Death Swallowed Up in Victory

For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life. 2 Corinthians 5:4.
The Life-giver is coming to break the fetters of the tomb. He is to bring forth the captives and proclaim, “I am the resurrection and the life.”
Nowhere in the Sacred Scriptures is found the statement that the righteous go to their reward or the wicked to their punishment at death. The patriarchs and prophets have left no such assurance. Christ and His apostles have given no hint of it. The Bible clearly teaches that the dead do not go immediately to heaven. They are represented as sleeping until the resurrection. In the very day when the silver cord is loosed and the golden bowl broken, man’s thoughts perish. They that go down to the grave are in silence. They know no more of anything that is done under the sun. Blessed rest for the weary righteous! Time, be it long or short, is but a moment to them. They sleep; they are awakened by the trump of God to a glorious immortality. “For the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible…. So when … this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.” 1 Corinthians 15:52-54. As they are called forth from their deep slumber, they begin to think just where they ceased. The last sensation was the pang of death, the last thought that they were falling beneath the power of the grave. When they arise from the tomb, their first glad thought will be echoed in the triumphal shout, “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?” 1 Corinthians 15:55.
The pangs of death were the last things they felt…. When they awake the pain is all gone…. The gates of the city of God swing back upon their hinges, … and the ransomed of God walk in through the cherubims and seraphims. Christ bids them welcome and puts upon them His benediction. “Well done, thou good and faithful servant: … enter thou into the joy of thy lord.” Matthew 25:21
The Faith I Live By p. 181
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Prayer Requests
—-Please pray for Lorna who is having surgery this morning. Pray that all goes well and that she will heal quickly and with no complications. Rose
—-Please pray for David who is on hospice and has not long to live. Pray for Sharon, his wife, during this trying time. Rose
—-My family could use some prayers for my 19 yr old daughter and her fiancé. The chaos confusion and conflict that happened here have the enemy’s name all over it. Kelly
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Dear Friends,
When I was a little girl, my mother would never eat potato chips. My grandmother never bought them, but on Saturday mornings my mother would take me to a restaurant in town where they always served them with every meal. One day, I happened to notice that she didn’t eat them and asked why. She told me a story that made me not want to eat them either.
When she was a teenager, she had worked in a potato chip factory. This was before the many health regulations that we have now, and this factory was very dirty. There was dirt and grime everywhere. Worse still, the cat that the owner had to keep down the mouse population used to walk through the unpackaged chips that were on a table waiting to be packaged. When my mother told the manager about it, he said, “Put the chips in the bags anyway. No one will ever know.”
Just like that factory owner, we often think that we can get away with hidden sins. We think that our secret is safe and no one will find out what we do behind closed doors or what we think in our mind, but that is not the case. Isaiah observed, “The show of their countenance doth witness against them; and they declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not. Woe unto their soul! for they have rewarded evil unto themselves.” Isa 3:9 How true the words that Moses declared so long ago, “be sure your sin will find you out.” Num 32:23
Moreover, there is a Heavenly Watcher Who sees everything we do, hears everything we say, knows our thoughts and attitudes. We cannot hide from Him. Paul tells us, “All things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.” Heb 4:13 David observes, “O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known me. Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off. Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O LORD, thou knowest it altogether. Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it. Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.” Psalm 139:1-12
Whether we try to hide our sin as the potato chip company owner or whether our sin is quite evident, “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” Rom 3:23 We are so weak and helpless and unable to cleanse ourselves. “We are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.” “The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment.” Isa 64:6; 1:5,6 We cry out as did Paul, “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
Praise God we have a Saviour Who promises, “I will cleanse them from all their iniquity, whereby they have sinned against me; and I will pardon all their iniquities, whereby they have sinned, and whereby they have transgressed against me.” Jer 33:8 “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. Matt 11:28,29
May we go to our Dear Redeemer for the cleansing that we need, accepting the grace that He so freely offers, allowing Him to lead us in the way everlasting. (Ps 139:24) May we heed Paul’s advice, “See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.” Eph 5:15,16 May we keep so near to the our Dear Saviour that all of our thoughts, all of our words, all of our actions will be pleasing in His sight.
Rose