The Defeat of Death | 1 Corinthians 15

This morning, we'll be in 1 Corinthians chapter 15.

1 Corinthians 15 · chapter mention

And throughout chapter 15, Paul is talking about the resurrection of Christ

and how that corresponds with our resurrection as well. In fact, they're inseparable.

I've done a few sermons on this, so just a quick review so we kind of see where

we are because we're going to be in 21 through 28 of chapter 15.

Verses 1 through 11 Paul talked

about how the resurrection of Christ and our own bodily

resurrection is central to the gospel that you

cannot be saying that you are standing firm in the gospel if you deny the resurrection

of course that's because if Christ were not raised well then there is no good

news and that leads into what he said in 12 through 20 where Paul kind of presented

this case of what it would look like if Christ had not been raised.

It's a very bleak outlook and essentially all meaning and hope are erased if that were the case.

But he ends in 20 by saying, but Christ has been raised.

And so this morning in 21 through 28, we're going to see the way in which this all kind of works.

You can think of this morning being about how death finally meets its demise

or how Christ defeats death once and for all.

It's an extremely helpful passage to hold near and dear to our hearts as we

live in this moment when we don't yet see that victory of Christ fully realized

and as we still struggle with the effects of sin and death.

So the passage today is good to hold in our minds and encourage ourselves with.

And so then in 21 through 28, we're going to see in just a few verses the origin

of Christ's victory over death, the order in which he defeats death,

and the object of Christ's victory over death, where this is all heading, what it is all for.

So that's the origin, the order, and the object of these things.

And I'll begin reading our section here. Let me pray briefly for us.

Father, thank you for your word. Thank you for your victory over sin.

I pray now that you would bless the going out of your word, that you would lead

it by the Holy Spirit into the hearts of your people.

Bless this time in your name. Amen.

I'll begin then in 21. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the

resurrection of the dead.

For as in Adam all died, so also in Christ all shall be made alive. There's your origin.

And we're going to first start here with the bad guy, with death introduced into the scene by Adam.

And then, of course, resurrection, life, which is necessarily the defeat of

death, coming through Christ.

Now, it's tempting to move over this quickly, but we need to understand the

immensity of what has been said just then. the immensity of the enemy that Jesus is defeating here.

Because you see in scripture, death is much more than that occasion when your heart stops beating.

Death first comes onto the scene right along with sin.

We see that Adam sins. He listens to his wife Eve, who would listen to the serpent.

They disobey God. And when they do that, that creates this, you can think of

it like a pathogen or like a sickness or like a disease. It creates sin.

And the effects of that sin, that pathogen, are death.

And being extremely contagious, all humans catch this sickness of sin and its effects, death.

And so every single human being born of man and of woman has inherited this disease.

Paul writes about something like this in Romans 5, 12. He says this,

Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through

sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned.

Or in Romans 6.23, for the wages of sin is death.

Death spreads through sin. Death is something we're all affected by because

sin is something we're all infected with.

Death is also pictured in the scripture as a ruler.

In Romans 5.14, there's a slave master enslaving his subjects through the fear of death.

In Hebrews 2.14-15, Romans 6.12.

And then of course it is with that introduction of death that we see all the way back in Genesis 3,

16-19 That we see the introduction of everything that is imperfect in this world

The world was perfect before sin and death So with death come trial,

toils, difficulties, fears,

pain, relational struggle That slow pull towards degradation and decay that

literally everything in the universe is subject to that comes with death.

Think of anything imperfect at all.

These are all simply bitter fruits blossoming out from a common vine,

which is death, which is the result of sin.

And yet just as in Adam, all were brought into death,

influences every moment of our lives, so too

through Christ's resurrection we are being brought

out of that death into life this

is why Jesus is referred to as the second Adam he's compared

to Adam in scriptures because with one

man Adam and his actions sin there were consequences for all who are in him

which is death so too by one man who is God Jesus and his actions death and

resurrection there are consequences eternal life for all who,

Romans 5.18 speaks of it this way.

Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness

leads to justification and life for all men.

For as by one man's disobedience the many were made sinners,

so by one man's obedience the many will be made righteous.

