The last enemy to be destroyed, says Paul, is death (1 Corinthians 15:26). There is nothing more inevitable in life than death. And yet there is also nothing more tragic. For death sees the destruction, it seems, of that which is most sacred in creation: God’s children. God commands us to love people, and yet when we do truly love people, we suffer terribly for it when they die. It all seems so terribly wrong. And it is wrong. This is why “Jesus wept” when his friend Lazarus died (John 11:35). He wept because death is always an unjustifiable tragedy. It is not something God chose for us. No, he gave us the tree of life (Genesis 2:9) so that we might never die. But we chose the tree that promised death for us. And so, death reigns over everyone. Everyone, that is, except Christ. For the final goal of Christ’s work was not just to give us a disembodied life after death, but to conquer death itself. His plan is to give us life after life after death. By this I mean, that though we will die and go to heaven in a spiritual state, yet ultimately, we will be resurrected physically from death. As a sign of his conquest of death Jesus rose from the dead on that first Easter morning. This is what we celebrate on Easter: That “Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep…For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive” (1 Corinthians 15:20,22).
Give thanks to God for the gift of eternal life!
Read 1 Corinthians 15
