206
T h e
K i n g ’ s
B u s i n e s s
April 1927
Resurrection Victory In the Life B y R ev . T homas H oughton E ditor “ G ospel M agazine ”
"But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."—1 Cor. 15:57. HE word “victory” is often associated with i S p 3 the defeat of an enemy in battle. All victory is °f the Lord. “The horse is prepared against the ^JgjsSj day of battle: but victories of heathen mon- y a ir archs are due to Divine ordering. ; “Now iT l! have I brought it to pass,’’ Jehovah . said to Sennacherib, “that thou shouldest be -to. Jay waste fenced cities into ruinous heaps” (2 Kings 19:25). Jehovah “doeth according to His; will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth” (Dan. 4: 35). Ungodly monarchs and their armies unwittingly ful fil the purposes of God. They think they are merely carrying out their own evil designs, but the Lord uses them to chastise His own people and to fulfil His own purposes. They are but the axe in the hand of the Divine Hewer. (See Isaiah 10:5-15). Victory over the world is also of Jehovah, for the vic tory by which His people overcome is by faith in Him. We read also of “victory over the beast,” and victory over “that old serpent called the Devil and Satan,” (Rev. 12 :9- 11; 15 :2). It is an encouraging thought that eventually all the enemies of God and of His people shall be overthrown. Our mighty Saviour and King “must reign, till He hath put all enemies under His feet.” “All things shall be sub dued unto Him.” The last enemy—death—will eventually be destroyed. The Lord’s family can therefore look for ward, with full assurance, to final and complete victory. God Himself will give victory to His people through our Lord Jesus Christ. Heaven and éarth shall pass away, but the Word of our God which assures us of victory shall not pass away. Victory complete and final is. to be our portion. 1. V ictory O ver D eath - At present death has victory over us. It lays hold of all sorts and conditions of men. It enters the homes of high and low, rich and poor. None are exempt from its power. All efforts to dismiss it are without avail when the set time comes. “It is appointed unto men once to die.” But when our Lord Jesus Christ descends from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trump of God, the dead in Him shall rise. He Himself has conquered death, and He.lias become the firstfruits of them that have fallen asleep. As all in Adam die, so all in Christ shall be made alive. “But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterwards they that are Christ’s at His coming” (1 Cor. 15 :20-23). “We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incor ruptible, and we shall be changed. . . .' So when this cor ruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written. Death is swallowed up in victory” (1 Cor. 15:51-54). The present corruptible body will become incorruptible. The present mortal body will become immortal. Like their risen Head, God’s peo ple will then die no more. Death will be for ever con quered. They will be victorious over that great enemy.
Then, “The Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces” (Isaiah 25 :8). The days of His people’s mourning shall be ended. How great indeed will be the change in our experience when there will no longer be the possibility of pain, disease, or death! Here is Gospel truth. Here is part of the good tidings of great joy which is bound up in the Gospel of the grace of God. O, the sorrow which death causes now! O, the joy which victory over death will bring to the children of God! 2. V ictory O ver S in What is it which causes death? It is sin. “As by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death paissed upon all men, for that all have sinned” (Rom. 5:12). Sin is therefore like a poisonous sting. It has entered our systems and we cannot get rid of it. It works until it issues in temporal death. “The sting of death is sin,” Sin reigns unto death. But on the resurrection morning we shall be able to confront death and say, “O death, where is thy sting ?” Christ has put His people’s sins away. They are no longer imputed to them. He bore their sins in His own body on the tree. He exhausted the penalty due to them. Their sins are therefore eternally for given, and death, which is by sin, even now has lost any real terror. It is but the gate to a happier state, the gate to life immortal. When the Lord comes His people will rise in His likeness. They will be conformed to His image. They will be for ever delivered from sin’s presence. They will be victorious over sin. 3. V ictory O ver L aw “The strength of sin is the law.” The law brings us in guilty of sin. Without the law there would be no trans gression and no condemnation; for “sin is not imputed when there is no law” (Rom. 5:13). When I come face to face with law I find I have failed to keep its precepts. I am therefore a transgressor and liable to the just penalty which my sins deserve. But Christ has obeyed the law for me, and He has also suffered its penalty. Hence there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ, and in whose stead He obeyed and suffered. The law cannot visit upon them that eternal punishment which their sins deserve. They are free from its condemning power. They are victorious over law. 4. V ictory “ T hrough O ur L ord J esus C h r is t ” Our victory over death, sin, and law is all due to Him. It is He who hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. (See Gal. 3:13.) He met all the law’s claims by being obedient unto death as the holy Substitute of His people. He conquered death as their Representative. Having exhausted sin’s penalty, death could no longer hold Him (Acts 2:24). By His" atoning death He secured for all His people their eternal justifica tion. On account of this great fact He rose again (See Rom. 4:25). “In that He died, He died unto sin once: but in that He liveth, He liveth unto God.” “Death hath no more dominion over Him.” He has conquered it. He is death’s Victor, In union with Him His people will also be made alive. By Him will come their resurrection from the dead. Through the Lord Jesus Christ they have the
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