Easter Sunday: Death Defeated
1 Corinthians 15:19-26
Pastor Bob Hiller
3/31/2013
1 Corinthians 15:19-20 If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men. But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.
1. Because Jesus is risen, we can face __________ without __________.
2. Because Jesus is risen, we can face __________ without __________.
Scripture Readings
Isaiah 65:17-25
1 Corinthians 15:19-26
Luke 24:1-12
Take It With You!
Here we will offer meditations to help us as we contemplate and discuss and wrestle with this week's message.
It is a sore trial when we die so wretchedly. Man howls, cries, and moans; he sees before him not life but the form of death. When faced with such trial, we must cling to God's Word in faith and conceive comforting and joy-filled thoughts of life to counteract the face of death; and bear in mind that the grave is not really a grave but a beautiful, fragrant garden in which are planted beautiful and fragrant cloves and roses, which during the summer are to thrive and bloom on and on. For just as the Lord Christ's grave had to become vacant and not stink but come lovely, glorious, and beautiful, so also must the graves of Christians become vacant and not stink...
Let us learn to imbed this article into our hearts and take comfort in it; then we can ward off the devil when he sharpens his spear to use against us and threatens us with death and hell; we can respond to him and say, Devil, don't you know any better than to threaten with death? Hold on, I am not afraid of your threats; you are singing me a beautiful little song and persuading me to dance; my grave is a pretty garden. For since Christ, my Head, on whom everything depends, has risen, lives, and is seated in heaven, and I am baptized in Him, I am thus more than halfway there already, and but little remains for me to do but completely to remove the old skin, so that it too might be renewed. For since the inheritance is already wholly mine, the husks and shells must then surely follow as well....
[Since] Christ rose from the dead and is exalted above all the heavens, and our soul has also risen with him, our body must in the same way again come forth from death and the grave and shine beautifully as the sun.
Martin Luther, Sermon for Easter Eve, 1532
