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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadWilliam Burkitt Notes and Observations - 1 Corinthians 15:54 - 15:54
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Here observe, 1. The happy condition of believers in the glorious morning of the resurrection, when their corruptible bodies shall be made by the power of Christ incorruptible and immortal: Then shall death be swallowed up in victory; that is, be overcome for ever, never to destroy or hurt any more, or to have the least power over the body for ever. The conqueror of all flesh is now fully conquered, and the spoiler of mankind finally spoiled.
O Death! thou wert once a victorious conqueror, an universal conqueror, slaying not thy thousands and ten thousands only, but beyond number; from the infant to the aged, from the dunghill to the throne, sparing neither age nor sex, neither great nor small, neither sacred nor profane.
But the Captain of our salvation having entered into the grave, the territories of death, the king of terrors, has there encountered, disarmed, and destroyed, this victorious conqueror: Death is swallowed up in victory.
Some read it, Death is swallowed down, death is drank up at a draught. Christ called his sufferings, by which he obtained victory over death, a cup; and as death is drank up, so mortality is swallowed up, 2Co_5:4. Blessed be God, beyond the grave there is neither death, nor any thing like death, neither death nor mortality. The one is abolished, the other swallowed up of life.
Observe, 2. How the apostle, in the name of all believers, triumphs and holily insults over death, the last conquered enemy. He laughs at it to the very face with a pious scorn and holy derision: O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? As if a man having disarmed his enemy should say, Now, sir, where's your sword? where's your pistol? Thus the believer: O death, thou thoughtest to pierce, to pain, to poison us with thy sting; but where is now thy sting? Thou thoughtest thyself a conqueror, but behold thou art conquered. Where is now thy victory?
Blessed be God for these songs of victory and triumph, which the Captain of our salvation has put into the mouths of all those that fight under his exalted banner.