Over the past 12 months, I have found myself reflecting more deeply on mortality and the brevity of life, especially as gifted preachers such as Voddie Baucham, John MacArthur, and others have passed from us, reminding us of life's fleeting nature. We inhabit a culture that seems to neglect the reality of death while paradoxically nurturing a culture of death.
On the one hand, much is made in our society of youthful outward beauty, particularly via social media. The medical profession strives to push back average life expectancy. Funerals are often backward-looking, preoccupied with the life lived rather than holding out any hope for a future beyond the grave. We do not want to think about aging and death.
On the other hand, we live at a time when abortion is reaching records levels in the UK, and when the people in power seek to legitimise suicide among society's most vulnerable (via the Assisted Dying Bill).
Resurrection's Mount Everest
When we turn to the Word of God in 1 Corinthians 15, we encounter what may be called the Mount Everest of Scripture concerning the resurrection. After the Apostle Paul unfolds the profound theology of the resurrection, he culminates with this triumphant cry: 'Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?' (1 Corinthians 15:54-55)
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