Death no longer has dominion over Him

Death, like sin, is trivialized in our society nowadays. As sin is sometimes referred to as a "disorder" or "sickness" or "addiction," death in a similar fashion is referred to as simply "it was his time" or "he passed away." But the fact of the matter is - death is an ugly result of our own rebellion against God and his original created order. Death was not meant to be natural in the very beginning. Everlasting life in the presence of God was the established norm for Adam in the garden. But as Paul tells his Roman brothers, "the wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23), and later, to the Corinthian church, "the sting of death is sin" (1 Corinthians 15:56). We today continue to pay those deathly wages and to feel that awful sting - but there is no reason any biblically-sound Christian should attempt to gloss over the heinousness of sin or the tragic anomaly of death. We as believers should most certainly stare death in the face and mourn the awful circumstances in which we find ourselves. This is the situation in which Martha found herself when Lazarus died.

As Jesus makes his way to see the deceased Lazarus, Martha meets him, saying, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died" (John 11:21). Jesus replies that Lazarus will rise again, to which Martha acknowledges her belief in the resurrection on the last day. But Jesus tells her a deeper mystery, as it is related to himself and the Spirit working within him. He tells her, "I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?" (John 11:25-26). Now here is the most profound, confrontational question Martha had ever been asked. And as she mourned the degradation of death, Martha was now faced with one whose presence was so associated with transcendent Life, that he could actually call himself the Resurrection. And all Jesus was asking Martha to do was believe what had been written of him in the Old Testament Scriptures.

1. Job foretells when the Messiah will stand upon the earth and the dead will be raised - "For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God" (Job 19:25-26).
2. Isaiah prophesies of the day when the dead shall live and sing for joy - "Your dead shall live; their bodies shall rise. You who dwell in the dust, awake and sing for joy" (Isaiah 26:19).
3. Daniel speaks of the day of deliverance when those who are asleep shall awake to everlasting life - "But at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone whose name is found written in the book. And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt" (Daniel 12:1b-2).

And the crux on which these different Scriptures stand is one solitary, objective fact - that Christ was first raised from the dead. Paul says, "We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him" (Romans 6:9). Christ, having overcome death itself, has paid our wages for us and felt the sting of death on our behalf. Paul goes on to finish this chapter with "sin will have no dominion over you" having thus received "the free gift of God...eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 6:14, 23).