Where, Oh Death, Is Your Victory?

Gary Thomas in 'Christian News' wrote: "As Vice President, George Bush represented the US at the funeral of former Soviet leader Leo Nid Brezhnev. Bush was deeply moved by a silent protest carried out by Brezhnev's widow. She stood motionless by the coffin until seconds before it was closed. Then, just as the soldiers touched the lid, Brezhnev's wife performed an act of great courage and hope. A gesture that must surely rank as one of the most profound acts of civil disobedience ever committed. She reached down and made the sign of a cross on her husband's chest. There, in the stronghold of secular, atheistic power, the wife of the man who had run it all hoped that her husband was wrong. She hoped that there was another life and that that life was best represented by Jesus, who died on the cross; and that the same Jesus might yet have mercy on her husband."

1 Corinthians 15:14 tells us, "And if Christ has not been raised our preaching is useless and so is your faith."

The fact that the tomb was empty on the first Easter morning is not just a 'nice thing.' It is the foundation of all of our faith! Everything that I, as a Christian, believe in is based on the fact that Jesus was risen from the dead! If Christ was risen from the dead-- and He was-- then the work of conquering sin was fully accomplished! He was resurrected, and this resurrection fully paid redemption's horrible price. After that, we could not add to the completion; we could not do anything to make it better. It was perfect. It was complete. Romans 6:9: "He conquered sin knowing that when Christ was raised from the dead, He dies not more; death no longer has dominion over Him." Or as Peter Joshua said, "When death stung Jesus Christ, it stung itself to death."

Let's celebrate the fact that Jesus not only took the horrible pain of the cross, bearing its sorrows, its shames, its sufferings...
but that He also rose from the dead to conquer our worst
enemy-- death.

Now, all those who trust in Christ are not under the law, but under grace. Where can death have victory over those in Christ?