Victory is Coming
April 18, 2022
Commentary
Paul reveals a wonderful secret that not all people will die but everyone will be changed (v. 51). This will happen very suddenly when the last trumpet is sounded (v. 52). This signals the end of the present age. Two distinct groups will be represented. Those who have died will be raised with transformed bodies, and those who are living will also be changed. These perishable earthly bodies will be changed into heavenly bodies that will never die (vv. 53-54). We will be given new bodies when Christ returns, and these bodies will be without disabilities (vv. 52-53). Death will be swallowed up in victory (vv. 54-56). Death is defeated and we have hope beyond the grave.
Paul says that because of the Resurrection, nothing we do is in vain (v. 58). No man can take credit for this victory. It comes through our Lord Jesus Christ (v. 57). Because of it, we should be “steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord.”
1. To be steadfast means to be consistent: You do not have to be flashy, but the Lord expects faithful obedience to the tasks and people He has called us to minister through.
2. To be steadfast means to be unmovable: We think that we cannot bend or we will break. Unmovable does not necessarily mean legalistic, or unbending, but to be unshakable, and unbreakable.
3. To be steadfast means to be abounding: We should give ourselves fully to the work of the Lord. We are not to grow weary in well doing, but to be stretchable and extremely flexible.
Application
Sometimes I hesitate to do good because I don’t see any immediate results. I just need to keep in mind that nothing I do is in vain (v. 58). Victory is mine through Jesus Christ, my Lord.
1 Corinthians 15:51– 58 (NET)
51 Listen, I will tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— 52 in a moment, in the blinking of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53 For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. 54 Now when this perishable puts on the imperishable, and this mortal puts on immortality, then the saying that is written will happen, “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”
55 “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?”
56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ! 58 So then, dear brothers and sisters, be firm. Do not be moved! Always be outstanding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.