …”

The Evidence

Still, nothing takes the Father by surprise. Even in the garden, He had a plan. God did not intend for the flesh to be a permanent thing. In the beginning, God made Adam out of the dust, then into that casing of corruptible, mutable dust, God breathed a living soul. That divine breath, that permanent thing, is also part of our inheritance. Adam and Eve, the erring flesh, were judged, sentenced, and punished, but Adam and Eve, the spirits, were eventually released from their mortal prisons and ushered back into the presence of the God who they knew–the One they “confessed with their mouth and believed in their heart.” Yes, I look forward to one day meeting the two people in heaven without belly buttons.

So here we are, all of us, corruptible flesh and eternal spirit, with the common fate that everyone’s body eventually dies. That’s the plan … and the blessing. Our inherited punishment is not an eternal sentence.

“For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality” (1 Corinthians 15:53A).

The Acquittal

Speaking now of those who are saved–those who have accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior– Paul encourages, [I like the Amplified translation] “To be absent from the body is to be at home with the Lord.”

“So when the corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:53B-57).

Still, the sting of death remains, but not for the one who has died. It is a sting and a pain in each one of us who remain, the family, the friends, and the body of Christ in this world who will miss our brother. The hurt in my friend and her family will continue for the time that they are on this earth. A loved one’s death is a wound for which one can not prepare and from which one does not recover in this life. However, in Christ, we have hope that there is more to this story than the world. 

“Since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.” (1 Corinthians 15:21).

The Victory

Through Christ, we have the inheritance of heaven–victory! Death, that seemed like such a harsh and permanent punishment to Adam and Eve, became the open door, the release from all that is not good, back into the place of perfection–eternity with our Lord and Savior and the Spirit of Life where, “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away” (Revelation 21:4).

Now, for my friend and her family, life will never be the same. Normal will not return. They will have to discover a new normal. The same is true for her husband, and hallelujah! his new normal is rejoicing for eternity in the perfection of heaven, where one day, his family (and all of us who believe) will be together again. “Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!”

May God bless you in the moments you must face grief.