VICTORY IN DEATH ~ Be Greatly Encouraged in Christ JESUS

"...Death, or things present, or things to come, all are yours." -I Corinthians 3:22 [KJV]

“O death, how bitter is the remembrance of thee to a man who is at rest in his possessions; unto the man who has nothing to vex him, and who hath prosperity in all things!” O death, how sweet is the remembrance of thee, to a man who is alive to God, dead to the world; who longs to be absent from the body, and present with the Lord; to see the glory of Jesus, and to reign eternally with Him! Christian, here is a precious legacy left thee by the Lord: a covenant-gift from the God of thy salvation: “Death is yours.” He is your conquered enemy; your faithful friend. 

(1st.) Your conquered enemy. You need not fear him. He has neither strength nor sting. Christ, the victorious Captain of your salvation, has disarmed him of both. He can neither destroy nor wound your soul. Yea, “He hath abolished death” (II Timothy 1:10.) There is no substance in him; he is changed into a shadow. It is not the enemy death which seizes a believer, but the shadow or emblem of it, sleep. Weary soul, tired out with the burden of sin, lusts, corruptions, afflictions, accusations, temptations, etc.—is sleep an enemy to you? Do you dread sleep? Are you afraid of rest? What! fear to fall asleep in Jesus, to awake in His presence, to be satisfied with perfect likeness to Him, and eternally enjoy Him? 

O fools, and slow of heart to believe the victory of Christ over death! And thou too, O my soul! take the rebuke to thyself, and be ashamed of thy folly. But I am not afraid of death, but of dying! Why afraid of sleeping? O! for the insupportable pains of the body in that hour. Who told you they are insupportable? How many have sweetly sung, Victory in death? O! says one, Is this dying? O, it is sweet, it is pleasant. “Though I pass through the valley of the shadow of death, Thou [-Christ JESUS] shalt be with me.” This is the claim of faith upon the warrant of the Lord. “When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee” (Isaiah 43:2.) The presence of the Saviour will beguile all thy pains, and fill thy soul with comfort. 

For, (2d.) Death is thy faithful friend. Hast thou not found sleep so to thy wearied body? Just so, and no more, is death to thy weary soul. It will at once deliver thee from all thy burdens and sorrows, and introduce thee into joys unspeakable and full of glory. Death is that, and no more, to the soul, than what God calls it in His word; and faith makes it to the heart. If you do really and truly believe that death is swallowed up in the victory of Christ; if you firmly believe His precious blood has atoned for sin, and His righteous life has fulfilled the law, you may undauntedly sing, “O, death! where is thy sting? O, grave! where is thy victory?” No more, O grim destroyer, boast thy universal sway! To heaven-born souls thy sting is lost; thy night, the gates of day.

 

-preacher Wm. Mason (1724-1797 A.D.)

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