"All things are yours; whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come,-all are yours, and ye are Christ's, and Christ is God's." (1 Cor. 3:21-23.)

Death is here mentioned among the "all things" which belong to those who are Christ's. As the apostle is evidently speaking of privilege-of blessing, it follows that death must be understood as being that-as coming in blessing, if it come at all, to such as are addressed in these words.

It is a common thought in Christendom that when death comes, even to the household of faith, it comes as a penalty. But is this a true thought ? Did not Christ bear the whole penalty of sin on the cross? and are not believers divinely seen to be "dead with Him"? Then, are they not beyond death in the sense of a penalty? If so, should death come to such, before the Lord comes, does it not come as a servant, to take off the fetter which keeps them in absence from the Lord ?

It is worthy of remark that Grace not only bestows actual blessings-that is, things which are blessings in themselves, but it takes those things which are not blessings, but which are the results of sin, and having put away the sin through the cross, it uses those results for blessing, making them act as blessing. In this way all things work together for good to those who love God.

This blessed truth applies even to death, Grace having put a silver lining into that dark cloud,-in other words, made a road of light through the dark valley. This is clearly taught in our passage,-"All things are yours; whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come."

What is meant by death being ours,-how it became ours; and the blessedness of it being ours, are questions which suggest themselves. May the Holy Spirit guide and bless.

As to the first of these questions-What is meant by death being ours?-we get the answer, in part, in our text. It will be readily seen that death is here placed in company with certain things, namely, "the world," "life," "things present," "things to come,"-some of which are blessings in themselves; and all of them are represented as being in some sense blessings. It is also placed in company with persons-blessed persons, as " Paul, and Apollos, and Cephas." In. what sense could it be said to those who are here addressed that Paul and Apollos and Cephas "are yours"? The context will aid us to a true answer. The next verse reads, " Let a man so account of us as the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God." In the fifth verse of the chapter before us we have these words:"Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed?" Thus Paul and Apollos were ministers of Christ-that is, His servants, by whom these Christians had believed, and by whom they were being helped. In the second epistle to the same assembly, the apostle says, "We preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake." (2 Cor. 4:5.) Mark the expression, "your servants for Jesus sake." Thus Paul and Apollos and Cephas were the servants of believers for Jesus' sake. But the Holy Spirit in our passage puts death in company with these servants of Christ and His people. This being so, it may be said to those who are Christ's, Death is your servant.

This view of death, of course, can only be taken with reference to believers. To those who do not receive Christ, death is a tyrant, a king-the king of terrors; whereas to those who receive Him,- to those who are a new creation in Him, all is changed; death is theirs-their servant.

But it may be asked, Is not death an enemy? Yes, for the Word says so; yet an enemy is not always in a situation to do harm. If you are in the hands of an enemy-if he can say, You are mine, then he can harm you; but if he is in your hands, or in the hands of your all-powerful Friend, then he cannot harm you, but may be obliged to render you service. It is just so with death for those who are Christ's-a conquered enemy, retained as a servant.

It would not be well for all the household to remain awake during the long, dreary night; so this dark servant is used to put them to sleep, one by one, until the day dawn and the Lord come.

What has thus far been said will perhaps be sufficient to make plain what is meant by death being ours.

The next question which seems naturally to arise is, How did death become ours? We owe this, as well as all else of blessing, to the Lord Jesus and His death. He who knew no sin, gave His life in love as an atonement for sin,-thereby dethroning death, and assigning it a new place, even that of serving those who accept God's salvation.

We read that " our Saviour Jesus Christ . . . hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel." (2 Tim. 1:10.) It is not here said that He will abolish death, though He will do that in another sense in God's own time; but it is affirmed that He "hath", done it. He has abolished it as a king, and detained it as a subject-abolished it as a master, and detained it as a servant. Precious truth for faith!

These words to Timothy simply inform us that we are indebted to the Lord Jesus for this victory over death. A few passages will show that He gained this victory for us by His death.

Two in the epistle to the Hebrews are very plain and blessed on this. In the former, after a quotation from Isaiah, in which the Son is saying, "Behold I and the children which God hath given me," it is added, " Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same; that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage." (Heb. 2:13-15.) In what sense had the devil the power of death? He had not power to take life-he could not kill people; but he managed to induce man, the representative man, to sin-to disobey God, and of course the penalty previously and divinely announced must follow. This was the nature of the devil's power over man; getting him to do that which according to God must bring in death. It is as though you have an enemy who has no direct power to injure you, but who by some deep-laid plan draws you into the doing of that which is contrary to the laws of the land, thereby bringing you to grief. In this way he gains his point, and exults over you through your own misdoing and its penalty. This may aid in comprehending the sense in which the devil had the power of death.* *It may be added that the devil has the power of death in the sense of being able to portray death, even to the children of God, in a way to bring them into bondage, through fear of it. In this way he has ever actively used it since he got man to do that which brought it.*
How did God in His grace counter work the enemy? How did He foil him who had thus the. power of death? Our passage replies that " as the children are partakers of flesh and blood," the Son of God "took part of the same," being manifested in flesh, "that through death,"-His own death as an atonement for sin, "He might destroy," that is, annul, dethrone, or bring to naught, " him that had the power of death." Thus the divine Son became man, that through death He might put away from before God that which gave the devil his power. And having fully done this,- having conquered him who had the power of death, it follows that death is in the hands of the Conqueror, and therefore those who are His may say in happy confidence, Death is ours. In this way it got in company with Paul and Apollos and Cephas, yea, all things, in working for good to those who are Christ's. How mortifying, then, must it be to the great adversary to see that which he meant for evil used in grace in the service of those whom he sought to destroy! And how happily may the children of God pass their days in this scene, instead of spending a lifetime, through fear of death, subject to bondage!

