DISCOURSE.
1 Corinthians, xv, 55.—O death! where is thy sting? O grave! where is thy victory?
This triumphant ejaculation, which Christ hath made the property of all dying believers, implies that death may lose its sting and the grave its victory. And whence comes this change in the issue of the conflict which man is ever waging with death, and in which death is the natural conqueror? How shall we account for this transmutation so strange, so wondrous, so heavenly, by which this most resistless, relentless, unsparing conqueror, is itself made to die, is swallowed up in victory, and at the very moment of seeming to crush its victim, translates him to an endless life, gilds him with fadeless glory, transports him with the fullness of joy evermore, and crowns him with an immortal diadem?
Our answer is found in that record which God hath given of his Son, who hath brought life and immortality to light. "Thanks be to God who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ," who has made the sublime annunciation on which all human hope depends. "I am the resurrection and the life; whoso believeth on me, though he were dead, yet shall he live."
Since then, death, through the wondrous work of Christ, may be disarmed of its sting, and the grave robbed of its victory, let us for a few moments consider more precisely in what way, to what extent, and with respect to what persons, this comes to pass.
1. In the verse following our text, the Apostle declares, "the sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law." Hence it is something wholly distinct from the mere physical pangs of expiring nature, or the instinctive dread and abhorrence of its own dissolution which it ever cherishes. This dread of self-annihilation is a property of life itself, which is in its very nature a ceaseless effort to be, and to avoid non-existence. Irrespective of sin or holiness, penalty or rewards, whether the death of the body be, or be not regarded as the only and certain passage to a perfect and blissful state of existence, it is in itself what we instinctively dread and shun. Like pain, we avoid it if possible. We never choose it as in the least desirable for its own sake; although we may cheerfully submit to it as we submit to bitter drugs and burning caustic, because without it, we cannot escape the pains of earth, or reach the bliss of heaven. In this light the Christian may desire death, because to die is gain, and he desires to depart and be with Christ which is far better: but not because it is in itself lovely, or otherwise than grim, ghastly and terrific. This natural aversion to the physical pangs of death, therefore, is not its sting, since it is a part of our sentient nature, and still cleaves to Christians as to others.
But the sting of death is sin, i. e. the violation of the law of God and consequent subjection to its tremendous penalties. Thus "the law is the strength of sin," so far forth as it is a sting. Now death is the penalty of sin, its wages, "it passed upon all men for that all have sinned;" even death temporal and death eternal, the death of the body and the death of the soul. And unless its nature and power as a penalty be annulled by faith in him who conquered it, the sting of death lies in this, that it is not merely a natural but a penal evil, not the mere dissolution of the body, but the entrance of the soul upon the merited woes of the second death; not the mere end of life, but a transfer to the pains of eternal retribution. It is the law, the violated, threatening, immutable law, that invests sin with this fearful power. Viewed in this light, the only light possible out of Christ, death indeed has its sting, which no tongue can tell or mind conceive.
We see then how this sting is removed by Christ. He took it upon himself. Sin is its cause. He bore our sins, was made under the law, became a curse, suffered and died, the just for the unjust. He thus discharges the demands of the law against the believing. What then if the wages of sin is death; is not "the gift of God eternal life through our Lord Jesus Christ?" What though death in its original nature, be the first, stinging, insupportable stroke of God's wrath revealed from heaven against all unrighteousness? We are delivered from the body, the substance, the sting of this death, thanks be to God, through our Lord Jesus Christ. "His blood cleanseth from all sin." Whoso believeth on him "shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life," for he is "not under law but under grace."