The supreme victory.
"He will swallow up death in victory." The terms of the text are not satisfied by anything less than the gospel of the grace of God; that, and that alone, can be truly said to swallow up death. It is only Jesus Christ who can be said to have "abolished death" (2 Timothy 1:10). This is the supreme victory. Great conquests have been gained in other fields: in geographical research—discovery of America, penetration of Africa, etc.; in the useful arts—printing, telegraphy, steam-power, etc.; in mathematical science; in historical exploration, etc. These things, and such things as these, have conferred dignity on our nature and. enlargement on our life. But there is one victory compared with which even these are small—the triumph over death. Death has been thought of and written about everywhere as the great conqueror, before whose prevailing arm all human forces go down vanquished to the dust. It has been acknowledged to be the master of our humanity. But in the gospel of Jesus Christ death is defied, is met face to face, is overcome, is so utterly subdued and routed that we can truly say that it is "swallowed up in victory." In Christ there is a double defeat of its power; for in him is—
I. ABUNDANT SPIRITUAL LIFE HERE. Sin has led man down to moral and spiritual death; they that live apart from God are "dead while they live," for they move on toward the grave, missing all those things which give nobility, excellency, beauty, real and lasting joy to human life. But to know God in Christ Jesus is life (John 17:3). And whoso enters into all the fullness of the life which is in Christ has that life "more abundantly" (John 10:10). Spiritual death is lost in largeness and fullness of spiritual life—life in God, with God, for God; it is swallowed up in victory.
II. IMMORTAL LIFE IN THE HEAVENLY WORLD. Here we have the significance of the words of the text. Other faiths beside that of Jesus Christ have included a promise of life in the future; but the hopes they have held out have been uncertain, vague, illusory; the life they have promised has been shadowy, unreal, unattractive. Their disciples must have felt that in its contest with death the faith has met its match, and, if it has not been actually worsted, it has failed to triumph. In the gospel of Christ we have a decided and delightful contrast to this. There the victory is complete. We pass away, indeed, from earth, from its scenes, its engagements, its friendships, its joys; but we pass into a state and a world where everything is immeasurably better than the present.
1. We are unclothed in body, but we are clothed upon with a house which is from heaven (2 Corinthians 5:4).
2. The ignorance of earthly twilight we exchange for the full knowledge of the celestial day (1 Corinthians 13:12).
3. From the broken delights and the fatiguing toils of time we pass to the tearless happiness and to the untiring activities of eternity.
4. The sorrowful separations of the present will make more blessed the union where we "clasp inseparable hands" in unfading friendship.
5. The apparent absence of the heavenly Father will be lost in the conscious nearness which will make us to dwell continually in his holy presence, God with us and we with him forever. Death will be "swallowed up in victory."
HOMILIES BY R. TUCK