In another part of the same epistle, we get the same precious truth, freedom from judgment being added.-" Now once in the end of the world hath He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation." (Heb. 9:26-28.) Here we have the awful situation in which "men" are,-appointed to death and judgment,-death as the result of the first sin, and judgment in view of personal guilt. How did Christ meet all this for those who believe? The answer is, "He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself." "So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many;" thus taking them from under that appointment; and, therefore, " unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation." Hence, instead of believers coming into judgment as to their sins, Christ, who bore the judgment for them, appears unto their salvation. One cannot but be reminded of His own blessed words, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth My word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath eternal life, and cometh not into judgment, but hath passed out of death into life." (John 5:24, Revised Version?) Instead, therefore, of mournfully singing,-"How long shall Death the tyrant reign, And triumph o'er the just ? " is it the privilege of the believer joyously to sing,- "Death and judgment are behind me, Grace and glory are before;

All the billows rolled o'er Jesus,
There exhausted all their power.

"First-fruits of the resurrection,
He is risen from the tomb;
Now I stand in new creation,
Free, because beyond my doom.

"Jesus died, and I died with Him,
Buried in His grave I lay,
One with Him in resurrection,
Seated now in Him on high."

What claim can death and judgment have on those who are thus seen of God as having died with Christ, and who are now seated in the heavenly places in Him ? Yet those who are thus saved will be manifested before the judgment-seat of Christ, and be rewarded according to the fruit they have brought forth. A full salvation through Christ, and Christian responsibility, are alike taught in the Word of God, and are to be alike maintained in Christian teaching and ways. But then, those who have preached a full gospel, however much they have taught and practiced holiness of walk, have ever been charged with being antinomian, and therefore we need not be surprised that it is so now.

But I must give a little more testimony from the Word, on the question, How death became ours. The apostle, in the fifteenth chapter of his first epistle to the Corinthians, after stating the gospel which he had preached unto them, and by which they were saved, namely, that Christ died for our sins, was buried, and rose again;-and after stating the blessed results, he exclaims, in the present confidence and triumph of faith, " O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." Yes, Christ died and rose, that those who are His might thus exult over death and the grave. He went down into death as an atonement for sin,-went down into death to extract its sting, bearing the full curse of the law (sin's strength); and as a proof that He had done it,-that He had fully satisfied divine righteousness and holiness, that He had perfectly glorified God in finishing the work which was given Him to do, God brought Him out of death, yea; set Him at His own right hand. In this way death became ours. Its sting being gone, it cannot harm. Visiting, then, the household of faith, it must do so in grace,-it must do so in service. In any other capacity, it has no place there. This is a part of the gospel-a part of the glad tidings which Paul, with others, preached. Blessed truth to the believing soul! Precious thought-the cross endured! · and the tomb empty! Surely those who enter into the divine meaning of this may joyously exclaim, even now, "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?" and not wait till the resurrection-morning for the utterance of this note of triumph.

The apostle John, in telling of the sight which he had of the Son of Man in His judicial glory, in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks, says, " When I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead, and He laid His right hand upon me, saying, ' Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living One; and I was dead, and behold I am alive for evermore, and I have the keys of death and of hades.'" (Rev. 1:17, 18, Revised Version.) The One whom John saw in such glory was the One who had died in love to put away sin, and whose soul was not left in hades, nor His flesh suffered to see corruption. He is alive for evermore,-thus telling us that all is done, that the keys of death and hades are at His girdle, that through His death He has acquired full authority over them, that He, the First and the Last, has title to put His gentle hand on His own, and to say, " Fear not." Death is conquered, and coming to the believer, it comes subject to its Conqueror. All is in grace to those who are dead with Him, for such are " under grace."

In the first epistle to the Thessalonians, fourth chapter and fifth verse, we read, " If we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him." The word here rendered "in" is the one usually rendered through. Though the Revised Version retains in the text, it gives through in the margin as being the Greek. Mr. Darby in his translation renders it through,-"those who have fallen asleep through Jesus." Dean Alford reads the passage, "them also which fell asleep through Jesus will God bring together with Him." Those who have departed this life in the faith of Jesus owe their happy death to Him, and to His death. Having part with Him in "the resurrection of life," and in His manifestation in glory, will follow.

Thus, by the light of the sure Word, we are guided to the conclusion that death is ours, not through any thing in us, or of us, but through what grace has wrought for us on the cross. We owe all to the love of Jesus in giving His precious life for us. We may sing,-

"His be the Victor's name
Who fought the fight alone,
Triumphant saints no honor claim,
His conquest was their own.

"By weakness and defeat
He won the meed and crown,
Trod all our foes beneath His feet
By being trodden down.

"He Hell's dark power laid low;
Made sin, He Sin overthrew;
Bowed to the grave, destroyed, it so,
And Death, by dying, slew.

"Bless, bless the Conqueror slain,
Slain in His victory;
Who lived, who died, who lives again,
For thee, His Church, for Thee!"