A Permanent Victory

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This sermon, given on Easter Sunday, is based upon the phrase, "Death is swallowed up in victory," which is found in 1 Corinthians 15:54. The message emphasizes the fact that the resurrection is not merely a momentary victory, but it is a permanent victory because of the implications of the wording Paul uses in this verse.

Written Excerpts:

1 Cor. 15:54 ^(NKJV) So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: "Death is swallowed up in victory."

Introduction:

Who doesn’t love a good contest? Who doesn’t admire a truly worthy winner?

For some people, a good contest is any kind of sporting event, or perhaps only one particular sporting event. Other people love to follow academic kinds of contests such as: forensic speech competitions. From time to time I read articles in the Sharon Herald about students from area schools competing in speech competitions. Our own son, Andrew, competed in speech contests while in college.

I don’t know how many people are aware of it, but in vocational schools across the country competitions are held for various trade skills that students are learning and in which they may compete with other students around the region, state or nation.

When my twin brother was in high school he attended the Crawford County Vo-Tech School in Meadville his sophomore, junior and senior years and took the welding course. He excelled in the training and during his senior year he competed against welding students from other schools in the field of Heli arch welding working with aluminum and stainless steel.

The competition included blueprint reading and welding small pieces of stainless steel in horizontal, vertical and overhead positions, as well as pipe welds. If I remember correctly, the welds were judged not only on appearance, but they were x-rayed to make sure they were solid welds.

He won first place at the regional competition, then he also won first place at the state competition, which qualified him for nationals in San Antonio Texas. It seemed like a dream to even think of him winning at nationals against state winners from 40-some other states. So, you might imagine the time of great celebration it was when we learned that he also won first place at the national competition and had qualified for an international contest in Europe, which was later canceled. It was a thrilling victory that we relished for many years.

There are various reasons why people are motivated to root for their favorite team or individual contestant. Our family obviously rooted for my brother because of our close relationship with him. Others were hoping he would win because he was from their school, their town, or their state.

One thing about victories is they are always temporary or momentary. It really depends on what type of competition you are referring to, but in sports, for example, there may be only one victory before there is a loss, or at best, an entire undefeated season. But eventually the victory is interrupted by more losses. In this life, victory is never permanent.

Today, we are celebrating the resurrection of our Lord. In the passage of Scripture that was read earlier, there is a phrase in verse 54 that made me think of the title I chose for today’s message. That phrase is, “Death is swallowed up in victory.” For the next several minutes I want to talk to you about the permanent victory that Christ gained when He rose again from the grave.

I. The Element of the Victory

When we mention the “element” of the victory, we are talking about the fact of the resurrection and what it really means. Because of all the implications surrounding the resurrection, which we will talk about shortly, the devil has always orchestrated opposition to the idea of a literal resurrection.

There have been all kinds of arguments made against the resurrection by atheists and other completely secular sources. It is very sad that there are also some professing Christians, especially in the academic world, who argue against the resurrection. One such argument is that Jesus didn’t bodily rise from the dead, but He simply rose in the minds, hearts and ideas of the disciples so they could be motivated to go out and tell the good news of salvation. This kind of description makes the resurrection out to be nothing more than a spiritual experience.

So, it is very important to understand how the Apostle begins this chapter simply stating some of the obvious details surrounding the resurrection such as Christ appearing in His bodily form to various people. Then, the Apostle says that He also was “seen by over five hundred brethren at once.”

It might be possible to conceive of the close-knit group of disciples having such a spiritual experience as I described a moment ago, but think about how difficult it would be to get more than 500 brothers to all experience the same thing at the same time. And, not only to have the same experience, but to stick to the same story. Many of those same people would have still been living when Paul wrote these words, so any skeptic could have looked them up and verified Paul’s account.

This is only one example of the very intentional detail given by the eyewitnesses of the resurrection to refute any such alternative ideas. Paul wants to begin this whole discussion of resurrection by firmly defending the fact that it was a real event.

II. The Effect of the Victory

The effect of the victory pertains to the arguments that Paul makes throughout the chapter regarding the consequences of the resurrection.

He mentions such things as:

1 Corinthians 15:13ff ^(NKJV) But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen. ¹⁴ And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty… ¹⁷ And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins! ¹⁸ Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. ¹⁹ If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable.

Paul efficiently argues that all these things, and much more, would have no meaning or reality if Christ did not rise from the dead. 

III. The Extent of the Victory

As we get closer to the end of the chapter, Paul is answering the hypothetical question of what will the resurrection mean for us? What will it be like? What will we become?

In verses 35 – 58, he explains some of those answers. There is a lot to digest in the information he gives, but I want to focus mainly on the words in v. 54, “Death is swallowed up in victory.” This phrase is borrowed from the OT book of Isaiah.

Isaiah 25:8 ^(NKJV) He will swallow up death forever, And the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces; The rebuke of His people He will take away from all the earth; For the LORD has spoken.

So, Paul is saying that the resurrection is the fulfillment of this prophecy and therefore it really is true what he had said earlier in v. 26, “The last enemy that will be destroyed is death.” (Adapted from Verlyn Verbrugge, Expositor’s Bible Commentary)

(R.C.H. Lenski New Testament Commentary) – The [language] "swallow up" is drastic and expresses complete destruction. Luther: "The Scriptures announce how one death (Christ's) devoured the other (ours)."

Lenski goes on to explain that the words, “in victory” bring out the true meaning of the OT prophecy in the original Hebrew. Listen carefully to this quote:

Death is not merely destroyed so that it cannot do further harm while all of the harm which it has wrought on God's children remains. The tornado is not merely checked so that no additional homes are wrecked while those that were wrecked still lie in ruin. The destruction of death is far more intense: death and all of its apparent victories are undone for God's children. What looks like a victory for death and like a defeat for us when our bodies die and decay shall be utterly reversed so that death dies in absolute defeat, and our bodies live again in absolute victory.

Conclusion:

I want to close my message today by assuring each one of us in the strongest terms possible that the resurrection of Jesus Christ was a thorough and permanent victory over death. Jesus not only rose again from the grave, but His resurrection is the guarantee that we will be raised from the dead as well. As Paul asks in the closing verses, “O Death, where is your sting? O Grave, where is your victory?” The obvious answer is – there is no sting; there is no victory for death and the grave. All that death and the grave have accomplished or acquired has been permanently overturned by the resurrection of Jesus.

He Lives! Hallelujah!

Let us rejoice in this fact by standing together and singing the closing hymn: Rejoice, the Lord Is King