Death's Master
Charles Spurgeon once parabalized (is that a word?) an encounter with death:
But Death said to the man, "I am come for you."
He smilingly replied, "Ah, Death! I know you,
I have seen you many a time.
I have held communion with you.
You are my Master's servant,
you have come to fetch me home.
Go, tell my Master I am ready; whenever he pleases,
Death, I am ready to go with you."
How could a person face death so calmly, so confidently? Christians around the world this week are celebrating the answer to that question. Christians can face death confidently because Jesus embraced death on Good Friday and rose victorious on Easter Sunday. This is the reason death holds no terror for the Christian. Christ, our master, has become the master of death, defeating it, as Paul so poignantly says:
“Death is swallowed up in victory.”
“O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?”
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.
But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Corinthians 15:54–57
I can't wait to come together this Sunday and celebrate with you the resurrection of our Lord. We will return to John 11 and zero in on Jesus' declaration: "I am the Resurrection and the Life!"
Photo by S. Laiba Ali on Unsplash