"All things are yours:
whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things
present, or things to come" (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 and blessing, it follows that death must be
understood as coming as a blessing, if it comes at all, to those 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
Christ" (Rom. 6:8)? Therefore they are beyond death in the sense of a
penalty. And if death should 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 God
in His grace not only bestows actual blessings—that is, things which are
blessings in themselves.

 

But He also takes those things
which are not blessings, but which are the results of sin, and having put away
the sin through the cross, uses those results for blessing. In this way
"all things work together for good to those who love God" (Rom.
8:28). This blessed truth applies even to death. Grace has put a silver lining
into that dark cloud, has made a road of light through the dark valley.

 

What is meant by death being
ours? We note in pur verse that death is placed in company with persons—Paul,
Apollos, and Cephas, men who are "ministers by whom you believed" (1
Cor. 3:5; 4:1). Therefore, along with these three ministers, death is a servant
to those who are Christ’s. It would not be well for all the household of faith
to remain awake during the long, dreary night that is now centuries long for some.
So this dark servant is used to put them to sleep, one by one, until the day
dawn and the Lord come.

 

The next question that arises is,
How did death become ours? We owe this 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…has abolished death, and has brought life and immortality
to light through the gospel" (2 Tim. 1:10). 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!

 

In Heb. 2:14 we read that God, in
the Person of His Son, partook of flesh and blood "that through death He
might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver
those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to
bondage." 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 Adam, the
representative man, to sin, 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.

 

How did God defeat him who had
thus the power of death? It was through the death of His divine Son as an
atonement for sin that He destroyed, or annulled, dethroned, or brought to
naught "him who had the power of death." How infuriating 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!

 

Another testimony on the question
of how death became ours is given in 1 Corinthians 15. The apostle, after
stating that Christ died for our sins, was buried, and rose again, exclaims in
the triumph of faith, "O death, where is your sting? O grave, where is
your victory? The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law;
but thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus
Christ" (15:55-57). Yes, Christ 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
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 and set Him at His own right hand. In this way death became ours.
Its sting being gone, it cannot harm. As death visits, then, the
household of faith, it must do so in grace—it must do so in service.

 

Let us now dwell a little on the
blessedness of death being ours.

 

If death be ours—our servant—
then we need not pass our days here in fear of it. The fear of death is natural
to the natural mind. This is observable, both where the Bible is read and
known, and where it is not. A little while ago I talked with a missionary from India who said, "The Hindus have an intense fear of death." He narrated how they
dispose of their dead. They burn the body and carefully preserve the ashes;
then they take the ashes to their sacred river, the Ganges, and having put them
in a tiny boat with a little lamp, commit them to the river. The missionary
observing a Brahmin doing this to his dead, asked him why they put a lamp with
the ashes. The reply was, "It is to give a little light; death is so
dark!" Christianity as taught in the New Testament can alone take away the
fear of death and enable souls to pass their days in rest and peace, free from
dread and uncertainty.

 

If death be ours, then we shall
not see it or taste it should it come. Jesus said, "If a man
keep My saying, he shall never see death." Those who heard Him, in
repeating His statement, used the expression, "shall never taste of
death" (John 8:51,52). The blessed Lord Himself, taking our place, saw death
in its reality and He tasted it in all its bitterness. Hence, the reality
and bitterness of death is gone for those who have faith in Christ.

 

If death be ours, then, as Christ
could not employ a useless servant, we cannot pass through it without being the
gainers. The Lord said to the dying penitent at His side, "Verily I say
unto you, Today you shall be with Me in paradise" (Luke 23:43). The
Apostle Paul speaks of being "willing rather to be absent from the body
and to be present with the Lord" (2 Cor. 5:8). He says, "For to me to
live is Christ, and to die is gain…. For I am in a strait between two, having
a desire to depart and to be with Christ, which is far better; nevertheless to
abide in the flesh is more needful for you" (Phil. 1:21-24).

 

If death be ours through the
cross and through being identified with the risen Christ, then it may be said
that we have title to a part with Him in the resurrection of life, of which He
was the first-fruits (1 Cor. 15:20,23). While those who have fallen asleep in
Christ are thus to be raised at His coming, those who are alive and remain will
not sleep, showing that death has no real claim on believers; otherwise they
would have even then to die to meet the claim (1 Cor. 15:51,52; 1 Thess.
4:16,17). As Christ may come at any moment for His saints, our proper attitude
is to be watching for Him.

 

"Blessed be the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who … has begotten us again unto a living
hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance
incorruptible and undefiled and that fades not away, reserved in heaven for
you, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be
revealed in the last time" (1 Pet. 1:3-5).

 

All this, and infinitely more
than a feeble mortal can utter or even conceive, is embraced in the truth that
death is ours. Our full blessedness in the heavenly kingdom, when the results
of sin are taken away forever, will be the outcome of the fact that while we
were in the midst of these results, they were our servants. Our being with the
Lord in glory will tell out forever that all things during our little day of
trial were jointly working for our real and abiding good.

 

Beloved, I would remind myself
and you that we are indebted to grace, and to what it has wrought in the Lord’s
death, for all this. It is not of ourselves, nor of works, that we have this
blessed portion and this bright prospect. The praise is all due to God and the
Lamb. If so, should not our hearts be won by a sight of such love? and ought
not our lives to be the outflow of hearts thus won? Oh, beloved, surely every
thought should be brought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. He died
that death might be ours, that we might not come into judgment, and that we
might be holy and without blame before God in love and favor forever. Let us
live to Him who thus died for us and rose again. It should be our joy to do
this.

 

(From Help and Food, Vol.
1.)