The Death of Death

I once saw this Scripture on the door leading into the nursery at a local church: “We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed.” While this is a creative and humorous sign regarding the care of children, it is also a wonderful help to those struggling with loss and bereavement. It is found in the 15th Chapter of 1 Corinthians, and is part of a beautiful description of the great reality that awaits us someday.

In fact, this entire chapter of the Bible is devoted solely to Paul’s thoughts and reflections on the doctrine of the resurrection. It would take weeks to unpack the insights that this one chapter gives to us, but a few highlights will have to suffice for now.

Paul reminds us as early as Verse 3 what he considers to be crucial information for us:

“For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep.”

Why is Christ’s resurrection “of first importance” to those of us who are mourning the loss of someone dear? Because without it, nothing else matters. There is no hope of any meaning to life if Christ did not show Himself to the world after His death on the cross. As Paul so correctly states in verse 19, without His resurrection, Christians “...are of all people most to be pitied.” Faith is pointless without Christ’s resurrection. If the historical account of Christ’s rising from the dead is not to be trusted, then there is no way we can ever hope for our own resurrection. We are then left with an Ecclesiastes kind of moment: what’s the point of living and dying? Is our existence and suffering just some cosmic bad luck?

Ah, but the good news of Christ’s resurrection reigns over all the skepticism and doubt that anyone of us can experience, and it is a truth to be embraced and celebrated:

“Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:

“Death is swallowed up in victory.”
“O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?”

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Cor 15: 51-55)

As we fight despair and depression after the death of a friend or relative, let’s remember what is of first importance. Because of God’s incredible mercy to us, we will one day be celebrating the victory of Christ over death. We will be granted the privilege of witnessing the ultimate irony: the death of death. And none of us will be crying at that funeral.