Again, I'll read from Hebrews 2.14, where the author speaks of Jesus' own death,

saying this, Through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil,

and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.

How stunning it is, how amazing, and even poetic, that our God kills death by

dying himself and then rising,

which then delivers all of us from death as well as we are unified with him

in his resurrection, delivered from that tyranny of death. That's what's being said here.

But if you think like me, you're gonna have just a few questions about this,

this idea of being raised to life and the reversal of death,

because after all, I'm a Christian and these promises apply to me,

but my life isn't perfect.

I still have trials. I still have fear, loss. I'm still going to die.

Corinthians says we're being made alive in Christ. And Hebrews says that we're

delivered from death slavery to fear.

Romans implies that death doesn't reign over us anymore, but I still act dead

in my sin at times and I still fear.

And again, Christians also actually still die.

So why don't we see the effects of this deliverance we're just talking about?

That is where understanding the order of these events becomes very important.

You see, from God's perspective, of course, this is happening all at once.

It already had been set before the foundation of the world.

You could say it's happening now. God doesn't do time like we due time.

He's outside of it. But for us, we are time bound.

We don't see all the effects of this deliverance all at once.

We're kind of stuck in this 60 minute per hour speed limit that we can't get past.

And we have to live through these things sequentially, even to where from God's

perspective, this has all already happened.

And God understands that limitation, that weakness.

And one of the accommodations he's made for us right here in this passage is

he tells us the order in which this redemption, this victory over death comes

about. So let me read to you the next few verses.

All shall be made alive, but each in his own order.

Christ as the first fruits, then at his coming, those who belong to Christ.

Then comes the end when he delivers the kingdom to God, the Father,

after destroying every rule and every authority and power.

For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.

The last enemy to be destroyed is death.

Notice there, all that kind of time and sequence language It just kind of suddenly

jumps off the page All of a sudden we have words like order,

first fruits, then, then, after, until, last,

This is very time-saturated language here And that's a clue The Holy Spirit

is emphasizing for us Helping us to understand the sequence in which Jesus'

victory over death plays itself out,

And so how does it kick off? What do we see?

Well, the first thing we see taking place is Christ's resurrection.

That's where the victory begins.

Jesus is raised, he's glorified, he's seated above his enemies,

and suddenly death has received its death blow.

Jesus has broken death. He has broken death's grip.

Not like the others who have been raised from the dead, right?

Lazarus, Jairus' daughter, the widow's daughter in the Old Testament.

No, they would be raised and then return to the grave. Their bodies still saw corruption.

Not so with Jesus Christ. When he was raised, he rose in a glorified body,

completely incorruptible and untouchable by death.

As it says in Romans 6, 9, we know that Christ being raised from the dead will never die again.

Death no longer has dominion over him.

He's raised in such a way that Jesus can rightfully

boast fear not i am

the first and the last the living one i died and

behold i am alive forevermore and i have the

keys of death and hades it's from

revelation 1 18 so now death has this huge problem on his hands because there's

a human someone who death is supposed to have authority over but here's a human

who death has no authority over because this human is god himself jesus Christ

who was broken out of death's prison and taken the keys along with him.

That is the death blow right there to death. Jesus' resurrection.

Death is now in effect simply bleeding out.

And a good way to kind of help us think about this is similar to like hunting

dangerous game, say a Cape buffalo in Africa.

If you get a good shot on the vitals of this Cape buffalo, you say to yourself, man, he's dead. Got him.

And you're right. Not going to need to be shot again.

However, this animal can still pose a problem. It can still charge. It can still run around.

Even though he's dead, you've got that effective hit, he hasn't quite died yet.

And there's still some trouble this Cape Buffalo could cause.

That's kind of similar to death's situation after Christ's resurrection,

right? Death has been decisively defeated.

Jesus has risen and also guaranteed resurrection for all who are in him.

However, like the Cape Buffalo and the little analogy there,

death hasn't fully died yet, right?

We still mourn. we still weep

and we mourn but not as those without hope but

we still feel fear pain we still

see brokenness and hardship in this world it would

really be a delusion for us to say well death is nowhere present

in the world in which we live today death is dead but he hasn't fully died yet

but he will we'll see that in verse 26 so let us keep going then Christ is risen

that's the first fruits of this victory. That's what kicks it off.

