The Sting of Death is Sin, the Power of Sin is the Law (1 Corinthians 15:56-57)

“The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Corinthians 15:56-57)

Why do we die physically and spiritually? We die because of the Law of God. The Law represents the unchanging nature of God, His eternally unbending character. The disciples were terrified when they saw a Man who was walking on the water in the midst of furious sequel. Who made them be afraid to death? Jesus Christ the Creator of heavens and the earth was the very source. Who made them rejoice and be glad in the middle of the storm? Jesus Christ the Lord of heavens and the earth was (Mark 6:47-52).

No one can live without keeping the Law of God. The law of gravity, for example, is to be kept all the time. Not only it is true in the physical level, but all must keep the Law of God spiritually. Nevertheless, out of complete ignorance, people might say that they are okay even if they do not worship God. That is the worst possible blundering ignorance that they can commit. The sting of death is sin and the power of sin is the law, says Apostle Paul. Who has not experienced this? All is groaning inwardly to be unclothed from the body of sin and death. That’s the sting of death, sin the ultimate enemy of humanity. The power of sin is the law because if there is no law then there is no trespass.

But we cannot get over the law, nor can we keep it in perfection without a single failure because if one breaks one law then he is the lawbreaker. The Law is perfect and flawless, but we are found critically missing and lost caused by the inherently entrenched nature of sin. “For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering.” (Romans 8:3) God knew it, so He executed an accurate and painful surgical operation by sending His own Son in the likeness of human being and letting Him to die on the cursed tree like a criminal in our place.

God did not take the fault of humanity lightly or indirectly but bluntly cutting off the juggler’s vein. The death of Christ Jesus was the promised means to fulfill the redemption of the fallen race, so it has been done on the cross which has been demonstrated as a public spectacle of triumphal victory over the power of sin and death. Christ Jesus could not stay in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on Him. “But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him.” (Acts 2:24)

“When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” (1 Corinthians 15:54-55)

We have been made free and released from the power of sin and death by the power of God. In Christ, we are now under grace, the marvelous redeeming grace overflowing out of rivers of living water within. We are not under the law any longer, but under the new law of life and Spirit. We cannot keep the law no matter what, but Christ in us can. We can do nothing without Christ, but we can do everything in Christ. He is the real food and the real drink for the redeemed humanity. So, we live by Him, in Him, through Him, on Him, for Him, and with Him. Christ is everything to the children of light. Nothing is valuable what man does, even if it is the moving of mountain unless otherwise Christ in us does. Apostle Paul cries out, saying “What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.” (Romans 7:24-25)

Made Righteous in the Sight of God (Luke 1:5-27)

“In the time of Herod king of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah; his wife Elizabeth was also a descendant of Aaron. Both of them were righteous in the sight of God, observing all the Lord’s commands and decrees blamelessly.” (Luke 1:5-6)

Zechariah and Elizabeth are the parents of John the Baptist who shook the nation Israel by the message of repentance, saying “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.” They were righteous in the sight of God, obeying God blamelessly. Don’t ever think that they had kept the commandments of God blamelessly with their own merits and strength because there is none who can do it.

What does it mean that they were righteous in the sight of God? It does not mean that they were sinless. It means that although they were sinful they were made righteous by God, His grace and mercy through the faith in Christ, so that they could keep all the commandments of God blamelessly. We may not feel it, touch it, or sense it, but that's what we in Christ have been made righteous in the sight of God. The blood of Jesus Christ cleansed and washed away the power of sin and death, so that we have made clean and righteous in the sight of God.  

How could Zechariah and Elizabeth believe in the blood of Christ for He was even born yet? As all the Old Testament saints were pronounced to be righteous by relying on the working of another, so were they righteous by depending on the working of God manifested through the fathers, Moses, and the Prophets. The righteousness of God cannot be earned by any work of man. It is a free gift from heaven to those who respond to the love of the Father and believe in Christ Jesus and His work done on the cross of Calvary.

“But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.” (Romans 3:21-22)

Although Herod king of Judea was in the throne, he was not the main figure in the sight of God. Rather, Zechariah and Elizabeth, an old couple who were made righteous by God’s grace were the focal point in the coming of Christ according to the promise of God. They were nobody, just ordinary people through whom God broke the long four hundred years of silence since Prophet Malachi. God always pays attention to the righteous made by the blood of Christ and uses them to shine the light of salvation. One of these days, Christ will come again suddenly just as an angle of the Lord appeared to Zechariah while he was on duty in the temple.

Wash One Another's Feet (John 13:14-14)

"You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet." (John 13:14-14)

Just a few hours before His arrest, trials in the Sanhedrin, and crucifixion, Jesus washed His disciples' feet. What is the significance of His action at the most crucial time and space on the earth? He did it as Teacher and Lord and commanded His disciples that they ought to wash one another's feet. Although He was deserved to be washed and served as the Son of God, He emptied Himself and served sinners like all of us even to the point of death. 

His action of washing the feet of His disciples signifies the death of Himself as well as ours. It's because the cleansing and washing away of sin can be done only by means of the blood of Christ Jesus the Lord. As Isaiah foretold, we are healed by His wounds (Isaiah 53:5). So, washing one another's feet implies the death of ourselves in order to bring life unto others. 

Human’s problem is so complex and weighty that without blood life cannot be restored at all. That’s the very reason the Son of God came to the earth in the likeness of man and crucified on the cross, shedding His blood in our place. Jesus says, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.” (Luke 9:23)  

In order wash one another’s feet, first you must die of anger, bitterness, resentment, hatred, complaint, and then you can love one another. There won’t be any life manifested unless you are willing to accept the death of yourself. “So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you,” says Paul. (2 Corinthians 4:12) That’s the authentic Christianity. Death involved to give life to someone else. All other gospels that deny the death of the Son of God are fake and sham.

Be Ready for the Day of the Lord (1 Thessalonians 5:1-5)

“Now, brothers and sisters, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, “Peace and safety,” destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief. You are all children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness.” (1 Thessalonians 5:1-5)

Pray for a grandma who just lost her husband without even being with him. Just this morning I helped her to send a letter to him who had been sick in a far and different location. Last week, she flew to see him but couldn’t make it. She was stunned and shaken at the failing attempt. However, she was invigorated by a call from someone who said that if she sent a letter then it would be delivered. So, she came to see us and poured out her heart-broken love memories with him in the letter. Ah, what a suddenness and swiftness! She cried out over the phone, regretting that she would have tried harder to see him last week. She ever wished to talk to him before his sudden departure and separation.

It is a dreadful thing to lose someone like husband or wife. But that’s the way it is. We are all once to die. The question is how we are prepared for it. What is seen is not all. Rather, what is unseen is all. So, we have hope in the unseen truth that He is coming like a thief in the night. There is no death in Christ who rose from the dead as the firstfruits of resurrection. We will all be changed at the last trumpet in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, being translated bodily from the earthly tent to the heavenly suit made by the hand of God (1 Corinthians 15:51-52). Therefore, we do not lose heart.

Paul says, “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.” (2 Corinthians 4:8-9) How true and up-to-date it is! We never understand the senseless tragedy happened to Job until God revealed the whole truth. Life is tough and never means to be like a picnic. It requires death to enter into that life. It demands blood to enter into the realm of new life in Christ Jesus. Since we know the truth in Christ, we even rejoice in the sufferings and troubles like the sudden loss of loved ones.