1 Corinthians 15:56

1 Corinthians 15:55 , 1 Corinthians 15:56.

The Triumph over Death.

I. The most remarkable feature of the triumph over death is the acknowledgment of death's victory and of the manner of it. The triumph is thus seen to be a triumph of a humbling and mortifying character. The triumphal song is chiefly occupied with a recognition of death's unworthy conquest, now happily and gloriously reversed. A sting and a victory belonged to him once, but where are they now? Death, then, has a victory. He is a conqueror, the conqueror. All other conquerors yield to him; he yields to none. He lends his aid to other conquerors. By means of him and his instruments of destruction, they succeed. But whatever else they may conquer, they cannot conquer him. He, on the contrary, vanquishes them. Neither science nor power, neither arts nor arms, can vanquish him. The traces of his victory are everywhere. It is such a victory as a sting might be expected to win. For surely a sting is a vile sort of weapon, and any victory achieved by it must be vile.

II. Death is the humiliation of man. Sin is his sting. He comes to conquer, introduced by sin. Sin treacherously throws open the gates, and allows him entrance into the city. And entering, he compels the traitor to become his tool. Sin is his weapon as well as his warrant. Literally and emphatically the sting of death is sin.

III. But victory is ours. It is a victory that is ever brightening as we press on in our Christian course and calling. The security of it is ever more and more distinctly seen. The peace of it is ever more and more deeply felt. The high hope which it animates is ever more and more eagerly grasping the fulness of its eternal heavenly joy.

R. S. Candlish, Life in a Risen Saviour,p. 266.

References: 1 Corinthians 15:56. J. M. Gibson, Christian World Pulpit,vol. xxv., p. 56. 1 Corinthians 15:56; 1 Corinthians 15:57. Spurgeon, Sermons,vol. i., No. 23; F. W. Robertson, Sermons,3rd series, p. 212; Homilist,1st series, vol. i., p. 98.