The Sting of Death

By Michael Krall

I Corinthians 15:54 So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.55 O death, where is thy victory? O death, where is thy sting?56 The sting of death is sin; and the power of sin is the law:57 but thanks be to God, who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Lives again our glorious King;
Where O Death, is now thy sting?
Once he died our souls to save;
Where’s thy victory, boasting Grave?

We want to examine the passages in question by Paul and see what context Paul applied them to. In doing so we will seek to see when these passages of victory over death were/are fulfilled.

But what about these passages that he says will be brought to pass? What are they referring to? The first one he points to is Isaiah 25 verse 8. As we look at that passage in its context we will see what the time frame of that prophecy is referring to.Verse 8 begins: “ He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the LORD hath spoken it.”

9 ¶ And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the LORD; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation 10 For in this mountain shall the hand of the LORD rest, and Moab shall be trodden down under him, even as straw is trodden down for the dunghill. 11 And he shall spread forth his hands in the midst of them, as he that swimmeth spreadeth forth his hands to swim: and he shall bring down their pride together with the spoils of their ands.12 and the fortress of the high fort of thy walls shall he bring down, lay low, and bring to the ground, even to the dust.

1 ¶ In that day shall this song be sung in the land of Judah; We have a strong city; salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks.2 Open ye the gates, that the righteous nation which keepeth the truth may enter in.

1 ¶ O LORD, thou art my God; I will exalt thee, I will praise thy name; for thou hast done wonderful things; thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth.2 For thou hast made of a city an heap; of a defenced city a ruin: a palace of strangers to be no city; it shall never be built.3 Therefore shall the strong people glorify thee, the city of the terrible nations shall fear thee.4 For thou hast been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall.5 Thou shalt bring down the noise of strangers, as the heat in a dry place; even the heat with the shadow of a cloud: the branch of the terrible ones shall be brought low.

Then in vss 4 and 5 of Isaiah 25 speak of God’s dealing with the righteous and the wicked at this time. Now this brings us to a very important verse and one that amillenialists and many post millenialists apply to the gospel age we live in now.

The feast of fat things is a reference in many commentaries as to the gospel in all its fullness as the people of God feed on it for spiritual strength. We recall an excellent set of books called The Feast of Fat Things and The Second Feast where there were gospel articles set forth as food for the sheep. The strange thing is that those that originally published these books and those that presently do are being inconsistent with their own view. For as we will see this verse is fulfilled when death is swallowed up in victory so unless you believe that the resurrection of the dead has happened these verses are still waiting fulfillment.

Lets go on to the next verse: “And he will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the vail that is spread over all nations” Due to the violation of the everlasting covenant, the curse passed on the "nations"--it is this curse that is lifted in 25.6ff! So, this absolutely demands that this is covenantal death. Also notice the reference to the "vail" here, and see Paul's discussion of the veil in 2 Cor. 3.Although there are some that tend to differ with us we do believe there is biblical evidence that this face of covering cast over all people was the effects of the law which was the middle wall of partition being taken away in Christ. See 2Cor 3:13-14 and Eph 2:14ff.

That brings us full circle to verse 8 which then follows by saying “ He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the LORD hath spoken it.”

Now since Paul said that at the resurrection of the dead that Isaiah 25:8 in its context would be brought to pass what are we to make the timing of the resurrection of the dead? According to these verses in Isa 25 if this has not come to pass then there is no feast of fat things as of yet, vs6, the face of covering is over all nations (Gentiles- same word as mentioned above) vs7, salvation has not come, vs 9 and the gates are not open that nations (Gentiles) may come in 26:2. So what does that tell us?

Lets now look at the other verse Paul said would come to pass at the resurrection. “ O death, where is thy victory? O death, where is thy sting? This is a quote from the Septuagint the Greek version of the Old Testament of that day. The word Paul uses for death is “hades” and in the Hebrew version of the text it is Sheol. The verse reads as “I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death: O death, I will be thy plagues; O grave, I will be thy destruction: repentance shall be hid from mine eyes.”

How is this verse connected to the resurrection Paul speaks of in 1Cor 15? Psalm 49:15 may help us here and it says this “But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave[Sheol]: for he shall receive me.” David said in Psalm 16:10 that God would not “leave my soul in hell…”

So what does this tell us about the resurrection of the dead of 1Cor 15? We know that when the resurrection was to come to pass these passages in the Old Testament we are looking at will be fulfilled. Lets ask ourselves a few questions. Why would a resurrection be a defeat for Sheol (Hades)? We saw from a few passages that it is the SOUL that is in Sheol (Hades) not the body.

Look at the words of Peter after he quotes Psalm 16 in Acts 2 he says this. “Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne; He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption.” Although the resurrection of our Lord was bodily, since he flesh would not see corruption, Peter is quite clear in saying that the resurrection was not leaving his soul in hell. The resurrection of the dead that Paul as speaking of was the ransoming the Old Testament saints from the power of  Sheol as we read in Hosea 13:14 and Psalm 49:15.

