56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.
57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
58 Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.
1Cor.15:54-55
54 When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: "Death is swallowed up in victory."
55 "O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?"
Today many face death! Some will die from accidents, some from another taking their life, still others will die from natural causes. Just what does natural causes mean and what are the eternal implications of death from any of these circumstances? I will make an assumption, natural causes could mean you are old and your body has run the course of life which God ordained for you. Or you are ill with a grave disease and the outcome is death, or maybe you are having surgery and something happened and you did not make it. At any rate, death is not fulfilled unless God allows it! Your Creator is indeed the author of your life and death!
Ordained days.....
Ps.139:16 Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.
Eternal implications:
If you know Christ as Lord and Savior....
1John 5:11
11 And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.
If you do not know Christ as Lord and Savior....
1John 5:12
12 Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life
Christ has power over death....
Romans 6:9
We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him
Acts 2:24
But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him
Romans 6:4
We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life
Revelation 1:18
I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.
You must come to the saving knowledge that Christ was sent by God to save you from an eternity separated from all that is good and just, to keep you from being sentenced to a place called Hell where torment is assured and no peace can be found and from which there is no escape! As long as you have breath, there is hope through repentance from sin and faith in Christ!
Lord, there is someone facing death today with the assurance that they will be in Your presence when they breathe their last and there are those who will live in rebellion, will not bow to You as Lord and Redeemer, who will face eternal punishment. While they have life, Lord show mercy, wake them from the misery and show the Your glory! Amen
Through Christ alone....
Phil.3:8-11
8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ
9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith--
10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,
11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
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