1 Corinthians 15:50-58

Date: June 15, 2024

Title: Death Swallowed up in Victory

Passage: 1 Corinthians 15:50-58

INTRODUCTION

Well, as we consider this final paragraph at the end of this lengthy chapter on the resurrection, we see how Paul is now bringing everything to a conclusion.

It’s like all the material we’ve looked at thus far is being condensed together to form one last plea to the Corinthians to understand the victory that awaits them when the last trumpet shall sound.

This is a glorious chapter with a glorious end, and I hope that it’s message has fueled your hearts to live your life in light of the resurrection of Christ, while looking forward to the resurrection of the dead! Because what we are by the grace of God right now, will not be able to compare to what we become when the man of heaven makes His heavenly descent. This is the day to which we look, and for which we long.

Well, as we approach the passage before us today, there are three words I want us to keep in mind as we make our way through it: (1) Transformation, (2) Celebration, (3) Exhortation.

TRANSFORMATION: V. 50-53

Beginning first with transformation, we’ll see how this is something Paul speaks about in V. 51-53, but before he gets there, he first needs to explain why such transformation is necessary, which is what he sets out to do in V. 50.

V. 50, “I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.”

What Paul says here is very much in line with what he has already said in this chapter. According to V. 35-49, which are the verses we’ve given our attention to over the last couple of weeks, there Paul made it clear that the resurrection body is utterly unique. It’s akin to a seed grown, rather than a seed sown. In other words, the natural body that goes into the grave will be raised as a spiritual body that reflects the glorified body of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!

It will be an imperishable body that’s raised in glory and power.

Well, if that’s only true of the spiritual body, than surely the present bodies we now inhabit cannot inherit the kingdom of God: a transformation must occur before that happens. And that’s what Paul is getting at here; to say that “flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God,” he’s referring to our present mortal bodies that are sown in weakness. These bodies needs to be redeemed. They need to experience a transformation in order to enter into the holy throne room of God, because the fact of the matter is, corruptible bodies cannot enter God’s holy place without being made holy, themselves.

Well, since this is the problem we all have, what, then, is God going to do? He’s going to change us—transform us.

V. 51-52, “Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.”

Paul’s saying, this mortal body of flesh and blood that we all now bear, will one day be clothed with immortality. There’s going to be a radical change, and when that change comes, it will happen in a moment. This is the mystery Paul wants them to grasp.

As he discloses new information to them about what they can expect to happen at the resurrection of the dead, he wants them to know something about the speed at which this will come to pass: it will happen in the twinkling of an eye. Which is to say, with the mere blink of an eyelid, and that’ll be it: the miracle of transformation will occur!

That’s how fast it’s going to be. An equivalent saying in our own day today would be like when we say something happened ‘in a split second.’ In other words, it’s not a slow run-out process; it’s is something that happens very, very, very quickly! That’s what we can expect with the resurrection.

Now, on top of the swiftness or suddenness of this event, Paul also tells us when this event will happen, which is at the last trumpet. Now, what is the last trumpet?

Well first of all, given the fact that it’s called the last trumpet, clearly indicates there’s no other trumpet call to come after this one. This is the last trumpet call. And I point that out because according to the book of Revelation, there are other trumpet blasts to be blown—seven of them to be exact, but without delving into the book of Revelation, all I want to say here is that however we’re going to interpret the trumpets described in the book of Revelation, we’re going to have to make sure we see them as happening before this trumpet call, because as Paul says, this is the last trumpet.

And the reason why that is, by the way, is because this trumpet call is the one that signals the end of this present age, when Christ returns to raise the dead.

Jesus spoke about this same event in Matthew 24, as did Paul in 1 Thess 4.

Matthew 24:29-31, “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.”

1 Thess 4:16-17, “For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.”

Whenever the elect are gathered from the four winds of heaven, and the dead are raised to meet the Lord in the air, and the perishable bodies of Christians are transformed into immortal bodies, all of these things which happen at once, will be precipitated by the sounding blast of the last trumpet.

When it’s sound is heard, we shall all be changed in the twinkling of an eye. Well, after describing the coming transformation of the body, this in turn will result in an exuberant chant of celebration.

CELEBRATION: V. 54-57

V. 54-55, “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.”   “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”

The scriptural references from which Paul quotes here is a combination of Isaiah 25:8 and Hosea 13:14, which are a set of verses Paul sees as ultimately being fulfilled in the resurrection of believers on the last day.