It is quite clear from these verses in Acts 2 that two things constituted Christ’s resurrection and that is raising his soul out of Hades and raising the body that did not see corruption. But can the Christian claim the same two things being told that we are raised in the likeness of his resurrection? As we saw above that there is a promise of the soul being redeemed from Sheol /Hades but is there a promise for the Christian that no matter how long he is in the grave his physical body will not see corruption? The answer is a clear NO! So the resurrection of the dead that the was promised must be the raising of the souls of those in Hades at that consummation of the Old Covenant. What other connection can we make for a fulfillment of the passage in Hosea? Why would Hades be asked where its victory is if  the only ones in there are the lost who will then be cast into gehenna when the physical body of every human being that died will be resurrected? What does that have  to do with Hades not having victory? The only possible reason is that Hades was holding the Old Testament saints in the hadean realm known as Abraham’s bosum till the hope of Israel was realized (Acts 26:6-8).

What do YOU think ?

Submit Your Comments For Posting Here
..Will Be Spam Filtered and Posted Shortly..

Date: 10 Jan 2006
Time: 12:19:00

Comments:

OT, natural Israel had to contend with the natural bondage in which it was held in natural Egypt AND with the natural captivity in which it was held in natural Babylon. Therefore, given the unalterable principle of first the natural and then the spiritual (1 Cor. 15:46), in the first century NT, spiritual Israel had to contend with the spiritual bondage in which it was held by spiritual Egypt, i. e., Jerusalem (Rev. 11:8), AND with the spiritual captivity in which it was held by spiritual Babylon, i. e., Rome. AD 70 preterists' erroneous belief that Jerusalem was the only first-century, earthly enemy of God's people means that they believe that anti-Christian religions and cults are the only enemy of the church and that an anti-Christian state is not an enemy of the church. Anti-Christian governments everywhere undoubtedly are very appreciative of that support for their policies and actions.

Date: 31 Jan 2006
Time: 16:39:23

Comments:

God's two failed creations, the old, natural world and the old, natural Israel, appeared centuries apart - the world was created in autumn, at the time of the former rain, and Israel was created in the spring, at the time of the latter rain - and Israel had the law of Moses and the world did not. Therefore, it should not be surprising that Israel and the world had separate first-century judgments - Israel in the spring and the world in autumn - and that the basis of Israel's judgment differed from the basis of the world's judgment. The first of the two first-century resurrections of (1 Cor. 15:23), that of Christ, occurred in the spring because Christ rose from the dead as God's long-awaited new, spiritual and eternal Israel. The second of those two first-century resurrections, that of the dead in Christ at his parousia, occurred in autumn because those human beings rose from the dead as God's long-awaited, new, spiritual and eternal world - described in Rev 21:1. When Christ, i. e.

Date: 01 Feb 2006
Time: 11:56:00

Comments:

This is a fine article, Mike, and does a fine job of showing how Paul saw these resurrection truths in his Bible (our Old Testament). Well done!

The first two comments represent a good clear case of very fuzzy thinking. There is no light there! They could learn from your article, but none are so blind as those who WILL NOT SEE!

Arthur Melanson

Date: 01 Feb 2006
Time: 23:06:53

Comments:

THE WORLD'S TYPIFYING DAY OF ATONEMENT PRECEDED ISRAEL'S TYPIFYING DAY OF ATONEMENT !! Here's an embarrassing item for those Israel-only preterists. During the SIXTH century of his life Noah was told how to "pitch" (Hebrew "kaphar" - Strong's 3722) or make a covering or atonement for the ark (Gen. 6:14) and the name of Israel's SIXTH feast, yom "kippur" (Strong's 3725) is derived from the word kaphar. Thus, the world's typifying day of atonement occurred in the day and hour when the flood came and Noah and his family (the faithful remnant of the world) were saved by the ark of atonement - hundreds of years before the appearance of Israel's typifying day of atonement.

Date: 02 Feb 2006
Time: 16:17:29

Comments:

Because 21st-century preterists hold the simple and surprising belief that ALL knowledge was gained and published by J. S. Russell and other well-meaning but misinformed 19th-century preterists, their minds are completely closed to any new ideas. They cannot accept the fact that both of God's creations, the world and Israel, are his covenant people. God's covenant with Noah and his sons (the world) is dismissed and ignored and, like dispensationalists, the preterists can see only God's dealings with Israel. The fact that TWO typifying days of atonement, one for Israel and a separate one for the world (Noah's ark pitched with atonement), are described in the OT is completely unacceptable to the preterist. Nevertheless, the death of Christ, the true Israel, on Friday, the SIXTH day of the week that began on Palm Sunday, fulfilled yom kippur, Israel's SIXTH feast, and atoned for the sins of Israel, an atonement that became effective through Christ's resurrection.

Date: 04 Feb 2006
Time: 07:03:49

Comments:

THE TYPIFYING DAY OF ATONEMENT OF THE WORLD OCCURRED LONG BEFORE THE TYPIFYING ANNUAL DAY OF ATONEMENT OF ISRAEL. Prets either can't see or don't want to see that God had/has two covenant people. His covenant with Noah and his sons was a covenant with the world, not a covenant with Israel. God's separate but similar OT dealings with the world and with Israel continued in the NT. Vital key: The old, natural world had a single great natural DAY OF ATONEMENT long before the natural day of atonement that the old, natural Israel had to observe every year. God instructed Noah to "pitch" (Strong's 3722) the ark with "pitch" (3724) as a covering or atonement. The old world's typifying natural day of atonement occurred in the day and hour of the universal flood (the great OT type of Christ's first-century parousia) when Noah and the seven members of his family (8 = the number of resurrection), the faithful remnant of the world, were saved by the ark of atonement from the judgment and death.