Then, when our dying bodies have been transformed into bodies
that will never die, this Scripture will be fulfilled:
Death is swallowed up in victory.
O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?
1 Corinthians 15:54-55 (NLT)
Death is the ultimate intruder. It not only robs us of our loved ones, it shatters our world and rips out a part of our hearts.
In his book, A Grief Observed, C.S. Lewis calls death ‘an amputation.’ He goes on to say, “How often – will it be for always? – how often will the vast emptiness astonish me like a complete novelty and make me say, ‘I never realized my loss till this moment?’ The same leg is cut off time after time.”
Death is devastating because it is so final. Nothing and no one can reverse its course. Like an amputation, we cannot reconnect that which is lost forever. We are left empty-handed, with nothing but cherished memories.
What strikes me about Jesus’ death is that those nearest to Him didn’t expect it nor fully understand its implications. Maybe it was the sheer weight of their grief that numbed their minds to His prophecy that he would die then rise again. His enemies, on the other hand, remembered Jesus had predicted His own death and resurrection. It was for that very reason they placed a guard in front of the tomb and sealed it shut. They wanted to prevent the disciples from stealing Jesus’ body, then claim He’d risen from the dead.
As believers in Christ, we cling to the hope of the resurrection. Death no longer has the final word. Christ does. Death is merely a marker for the end of our temporal life here below and the start of our eternal life in heaven. Death has lost its bitter sting because Christ’s sacrifice on the cross swallowed death and brought eternal victory. One day, we will be reunited with Christ and our loved ones. Therein lies the hope that carries us through those darkest moments.
Thought: “For death is no more than a turning of us over from time to eternity.” – William Penn