When the perishable puts on the imperishable, “then shall come to pass the saying…” In other words, once the bodily resurrection of the dead take places, at that point there will be no more death. Death will be defeated, and it will be defeated in an absolute sense!

I say that it’ll be defeated in an absolute sense… because even now, we recognize that even though we’re going to physically die someday, nevertheless, for those of us who are in Christ, a significant blow to death has already been dealt.

That’s why in Romans 6:3-5, Paul says, “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.”

Well, that’s true of us right now.

This isn’t something we’re waiting for.

We have already been given newness of life in Christ right now, which is why we have the responsibility to not present the members of our body to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but rather to present ourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life.

That’s how we’re admonished to live in Romans 6:13.

And so with that in mind, it needs to be said that on a spiritual level, death has already lost it’s sting… and that really doesn’t pose any problem for us to reckon with because we have to remember that in the context of 1 Corinthians 15, Paul is addressing the matter of physical death and physical resurrection.

Spiritually speaking, we have already been raised with Christ.

Physically speaking, however, we have not yet been raised, and that’s what Paul is dwelling on here.

He’s saying a day is coming when your mortal bodies, that is, the physical aspect of who you are, will put on immortality.

And when that happens, death will be swallowed up in victory! It’ll be swallowed up, Paul says!! And I want to put special emphasis on that word. To be “swallowed up” is a powerful term that has an important cannotation. It carries the idea of completely engulfing something such that that thing reduced to nothing.

An example of this is in Exodus 7, when Moses and Aaron cast down their staff before Pharaoh and it became a serpent. You’ll recall in that instant that Pharaoh’s magicians did the very same thing, but the difference is that the staff of Aaron was victorious.

Exodus 7:12 “For each man cast down his staff, and they became serpents. But Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs.”

Another example of this is in Exodus 15, where you have Moses and the people of Israel singing a song of victory in celebration of the defeat of Pharaoh’s chariots and officers. After Israel saftely walked through the Red Sea that God had opened up for them, God then brought those same waters down to overtake the Egyptians in judgment when they tried to cross through, themselves.

And for that reason, when the Israelites were praising God for defeating their enemies, they sang:

  “You blew with your wind; the sea covered them; they sank like lead in the mighty waters.   “Who is like you, O LORD, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?   You stretched out your right hand; the earth swallowed them.” (Ex 15:10-12)

And so from these examples, we learn that when something is swallowed up in victory: whether that be the staff’s of the magicians, or the armies of Pharaoh, or death itself, it is completely devoured! It’s eaten up, it’s engulfed to such an extent that it’s put out of existence.

And so will it be at the resurrection of the dead: when the mortal body puts on immortality, the reality of death will be so utterly defeated that not trace of its existence will be left behind.

And we will celebrate it. We will laugh death in the face! That’s why Paul addresses death in the form of a taunt, saying, “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”

The days of death are numbered. It may be the last enemy Christ subdues, but it will be subdued, nonetheless!

A day is coming when the darkness of death’s covering will be lifted in the light of the resurrection—at that point, death’s deadly sting will be drained of all its potency.

When that great and glorious day of victory arrives, the looming shadow of death will lose its capacity to instill fear, and the dominion of death will no longer be able to imprison those who are asleep in it’s dark domain.

As the apostle John says in Revelation 21:4, “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more…”

This is our hope. This is the promise of the resurrection. We shall awake! A day is coming when the dread of death is going to lose it’s grip on us, so that the taunt of victory will be on our lips: “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” ‘You, who held me captive for so long, will hold me down no longer!’ This is the celebration of victory for which we all await, and as Paul assures the Corinthians in V. 57, it’s a victory we are given through our Lord Jesus Christ.

V. 56-57, “The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

You know, when Paul writes this, it’s clear that he wants the Corinthians to know why death will one day be defeated for them, and trust me when I say - it’s not because they earned it! The reason why the Corinthians could expect victory is because they were united to the crucified and risen Savior. The victory Jesus won over the grave was the guarentee of their victory.

It’s not something they earned! In fact, the only thing they earned was death. Paul said “the sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law,” and the reason why he points this out is because he wants the Corinthians to remember what their wretched state was outside of Christ. Outside of Christ, the only thing you can expect is death because the wages of sin is death! Death is the consequence of sin.

And what is more, the power of sin is the law. Now, that’s an interesting statement, but what does Paul mean by it?

