Today Cheryl and I will be attending a funeral for the mother some friends. Yesterday was the first anniversary of the death of our oldest daughter’s thirteen-month-old niece. We all have to deal with death on a regular basis. It may be someone you know who is drawing closer to death. It may be trying to come to grips with a death that has already occurred. It may be that you are facing death yourself. You can try to brush it aside or sweep it under the carpet, but death is something that ultimately you cannot ignore. It has a habit of getting right up in your face so you have no choice but to deal with it. Death is real. Death is certain. Death is an enemy that we face. Scripture tells us that.

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

Many times as a pastor when I was called upon to be with people in these circumstances, my human frailty reared its head to remind me just how inadequate I am for the task. Who am I? What can I do? What can I say? The doubts were loud and strong. So I did the only thing I could do. I didn’t trust myself. I didn’t put any confidence in me. I went to the Word, to God and His promises. Without that, I had nothing to offer to people in their time of need. But when I went to the Word, I found what I needed, and what I needed to share.

Last Sunday and again tomorrow, the assigned epistle lesson comes from what is affectionately known to many as “The Resurrection Chapter of the Bible,” 1 Corinthians 15. Paul starts it off by reminding us of the Gospel he has preached, the Good News that Jesus Christ died to pay for the sin of all people and rose again in victory over sin and death. This is the foundation of our lives, that Jesus is our Savior. As he continues, Paul tells us that if Christ has not been raised, then those who hope for a resurrection are wasting their time. If Christ has not been raised, our fuure is hopeless. However, because Jesus has been raised, He is the firstfruit, the one who opened the way for all who believe in Him to be raised as well. Then he shared the words I shared earlier in this devotion: The last enemy to be destroyed is death. That is precisely why God sent His Son into this world.

Death is something you cannot beat or overcome. You and I do not have the power or ability to defeat death. Death is the tragic consequence of sin, what we deserve. But the Father was not content with this situation. True, we brought it on ourselves, but the merciful and loving God of Creation would provide the remedy. He sent us His very best, His one and only Son, to do what we could not do. Jesus came to live the life of perfection God demanded. He offered that perfect life in your place, took your punishment, thereby providing your forgiveness. With faith in Him, God will graciously declare you “not guilty.” He will accept the death of Christ as your death for sin, and welcome you into His presence for eternity.

Look at these words of victory, words of hope, words of certainty later in this chapter:

1 Corinthians 15:51-57 51 Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— 52 in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53 For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. 54 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.” 55 “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” 56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

He gives us the victory, the victory Jesus earned by dying and rising again. That is the last word on the subject! Death’s power is gone. The victory has been won. The enemy is defeated.

We  live in this world in which death is a reality, an enemy we still face. It hurts. The pain is real and severe. But because of what God has done for us in Christ, because of the cross and the empty tomb, we know that death is not the final word.

• Going to pick out a burial plot is not the final word.
• Selecting a casket or an urn for the ashes is not the final word.
• Standing on a patch of Astroturf under an awning next to a hole in the ground is not the final word.

The final word is that proclamation that we shout out so enthusiastically on Easter, but sometimes forget about the rest of the year. Christ is Risen! [He is risen indeed!] He has defeated death for us. Sin is no longer our master. This is cause for rejoicing. This is reason for confidence. Because He lives, you will live also. That is the final word.