“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.” 1 Corinthians 15:55-56

The Apostle Paul typifies death as a stinging weapon, painful to the one experiencing it. Sin is death's cause and punishment; death is the inevitable result of all of humanity’s disobedience and rebellion against God.

Jesus Christ became obedient to death (Phil. 2:8), the “stinging weapon,” and took away death’s dread and fear. He swallowed up death’s power in victory! No longer is death some “irrational teenager,” recklessly causing panic and chaos in the world of his own free will, but a tempered servant of a holy, just, and almighty God.

Death can no longer hurt a believer in Christ Jesus; its sting does not affect us, for Christ has removed it. Death merely takes us from one dimension to the next, graduating us into the eternal presence of the Lord.

Matthew Henry stated that the law is the divine threat against the transgressors of the law; that’s where sin gets its power. There are so many people in the world who break the law of God, the law of man, and the laws of the state, thereby placing themselves under the power of sin, which is death. What happens to the person who obeys the law and is saved by Jesus Christ? Sin has no power over him, and death’s grip on him is only temporary—never final.

Thanks be to God! The sting is removed. Death is swallowed up in victory (1 Cor. 15:54b).

ᴳᵒ.ᴬʰᵉᵃᵈ