THE GRIM REAPER SENT PACKING.
From 1 Corinthians 15:55–57, we read…“O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
THE GRIM REAPER SENT PACKING. Few figures are as recognizable or feared as much as the Grim Reaper. Most of us picture him as the hooded skeleton holding a sharp sickle in his bony hand, coming to claim his next victim. Death is something we all fear, even if we try to ignore it. Try as we might, it is inevitable. Statistics still tell us that one out of one dies. And when the Grim Reaper comes calling, there is nowhere to hide. He does not discriminate. He takes the young and old, the weak and strong, the poor and rich alike. One Friday in Jerusalem, even the Savior of the world, Jesus Christ, experienced death.
THE DAY HE MET HIS MATCH. Unlike all who went before Him, Jesus did not remain in the grave. On the third day, He rose, breaking the sickle of death and sending the Grim Reaper packing. As Jesus walked out of that tomb, death had no power, no victory, no sting. Death lay defeated at His feet. And this is the wonderful part…Jesus offers His victory over death to you and me today. Amen?! As the Bible proclaims, “Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 15:57). Do you fear death? Do you try to block those thoughts from your mind? Do you quickly change the subject when it comes up? I have conducted many funerals in my years as a pastor. I’ve never enjoyed preaching them, but there is one good thing about funerals: they force us to face the reality of death. That’s what Solomon meant when he said, “It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting, for this is the end of all mankind, and the living will lay it to heart” (Ecc. 7:2).
DEATH LOST ITS STING. The truth is this: if you know Jesus as your Savior you are in Christ and you never really die. Jesus said, “And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die” (John 11:26). When a person receives Jesus, they pass from death into life (John 5:24). While our physical bodies still die, the soul, the eternal part of us never experiences death. As Paul writes, believers are “absent from the body, present with the Lord” (2 Cor. 5:8). As our verses for today tell us, “the sting of death is sin…”, but Jesus took that sting on Himself. He faced the real consequence of sin for us, so that death cannot harm us. It is like a scorpion that has lost its stinger. Its appearance is frightening, but it can no longer hurt anyone. Jesus has faced death for you, but His victory is yours only if you personally receive Him as Savior and Lord.
THE SHADOW OF DEATH. There was a great preacher whose wife died when she was still a very young woman. She left behind a young daughter. The little girl didn’t understand why her mom had to die. But sometime after her mom had passed, the girl and her father were downtown doing some shopping. The little girl was in the car, and she looked over at the wall of a department store and saw the shadow of a truck. The shadow was even larger than the truck, because the sun was setting low in the west and it made a huge shadow on the department store wall. The little girl said, “Daddy, look at the big shadow of the truck.” When her dad looked at the shadow of that truck, he immediately saw a wonderful way to help his daughter understand what had happen to her mom when she died. And he said, “Sweetheart if you had your choice, would you rather be hit by the shadow of the truck or by the truck?” She said, “Daddy, that’s easy. I’d much rather be hit by the shadow of that truck than be hit by that truck.” He said, “That’s right, darling. It was only the shadow that hit mama. The truck hit Jesus two thousand years ago at Calvary.” The truck hit Jesus. As our verse for today says, Jesus has taken the sting out of sin and the dread out of the grave. Jesus has become our Victor. And there cannot be a shadow unless there’s a light.
TAKE HEART. So today, when you face the possibility or fear of death …when you hear the news of a loved one’s passing, remember this: death has been defeated. The grave has lost its victory. The sting is gone.
Because of Jesus, we have eternal hope. We have victory through Him. And one day soon, our bodies and souls will share fully in that victory.
Take a moment today to thank God: That first Easter morning, the ole Grim Reaper was sent packing! The day death died has come for all who belong to Christ. Think it over…🙏