Death Is Swallowed Up

The Last Enemy

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Death is a real enemy. It takes away people we love, and it makes us sad. The Bible never pretends that death is good. But it tells us that Jesus has beaten it.

An enemy. “The last enemy that will be destroyed is death” (1 Corinthians 15:26). God made people for life. Death came because of sin.

What sin earns. “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23). Wages are what someone earns.

A promise long ago. Hundreds of years before Jesus, God promised through Isaiah that He would swallow up death forever (Isaiah 25:8). Paul quotes it: “Death is swallowed up in victory” (15:54).

Swallowed up. When something is swallowed, it is gone. When Jesus finishes His work, death will be gone and will never come back.

Another promise. God also spoke through the prophet Hosea about defeating the grave (Hosea 13:14). Paul turns it into a happy shout: “O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?” (15:55). Hades means the place of the dead.

The sting. “The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law” (15:56). A bee's sting hurts. Sin is what makes death so painful, because sin separates people from God.

Jesus took the sting. On the cross Jesus took our sin on Himself. He took death's sting so that it cannot hurt His people forever.

Jesus shared our life. Jesus became a man “that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil” (Hebrews 2:14).

No more fear. He came to “release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage” (Hebrews 2:15). Bondage means being a slave.

The empty tomb. “But now Christ is risen from the dead” (15:20). Jesus' tomb was empty. He walked, talked and ate with His friends.

Stronger than death. Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live” (John 11:25).

Nothing can separate us. Paul was sure that “neither death nor life… shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39).

What to do. If you ever feel afraid of dying, tell Jesus about it. Then remember His promise: He is the resurrection and the life. You can also tell a grown-up you trust.

1 Corinthians 15 calls death an enemy (15:26). People sometimes speak of death as just a natural part of life. Scripture treats it as an intruder that came through sin and that Christ will destroy.

The last enemy (15:24-26). Christ reigns “till He has put all enemies under His feet” (15:25). Death is named last, because it is the final enemy to fall, at the resurrection.

Isaiah 25:8. Isaiah pictured a feast on God's mountain where the Lord would swallow up death forever and wipe away tears from every face. Paul says that promise comes true at the resurrection (15:54).

Swallowed up (15:54). The Greek katapino (say: kah-tah-PEE-noh) means to gulp down completely. Death, which has swallowed every generation, will itself be swallowed.

Hosea 13:14. Through Hosea, God spoke of ransoming His people from the power of the grave. Paul uses those words as a victory shout over a defeated enemy (15:55).

Hades (15:55). Hades is the Greek name for the place of the dead. In 15:55 even Hades is called out as powerless.

The sting and the law (15:56). Sin gives death its sting because sin brings guilt and judgment. The law gives sin its strength because it shows sin to be rebellion against a holy God and states the penalty.

Hebrews 2:14-15. Jesus took on “flesh and blood” so that “through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil.” The devil's grip was the charge of sin, and the cross removed that charge.

Freedom from fear. Hebrews 2:15 says many were “all their lifetime subject to bondage” through fear of death. Christ frees believers from that fear, not by pretending death is small, but by defeating it.

Firstfruits (15:20-23). Christ's bodily resurrection is the first sheaf of the harvest. The rest of the harvest, “those who are Christ's at His coming,” is guaranteed by it.

A living hope (1 Peter 1:3). God “has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” Christian hope is not wishing; it rests on an event that already happened.

Romans 8:38-39. Death comes first in Paul's list of things that cannot separate believers from God's love. Death can separate a body from a soul, but it cannot separate a believer from Christ.

Victory given (15:57). The victory comes “through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Believers do not defeat death by courage or goodness; they share in Christ's victory by faith.

Application. Christians can speak honestly about death without despair. When fear of death comes, answer it with the empty tomb.

Sad, but Not Without Hope

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Maybe someone you love has died: a grandparent, a friend or someone else close to you. It hurts. The Bible does not tell us to hide our tears. It gives us a hope that is stronger than our sadness.

It is okay to cry. When Jesus' friend Lazarus died, Jesus cried with Mary and Martha (John 11:35). Jesus understands sadness.

Sad with hope. Paul did not want believers to “sorrow as others who have no hope” (1 Thessalonians 4:13). Christians are still sad, but their sadness has hope in it.

Why we hope. “For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 4:14).

Asleep in Jesus. The Bible calls the death of a believer sleep. Sleep does not last forever. Morning comes, and we wake up.

With the Lord. Paul wrote that he was “well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:8). A believer who dies goes to be with Jesus.

Even better. “For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21). Gain means getting something better.

A tent and a house. “If our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens” (2 Corinthians 5:1). Our body now is like a tent. The new one will be like a strong house.

Precious to God. “Precious in the sight of the Lord Is the death of His saints” (Psalm 116:15). God cares deeply when His people die.

A place ready. Jesus said, “I go to prepare a place for you” (John 14:2). Jesus always keeps His promises.

Together again. When Jesus comes, “the dead in Christ will rise first.” Then believers who are alive will meet Him, “and thus we shall always be with the Lord” (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17).

No more tears. “And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying” (Revelation 21:4).

Helping others. When a friend is sad, you do not need perfect words. Stay close to them, pray for them and let them know you care.

What to do. If you are sad about someone who died, talk to a grown-up you trust and tell Jesus how you feel. “The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart” (Psalm 34:18).

Christians are not asked to pretend that death does not hurt. In 1 Thessalonians 4 Paul did not try to stop grief. He filled it with hope.

Grief is real (John 11:33-35). At Lazarus's tomb Jesus was deeply moved and wept, even though He was about to raise His friend. Tears are not a lack of faith.

1 Thessalonians 4:13. Paul wrote so that believers would not “sorrow as others who have no hope.” The difference is not sorrow or no sorrow. It is sorrow with hope or sorrow without it.

Sleep (1 Thessalonians 4:14). Scripture often calls the death of believers sleep (also 1 Corinthians 15:20, 51). It does not mean the soul is unconscious. It means death is temporary, with a waking to follow.

Absent from the body (2 Corinthians 5:8). Between death and resurrection, the believer is “present with the Lord.” In Philippians 1:23 Paul says that departing to be with Christ is far better.

The tent and the building (2 Corinthians 5:1-4). Paul did not hope to be “unclothed” but “further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life.” The final hope is resurrection, not escape from the body.

Gain (Philippians 1:21). “To die is gain” because it brings the believer into Christ's presence. Paul's gain was a Person, not just a place.

Precious (Psalm 116:15). The word means costly or weighty. God does not treat the death of His people lightly.

The reunion (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17). “The dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them.” Believers will be together with each other and with the Lord.

Comfort one another. Paul ends that passage by telling believers to comfort one another with these words (1 Thessalonians 4:18). The truth about the resurrection is meant to be shared in hard times.

The end of tears (Revelation 21:4-5). God Himself will “wipe away every tear,” and the One on the throne says, “Behold, I make all things new.”

Honest hope. The promise of resurrection life is for “those who are Christ's” (15:23). When we grieve someone whose faith we did not know, we do not have to know what only God knows. We can trust Him, because He is perfectly good and fair.

Serving now (15:58). Paul ends the resurrection chapter with work: “be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.” Hope makes believers brave and busy.

Application. Grief is a time to lean on the church. Pray for someone who is grieving, write a note or simply stay with them. Being there can say what words cannot.

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