And then next, in order, we skip right to Christ's return, the other part of this.

Christ returns, and when he does, we see another group that's made fully alive with him.

Who is that? It says here, it's those who belong to him.

Now, what a powerful statement that is.

Let's just think about that for a moment. The only ones

who are really delivered from death Truly raised from

the dead to live forever with Christ Are those who belong

to Christ I love that terminology Because

for the moment It just takes our works

out of the equation At this moment The

word that is used for all Christians

who have ever lived Is simply those belonging

to Christ Not those who had immense

faith Or those who were his disciples Those who loved him

It's not those who lived for him Though those

are all categories which will be true of Christians Certainly But that's not

how the text describes us here It describes us here simply as belonging to Christ

It's the central point of our entire existence Where if someone asked you who

you are Who I am It would be accurate to say,

Someone who belongs to Christ That's who I am.

He's the reference point of our existence. And if we're not his,

we're not in this group that is brought alive along with him.

Because remember now, he's the one who conquered death, not us.

He did it. So you have to be with him and belong to him if you want the benefits

of conquering death, right?

Jesus doesn't break down death's prison and then look at us and say,

okay, it's your turn. Do what I did. I showed you how.

No, he picks us up off the floor of that prison and says, you belong to me, you belong to me.

And then he carries us out with him.

This great salvation of which we are hearing comes not by earning it or not

because we're special and had more faith than others, but because, again, Jesus owns us.

And when the sky tears open and Christ comes back, the only thing that is going

to matter is, do I belong to that man?

Am I a person who belongs to him?

Or am I a person he has never known?

So Christ returns, and all those who belong to him are made alive with him. What next?

Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God after destroying every

ruler and authority and power.

So there we see the end. Jesus conquers every enemy, every power,

every authority, every last bit of sin and death are vanquished,

and he hands this perfected kingdom over to God the Father. and that's it.

But we still have a few more verses here left, and that's because this statement

here, then the end comes, that statement's going to blossom out with more petals

that Paul is going to talk us about.

So the way I think about this verse, and kind of the way it works,

is if you've ever seen a flower blossoming in time-lapse,

you have the flower, and then the center opens up, and its petals move to the

outside, and then we have a more fulfilled picture of the flower,

And then the center of that new flower opens up and the petals blossom to the outside.

In each iteration, the flower remains unchanged, and yet it is more full and more beautiful.

And that's what we're going to see here as we look through the verse.

That statement, then comes the end.

That's like that center that Paul's now going to open up and it's going to blossom

and fill out our entire picture of Christ's victory over sin and what the end looks like.

So where we will be then with the remainder of our time in 25 through 28 is

unfolding this statement. Then comes the end.

And this flows nicely into the object of what all this is for.

So let's continue on then. Then comes the end when he delivers the kingdom to

God after destroying every ruler and authority and power. 25.

For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.

The last enemy to be destroyed is death, for God put all things in subjection under his feet.

So one of the first things we're going to notice here is that where it says

destroying every rule and enemy, that's something that is happening now.

It's something that is happening while Christ is reigning.

See that in the text here? He says he must reign until he puts the enemies under his feet.

So this doesn't happen all at once. He comes and then boom, everything's equally

defeated at the same time.

Rather Jesus is working this out now

and it is finished when he returns and

that last enemy is destroyed death

itself after that the kingdom is handed to God the father but the process of

vanquishing the enemies has begun at the resurrection a little story to kind

of help us picture this and how this all works out say you have a king and a

prince and the king rules over cities.

And one of these cities, the governor of that city has rebelled against the king.

And he's assembled an army and the entire city now, the army has martial law

over the city and has turned them against the king.

The king says to the prince, I give you full authority.

Go take that city back over and give it back to me when you're done.

The prince goes to the city, kills the governor, sits on the throne.

Now that prince is reigning in the city.

But there's still a bunch of bad guys to route out, right?

Still that evil militia. So as the king's reigning, he is defeating,

or rather as the prince is reigning, he is defeating those enemies.

