For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:
“Death is swallowed up in victory.”
“O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?”
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. | 1 Corinthians 15:53–57
The last two weeks we have preached on suffering and evil. Both of these topics lead us to struggle with the very uncomfortable reality of sin in this world. Truth is, every human being who has ever lived has had to fight this certainty: suffering and evil exist. It does not matter of you believe in God or nothingness; you will be affected by sin in the world.
Every worldview must give an answer to the problem of evil. While many people have a perspective of how to respond to evil (as something to avoid, grow from, or fight against), there often isn’t much thought to the source or purpose of evil. Evil is simply accepted as something that we all have to deal with; evil and suffering are these bad things we don’t like that work against all of the good we attempt to do. The problem with this is that a good portion of human experience is connected to the source and purpose of evil; not addressing these severely limits your ability to understand this life we live.
The good news, for Christians, is that God does not shy away from the issue of evil like we do. Sin features prominently in His plan for this world. The narrative of Scripture helps to give us not only a source and purpose for evil, but also a great hope as a result. I want to briefly give the story of evil as the Bible describes it.
In the beginning, there was not evil, there was only God. When God created the world, He created it good. God also created the ability for His creation to deny Him, sin, and create evil. Evil is the result of people choosing created things over the Creator. The result of this choice is death: a breakdown of things on this earth, ending in a literal, physical death for everything that lives on this earth.
God reveals quickly how offensive sin is in the flood (deserving destruction), but also shows us His grace in the saving of Noah’s family and the promise to not destroy a world of evil that deserves it. Through the rest of the OT, God reveals that He is powerfully working in His world to establish a response to evil. He rules over evil, even using it to accomplish His own purposes (Genesis 50:20). He is going to reveal Himself as the alternative to the evil we have all chosen as sinful people.
In Jesus, God answers the question of evil. Jesus lives a perfect life, never choosing Himself over God. He takes on the sin of the world and puts it to death with Himself on the cross. He then raises from death to show His power over Satan, sin, and death.
Jesus then extends this victory to His people. Jesus has shown that evil does not have the final say, and that death, the great result of sin, will not be victorious. As Christians, we know that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1) and that death is temporary (1 Corinthians 15:53). For the people of God, death is merely a doorway to the eternal, where we will live free from all evil in the presence of our holy God.
Evil is the result of creation not recognizing its Creator and the purpose of evil is to make it possible for us to see that God is both the alternative to evil, but also the Savior who enters into an evil world, to defeat evil, and to usher those who trust in Him into an existence without evil. This allows His people to live without the fear of death. If we believe that evil operates on its own, then it is terrifying and death, the greatest evil, casts a shadow across all of life. When Jesus declares death defeated, He takes away the sting of death, allowing us to live without the need to prove ourselves in this limited, evil life.
This is how Paul ends the section I started with:
Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. | 1 Corinthians 15:58
If you are living for Christ, then the lie of death is removed: death is not an end. There is no need to view this life as a limited resource, worrying that you are missing out. Instead, this life should be used to get your worship right, creation submitting to Creator, so that your life is investing in the eternal. The work we do for God is never in vain. As the famous poem by CT Studd so beautifully puts it:
Only one life, ’twill soon be past,
Only what’s done for Christ will last.
And when I am dying, how happy I’ll be,
If the lamp of my life has been burned out for Thee