The Last Enemy

This Easter Sunday we looked at the fact of the resurrection and how Jesus handles our fears and reigns as king. 1 Corinthians 15:26 mentioned the last enemy that Christ will conquer at his return – death itself. In my research for the sermon, I came across this devotional written by Charles Spurgeon more than 120 years ago:

THE LAST ENEMY.

1 Corinthians 15:26 (ESV) The last enemy to be destroyed is death.

Those who have stood by a fresh grave and buried half their hearts in it can tell you what an enemy death is. Death takes the friend from our side, the child from our arms, the pillar of our homes, and the brightness of our hearth. Death has no pity for the young and no mercy for the old. Death has no regard for the good or the beautiful. The scythe of death cuts both sweet flowers and noxious weeds with equal readiness. Death comes into our garden, tramples our lilies, and scatters our roses. Death finds even the most modest flowers that are hiding under the leaves, and it withers them with its burning breath. Death is our enemy. “The last enemy that will be destroyed is death” (1 Cor. 15:26).

 Why do saints die? Because “flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption” (1 Cor. 15:50). A divine change must take place in our bodies before we can enter heaven. Death and the grave are the refining pot, the furnace that makes the body  ready for its future bliss. Death cuts the ropes, that the boat may freely sail to the fair haven. Death is the fiery chariot that ascends to God. Death is the gentle voice of our Great King.

We fly on eagles’ wings, far from this land of mist and cloud, into the eternal serenity and brilliance of God’s house above. It is not death to die.

-      May God bless us with hope in life and no fear in death through our faith in Jesus His son. 

-      Bro. Dave