Once they're all destroyed, he writes to the king, come receive back your kingdom.

The king comes, the prince gives that city back to the king,

and all is back as it should be.

That's something like what we're going to see here. God has subjected all the

present world to Christ, and Christ is reigning, and as he does,

he's putting his enemies under his feet.

He's reigning now, and he'll continue to do this until he's finished vanquishing

all these enemies, just like the prince in our story.

Let me read to you a few other verses that describe this same event here,

namely how Christ is ruling and reigning as a result of his resurrection.

Ephesians 1.20 says this, God raised him up from the dead and seated him at

his right hand in the heavenly places.

Notice that happened as a result of the resurrection.

Now, this idea of everything being put under Jesus' feet, we first hear of that

in Psalms 8, 5 through 6. Let me read that for us. It says this.

Yet you have made him a little lower than the angels, or than the heavenly beings,

and have crowned him with glory and honor.

You have given him dominion over the works of your hands.

You have put all things under his feet.

Now how do we know that that psalm is about Jesus?

Because the author of Hebrews, in Hebrews 2.8, quotes that exact same psalm

and makes reference of it to Jesus' resurrection.

So this is what Hebrews 2.8 says in quoting that psalm.

Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control.

At the present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him,

but we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus.

Crowned with glory and honor because of suffering of death.

So we get this same idea repeated in Psalm 8,

Hebrews 2, Ephesians 2, that Jesus is raised by God the Father and presently

ruling the universe with all his enemies put underneath his feet. So Jesus is doing now.

Now, I realize there's going to be some tension, some dissonance here with the

idea of Jesus reigning now and defeating his enemies. How can we say that while

death is rampant all throughout the world?

It's hard to believe God's word

here. It's hard to believe that Jesus is actually in charge and reigning.

And that it's very hard to believe that death is actually defeated.

And that Jesus' enemies are being defeated.

Because where's the work happening? Point to somewhere in the world where evil

is decreasing and godliness is increasing. Not going to find it.

How does Christ say he is reigning and all these good things are true when all

you have to do is just talk to anyone, anyone at all, and you're going to hear

stories of pain and sorrow?

How can we believe that all things are subjected to him, as the scripture says?

Well, the short answer for that is faith.

For now, only faith is going to help us there.

And the Bible confirms, it affirms your concern, right? The Bible doesn't say, listen, you're wrong.

Everything is perfect. Just ignore what's bad.

No, the Bible says, no, you're right. You do not yet see everything subjected to Christ.

You don't. The Bible says the whole creation has been groaning together in the

pains of childbirth until now and not only creation, but we ourselves have the

first fruits of the spirit.

We groan inwardly as we eagerly await the adoption of sons, the redemption of our bodies.

So the Bible is very open about the brokenness of the world.

We don't yet see his reigning, but that does not mean that it isn't true.

That's the whole idea of faith, right? Faith is being convicted of something that you cannot see.

The reason we even have the word faith is because we need a cognitive concept

for something that we believe in which we cannot see.

That's what faith does. That is what is needed here.

We need to, by faith, listening to the scriptures, affirm that Jesus is fulfilling

his purposes now. That he is reigning even through evil and the hardship of this world.

That God is, in fact, working all things together for good.

That, in fact, God takes what man means for evil and turns it for good,

and that no purpose of his can be thwarted, right? Our experience says this.

God's word says that. This is where faith comes in, right? Abraham,

classic example of faith.

His experience said, I can never have a child with my wife.

God said, you will have a child with your wife.

And so he believed what God said over against his experience. that is faith.

And by faith now, we must believe that yes, Christ is ruling and reigning.

And a good way to help us think about that comes from Corrie Ten Boom.

Now, Corrie Ten Boom, if you're not familiar, she was no stranger to the effects

of death and the diabolical influences of human evil.

Corey hid the Jews from the Nazis in World War II, but was eventually betrayed by a fellow countryman.

Her and her sister and her father, Casper, were then arrested and interrogated

by the Gestapo for three months.

Now, during that time, when she got out, she found that her father had died

during that interrogation.

And she loved him very much. And that was it. She wasn't around for his death. And he was gone.

So then her and her sister, Betsy, are then moved into Ravensbrook.

