O Death, Where is your sting?!





Dear friends

If you have been making God’s word a regular place to rest in at this time, and maybe spending a while in Psalm 91, you might have found comfort in the words
“You will not fear the terror of the night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness, nor the destruction that wastes at noonday. A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you” (v5-7).
Such is the experience of the one who dwells in the shelter of the Most High
As believers in the Lord Jesus we need not fear. God is our defence against every kind of threat

It’s true that coronavirus is bringing to the surface many people’s fears. The underlying fear of death that is in all people. As much as man has advanced in technology and medicine and thought (arguably), no one has found an answer to the problem of death.
Yet in God’s word we meet Jesus Christ who is the answer to our worst fears.

I was reading in Exodus today about the plagues in Egypt and how God made a clear distinction between his people and the Egyptians. All the plagues that came upon Egypt did not touch God’s people.
Can we claim that today? Has God promised that no Christian will be infected and die from coronavirus?  Can we say that ‘It will not come near you’. No. God hasn’t promised that. Believers may well catch it and sadly some may die.

The distinction however for God’s people is that the sting of death has been broken “Death is swallowed up in victory. O death where is you victory? O death where is your sting?” (1 Cor15:55).  Christ defeated death at the cross through his death and resurrection. And that victory over death was achieved for all his people; those who are in Christ.

Christians may die from coronavirus. Eventually all Christians will experience death (unless the Lord returns first). Yet for the believer our death is completely different. “Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord.  (Rev 14:13). So the death of an unbeliever is very different to the death of a believer. Death cannot touch us spiritually. Our bodies sleep in the ground while our souls go to be with Christ which is far better. Then when Christ returns our bodies will be raised as a glorious body, and reunited with our souls. This is why the Bible describes the death of the believer as having fallen asleep. Our bodies ‘sleep’, waiting to be raised.

So we need not fear death. We pass straight into the presence of Jesus. It is an entry, a doorway, into a far better place and far better world. One day death will be completely defeated. It will be eradicated forever for the believer. That is why our longing ultimately is for the new creation in which righteousness dwells.  

Jesus became a man so that through his death he might destroy the one holding the power of death – that is, the devil – and free those who were held in slavery all their lives by the fear of death. (Heb2:14)
So in this time of fearfulness hold on to the only one who has the answer to your worst fears and nightmares.
There really is no need to fear. Jesus has dealt with all your fears

With love
Dave

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