Well, when we think about laying down the law, we naturally think of it as the means by which sin will be restrained and lessoned. Now to a certain extent there is some truth in that. When the law is accompanied by disciplinary measures, it can have the effect of restraining sin because people don’t ordinarily want to face the consequences for their actions.

But if put that aside for a moment and just think about the law as such, and what happens when the law comes into contact with fallen human beings, it doesn’t actually restrain sin; it inflames sin! It doesn’t mitigate sin; it multiplies sin. It doesn’t decrease sin; it increases sin;. It doesn’t extinguish sin; it exasperates sin.

As Thomas Schreiner says, “Sin draws the law into its orbit, into its sphere of influence, so that the law becomes an ally of death rather than of life.”

This is the effect the law has on the hearts of those who are outside of Christ; it only serves as a ministry of death. That’s how helpless we are! That’s how broken we are! And that’s how sinful we are! I mean we literally take that which is good and use it for evil.

This is not good. This puts us in a bad position, to say the least.

Because if the only thing the law can produce in the life of a sinner is to imprison them under the power of sin… and then added to that, if the wages of sin demands the law to exact it’s curse on sinners, than what else can we expect to experience than death?

This needs to be taken seriously… If you are not a Christian, the sting of death will be felt. It’s gonna bite you, and it’s gonna burn! You’re not going to be able to remove it’s stinger. You’re going to feel it for all eternity.

“He who has ears to hear, let him hear!” If you think you’re going to get to heaven someday by obeying the law, you are running a fool’s errand. That ship ain’t gonna sail! You’re not going to make it!

You’re not going to win! You’re not going to come out a victor because the fact of the matter is, you’re a sinner who needs saving and you can’t save yourself!

You need someone else to achieve that victory for you, and the good news is that that’s exactly what God has done for us in Christ: He’s given us the victory! He’s done it all. There’s nothing left to do: the law’s demands have been met, the law’s penalty has been bourne, death has been defeated. There’s nothing left to do—zero—nadda, there’s literally nothing left to do, except receive what God graciously and freely gives to us in Jesus Christ!

I hope we all have eyes to see that. And moreover, I also hope that as we’ve now made it all the way to the end of Paul’s great discourse on the resurrection that, with Paul, we, too, would be moved in our own hearts to thank God for the victory we’ve been given through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Never forget that His victory over death is the only basis upon which we can celebrate our victory over death, at the resurrection of the dead.

Alright, well now that we’ve reflected on the coming transformation of our bodies, and have spent some time reflecting on the coming celebration over the defeat of death, we now need to turn our attention to Paul’s final closing word.

Before he transitions to a new subject, he first wraps everything up by concluding with one last exhortation. And I’ll do the same as well.

EXHORTATION: V. 58

V. 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.”

What an encouragement this is!

With endearing love, Paul reminds the Corinthian church that since their sins are forgiven in Christ, and since death has been conquered by Christ, and since they will one day physically share in the victory of Christ, on that basis they are encouraged to stand firm in the gospel and not move away from the hope they have.

Be steadfast, Paul says… that is, do not shift from the hope of the gospel that you heard and received from us.

Be immovable… that is, stand your ground. Don’t be tossed to and fro by all the idealogies of pagan philosophy; exercise discernment; hold fast to the truth; cling to the gospel; look forward to the future fulfillment of God’s promises, and in the meantime, go to work.

Always be abounding in the work of the Lord… which is to say, don’t grow weary in doing good. And also don’t just aim to get by by the skin of your teeth, but instead persevere to the end with grace, gratitude, and gladness. Serve the Lord joyfully and earnestly, and as you do so, know with certainty that when you serve the Lord “in the Lord,” your labor is never the vain!

God sees your work. He sees your devotion. He sees your perseverence. He sees your efforts. He sees the way you carry yourself through tribulation. He sees the way you conduct yourself before an ever watching world. He sees how you walk and talk; how you forgive and forget; how you trust and obey; how you read and pray; and how you work and witness.

He sees how you serve Him.

God sees it all, and He takes note of it all.

Not one work done for God will be forgotten by God, even if it’s something as small as giving a cup of cold water to someone in need.

So, as we await the completion of our redemption, my beloved brothers, let us work and labor in the Lord with all perseverance, passion, joy, faith, wisdom, and every other virtue that draws attention to our gracious and glorious King!

By no means will you lose any reward.

Prayer