Which was the worst concentration camp for women at the time.

There they were subjected to freezing temperatures, lice, abuse from the male

guards, starvation and beatings.

Corey would regularly see groups of women marched into gas chambers and the

bodies dumped into the incinerator.

And during that time she lost her beloved sister Betsy to the conditions and

to the abuse of the guards.

Now in my opinion if there's ever been anyone who had a right to doubt that

Jesus is reigning and placing his enemies under his feet it's Corey.

If there was anyone who had kind of earned this right to doubt that Jesus had

destroyed death I think it would be Corey and yet And she often used this illustration,

speaking of her life and the difficulties she faced.

She would take a tapestry and hold it backwards and show all the loose threads

and the knots and the tangled mess on the back of it.

And she would say, this is how life often appears from our perspective.

We don't know where things are going.

There's knots. It's messy. There's chaos.

And then she turned that tapestry around or an embroidery.

She would use either, and show a crown on the front and say,

yet by faith, we know that God is working all this evil into something perfect

and something beautiful and that he is reigning through it all.

Now, that may sound a bit trite or childish, but realize that understanding

of faith that Corrie had got her through the Holocaust.

That's a load bearing faith. That

is how she viewed her father's death and Ravensbrück, that through faith,

even through all these things, God was conquering his enemies and working good

and having his way, even in the midst of these evil experiences.

Corrie understood what we're talking about today. And she understood Romans

8, 28, knowing that God's working all things together for good.

And when she saw the evil of this world, she looked then to Jesus himself and

saw where all the hardship is working towards.

And she had faith.

And that's what we need when we come into the same types of fallen circumstances.

Faith that Christ is ruling and reigning. And yet we will not always need that

faith because we will see it with our own eyes one day.

A chapter continues and we see that when the kingdom is handed over to God the

Father, death, that last enemy responsible for all evil, well,

we're going to see death finally and fully destroyed.

We'll really be there for that. We'll either live to that day or we'll be resurrected

and we'll be there for that.

And I'll read an account of what that looks like from Revelation 20, 11 through 14.

Remember, you're going to actually be here for this event. Pretty amazing.

Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it.

From his presence, earth and sky fled away and no place was found for them.

And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne and books were opened.

Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. and the dead were judged

by what was written in the books according to what they had done and the sea

gave up the dead who were in it.

Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them and they were judged each

one of them according to what they had done.

Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is a second death, the lake of fire.

So there it is. There's the

end death which received his death blow at

the resurrection of christ we see here finally dies when thrown into the lake

of fire and then with no more enemies with his redeemed people with him jesus

hands over the all of it to god the father the one who gave him authority over it in the first place.

So we have the whole picture there, what the end looks like.

Then we ask our last question, what is the object of all this?

It's great, it's joyful, victory, peace, shalom, righteous judgment.

But what does it all lead to? What's the point?

Well, the object of all this is so that God might be all in all.

God might be fully appreciated, fully loved, fully enjoyed, fully glorified

by everything and everyone in all the universe.

So in closing, let me show you from the text how we get there.

For God put all things in subjection under his feet, but it is plain that he

is accepted who put all things in subjection under him.

When all things are subjected to him, then the son himself will also be subjected

to him who put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all.

So Paul gets a little technical here. We've got to slow down a little bit looking at this.

But that's because he wants to make very clear who is the object of all that is happening here.

You see, we have both Jesus Christ and God the Father at play in the wording

here. And so Paul wants to be very clear that we understand that in the end,

all praise and glory is moving towards God the Father.

And so in order to help us understand where this all is, Paul briefly reminds

us of the economy of the Trinity.

Now that is simply a word meaning the rules, the manner, the ways in which God

functions within himself.

As you know, said in the Nicene Creed today, God is three persons,

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, all equally God, all equally worthy of worship.

And yet each with a unique function.

Now, even if you've never been taught this in seminary or school,

you know it instinctively if you know John 3.16.

God sends the Son into the world.

God is the sender. the son responds to that sending and goes into the world.

These are two different functions. So there you have it.

The father initiates, the son responds.

