GOD WHICH GIVETH US THE VICTORY

Our reading today opens with a wonderful and positive assertion - ‘so when’ - not ‘so if’! What a note Paul strikes as he brings this treatise on the resurrection to its glorious climax. No note of doubt; no room for error; no thought of failure - every thing spoken of is in the assured future tense. We are dealing with an omnipotent God who has given His wonderful Son a work to do, and this has been completed to His entire satisfaction.

Consequently, those who have gone before will be robed with incorruptibility. Those of us who remain at His coming will don immortality. Why are these robes available? Great as death is, there is One who is even greater - He has overwhelmed this formidable foe.

As a result, every blood-bought believer is able to stare death in the face because its sting has been removed. The One who bruised the serpent’s head in fulfilment of prophecy simultaneously removed the sting of death. Again, the saint with the aching heart is able to look at the cold grave and challenge its apparent victory. Our faith is in the One who rose from the dead and is able, with unrivalled authority, to walk the soil of resurrection. Even in life, no grave could withstand His power. In resurrection, He has publicly and eternally nullified its power, and rendered it a temporary resting place for the body of both believer and unbeliever alike. We remember, however, that for the believer it will be a glorious vacating whereas for the unbeliever it will be the prelude to eternal punishment.

Whilst Paul brings this song of triumph to a thrilling climax, in prayer he thanks God for the victory which He gives us through our Lord Jesus Christ. Sometimes we feel down, depressed, even defeated. In such circumstances read again this chapter - slowly at first, then pick up the momentum as you are gripped with its contents. You too, with me, will be able to thank God ever and always for a victory given us, a victory we could never have obtained. We can enter into the thrill of the watching Israelites as David felled Goliath with one stone. Our Lord has overthrown an even greater foe, and in prayer we return Him our grateful thanks.