From the Pulpit: Death has been conquered

Is death surprising to you? It really shouldn’t be. For thousands of years people have died and we all know that one day, we too, will die. Medicine may advance, but medicine will never be able to permanently stop death.

Is the topic of death uncomfortable for you? If so, you are not alone. It seems normal to avoid thinking about the reality of our own death. In the back of our minds, we know that someday we will die, but it is a thought we regularly suppress.

Perhaps that’s why the tragic death of Kobe Bryant was so shocking to the world. Not only was his death unexpected and tragic, but it opened people’s eyes to the reality of their own death. The world was confronted with the fact that there would one day be an obituary written about them. We may not have 80, 90, or 100 years on this earth. 

God has told us through Apostle Paul why this is the case, he wrote, “The wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23). God says that not only will you die, but that you have earned this for yourself because of your sin. All people are sinful; therefore, all people will die.

God is perfectly just and he cannot leave sin unpunished. Yet, he did not want this to be your fate! In love, He sent his own Son, Jesus, to face death for us. Jesus took all of your sin and claimed it as his own. Jesus took the punishment that you deserved, so that death would not be the end for you. Jesus died for you, that you may live! That is why Paul could finish his verse by saying, “But the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 6:23).

Yeah, one day you will face death, but thanks to Jesus, death is not the end. Death has been conquered! “Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where, O death is your victory? Where, O death is your sting? Thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 15:54, 55, 57).