See it also in 1 Corinthians 11 and 1 Corinthians 3 and other places that God

is the head and Christ is subordinate to the head. That's the economy of the Trinity.

Well, that pattern that we just talked about, that economy continues into eternity

as well. and that's what Paul is bringing our attention to here.

And that while the Bible says God has put all things under Christ,

it does not mean that God has put himself under Christ, right?

Paul says that should be obvious, but he wants to ensure that no one misunderstands

that the son himself in the end is also subjected to God so that God may be all in all.

So the end of all this, then, the object of all we've read is glory flowing to God the Father.

You hear things like this other places in scripture. For instance, Philippians 2.10.

At the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under

earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

Jesus himself talks like this. If you read through John, John 17,

1, he says that, Jesus says that his own glory is to glorify the Father.

You see, Jesus' role within the Trinity is to receive glory in such a way as

to direct that glory to God the Father.

That's the economy of the Trinity. That is what Paul is careful to preserve

here. He wants us to understand that in the end, all this flows to God the Father.

And that is our happily ever after ending.

Everything perfectly and appropriately functioning in its proper place.

Death and the evil authorities and all those aligned with death are out of the picture.

God and his ransomed people together.

Christ handing all things over to God the Father and the Father being all and in all.

And it's like we hear in Habakkuk. the earth will be filled with the knowledge

of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.

It all moves to the Father. He's the object of all of this.

Just as every drop of water that falls onto a continent forms rivulets, then streams,

then rivers that flow back into the ocean, so every event in all of human history

flow to this eventual end of glory and worship and enjoyment of God the Father.

And so that is the very positive and invincibly true outlook we are left with this morning.

But what's the point of this now? How do we engage with this truth right now?

How do we benefit from knowing this? What's the application?

Let's say I have a doctor's appointment I'm concerned about,

or worse, someone in my family has a doctor's appointment that I'm concerned about for them.

There's a bill I can't pay.

Maybe there's some kind of a mountain looming over me in my experience.

How does what you've just heard interact with that? But one thing is that there's

an even larger mountain looming over that one A mountain of eternal joy By which

in comparison our mountain is going to look light and momentary Because things

are only large or small by comparison to something else.

Knowing that this is invincibly the end of our

story Where we're heading That's going to give us the strength and the help

And the encouragement and the hope that practically helps us as we walk through

this time when we look around and see with our eyes the world appearing as though

it's not yet subjected to Christ.

We'd have faith during this time as well. Like Corrie Ten Boom,

who looked at death and looked at evil in the eyes, and by faith she said,

no, Christ reigns over you. You are subject to him.

Jesus is using even you, Ravensbrook, and Jesus is using even you,

gas chambers, to work out a plan better than I could imagine.

We need to share in that sort of faith as we walk through our life.

When we see death, when we feel its effects, we need to by faith understand

that it is not reigning, it is not in control, but that it has been subjected to Christ.

That death, decay, they are not the norm.

They are, in fact, passing away.

Rather, joy and unity together, that is what's normal.

Death is abnormal, and long, long, long after death has been damned into the

lake of fire, joy and community and gladness will remain.

Knowing that that's where we're headed helps us now.

But in closing that's that's not

always easy to get a grasp of and

so we need to pray for the holy spirit to apply

this to our hearts in a way that

changes and transforms the way we act and

the way we feel because honestly apart from the holy spirit applying this to

us these are just words and they're they're not going to take effect the holy

spirit needs to renew our minds with this passage and help us to live in ways

that accord with its truth.

Allow us to hope in these things in a way that changes our perspective.

So then may that be true of us by the Spirit. Let's pray for that together.

Lord, we thank you that death is defeated. So often we are deceived and think

that death still rules and reigns. Help us not to.

Lord, by your Holy Spirit who leads us into all truth,

who teaches us by your anointing, we pray that your Holy Spirit would teach

us to really feel and understand and live the truth that Christ is ruling and

reigning and has defeated death.

Let that make our outlook more truthful, which is more positive, more glad.

Let it make us more courageous.

Let it help us to live more fearlessly for you.

And thank you so much that these things are true and remain true even in those

times when we do not believe in them.

I thank you for these things and pray them in Jesus' name. Amen.