'He will swallow up death in victory,' or, as probably the word more
correctly means, 'He will swallow up death _for ever_.' None of the
other panaceas for the world's evils that I have been speaking of even
attempt to deal with that 'Shadow feared of Man' that sits at the end
of all our paths. Jesus Christ has dealt with it. Like the warrior of
Judah who went down into a pit and slew a lion, He has gone down into
the lair of the dreadful thing, and has come up leaving Death dead on
the threshold.
By His death Christ has so altered that grim fact, which awaits us all,
that to those who will trust their souls to Him it ceases to be death,
even though the physical fact remains unaltered. For what is death? Is
it simply the separation of soul from body, the cessation of corporeal
existence? Surely not. We have to add to that all the spiritual
tremors, all the dreads of passing into the unknown, and leaving this
familiar order of things, and all the other reluctances and
half-conscious feelings which make the difference between the death of
a man and the death of a dog. And all these are swept clean away, if we
believe that Jesus died, and died as our Redeemer and our Saviour. So,
unconsciously and instinctively, the New Testament writers will seldom
condescend to call the physical fact by the ugly old name. It has
changed its character; it is 'a sleep' now; it is 'an exodus,' a 'going
out' from the land of Egypt into a land of peace. It is a plucking up
of the tent-pegs, according to another of the words which the writers
employ for death, in preparation for entering, when the 'tabernacle is
dissolved,' into 'a house not made with hands,' a statelier edifice,
'eternal in the heavens.' To die in Christ is not to die, but becomes a
mere change of condition and of place, to be with Him, which is far
'better.' So an Apostle who was coming within measurable distance of
his own martyrdom, even whilst the headsman's block was all but in his
sight, said: 'He hath abolished death,' the physical fact remaining
still.
By His resurrection Jesus Christ has established immortality as a
certainty for men. I can understand a man, who has persuaded himself
that when he dies he is done with, dressing his limbs to die without
dread if without hope. But that is a poor victory over death, which,
even in the act of getting rid of the fear of it, invests it with
supreme and ultimate power over humanity. Surely, surely, to believe
that the grave is a blind alley, with no exit at the other end,--to
believe that, however it may minister to a quiet departure, is no
victory over the grave. But to die believing, on the other hand, that
it is only a short tunnel through which we pass, and come out into
fairer lands on the other side of the mountains, is to conquer that
last foe even while it seems to conquer us.
Jesus Christ, who died that we might never die, lives that we may
always live. For His immortal life will give to each of us, if we join
ourselves to Him by simple faith and lowly obedience, an immortal life
that shall persist through, and be increased by, the article of bodily
death. And when we pass into the higher realm of fulness of joy,
then--as Paul quotes the words of my text--'shall be brought to pass
the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.'
Dear brethren, gather all these thoughts together. Do they not plead
with you to cast yourselves on Jesus Christ, and to turn to Him alone?
He will give you the food of your souls; if you will not sit at His
table you will starve. He will strip you of the covering that is cast
over you, as over us all; if you will not let Him unwind its folds from
your limbs, then like the clothes of a drowning man, they will sink
you. He will give you immortal life, which laughs at death, and you
will be able to take up the great song, 'O Death, where is thy sting; O
grave, where is thy victory?... Thanks be to God which giveth us the
victory.' 'In this mountain' and in this mountain only, are the food,
the illumination, the life of the world. I beseech you, do not turn
away from them, lest you stumble on the dark mountains, where are
starvation and gloom and death, but rather join that happy company of
pilgrims who sing as they march, 'Come! let us go up to the mountain of
the Lord. He will teach us His ways, and we will walk in His paths.'