Paul said that not only is death defeated, but it will also be destroyed. There will come a time (in a place where there is no time) when death will no longer exist. Death came into existence through the sin of Adam, but through Jesus Christ, life has been given as a gift to all who believe in Him and in the power of His sacrifice on the cross.
Do not fear. God said, “Behold, all those who were incensed against you shall be ashamed and disgraced; they shall be as nothing, and those who strive with you shall perish” (v. 11). When life comes at us, we need to remember that God’s got this. It might take us a minute to steady ourselves and get past the initial wave of bad news, but God is there to hold us and help us overcome.
Satan may look and sound like a foe that we cannot defeat, but the truth is that he is already defeated. Jesus defeated him from the cross, and when we put our faith in Jesus, the victory Jesus won becomes our victory as well. The story comes full circle because God has already declared the end from the beginning. The end of Satan, his demons, and all who follow him is found in the final chapters of the Bible.
Jesus, the Man of sorrow and acquainted with grief, is the one who gives us joy unspeakable and full of glory. There will be times of sorrow in the midst of our joy, but one day soon, God will wipe away every tear from our eyes, and there will be no more death, or sorrow, or crying. And there will be no more pain because all those things have passed away.
You’ve been preparing for this! All those prayers, all those hours reading your Bible, all those Sundays that you got up and came to church even when you didn’t feel like it, all those tears, all that praise, all that worship, it has ALL been leading to this. This could be your finest hour because if you endure to the end, you will be victorious! There are witnesses in heaven on the edges of their seats cheering you on. You’ve got this because the battle is the Lord’s, and there is always victory in Jesus.
Our victory is not dependent upon elections or economic conditions. Pandemic or no pandemic, I’m still singing my victory song because an old rugged cross was lifted up against the backdrop of the Jerusalem sky, and with His last breath Jesus declared, “It is finished!” The war has already been won, and this is my victory song!
I think that for a number of reasons, this past year has been like that for many people. Between the COVID-19 pandemic, the non-stop negative news on the media featuring abuse, bombings, and burning cities, along with a culture determined to divide and conquer the community of faith, this has been a very difficult year. But like David in Psalm 138 we can keep singing.
In a fallen world we cannot keep the devil from putting things in our path that appeal to natural human desires, but by the same token the devil cannot force us to pursue anything we don’t want to pursue. One preacher observed that we cannot keep the devil from knocking on our door, but that doesn’t mean we have to open the door and let him in. The reason Satan has been so successful with temptation is because too many people are looking for the opportunity and temptation is just an excuse to open the door and do what they already wanted to do.
Living the overcomer’s life is not about living a miserable life now and hoping to have a good life someday. It’s about living a victorious life, a triumphant life, an abundant life now, even if it means denying ourselves as we take up our cross daily to follow Jesus (Luke 9:23). Even if it means we stand against the current of a perverse media-driven culture and refuse to go-along to get-along. We do it gladly, give cheerfully, and live joyfully because we know that the “sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us” (Rom 8:18).
