“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)
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