Christ the Destroyer of Death

A SERMON DELIVERED ON LORD'S DAY MORNING, DECEMBER 17, 1876,

BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

"The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death." 1 Corinthians 15:26.

DURING four previous Sabbaths we have been following our Lord and
Master through His great achievements. We have seen Him as the end of
the Law, as the Conqueror of Satan, as the Overcomer of the world, as
the Creator of all things new. And now we behold Him as the Destroyer
of death. In this and in all His other glorious deeds, let us worship
Him with all our hearts! May the Spirit of God lead us into the full
meaning of this, which is one of the Redeemer's grandest Characters.
How wonderfully is our Lord Jesus one with man! For when the Psalmist
David had considered "the heavens, the work of God's fingers," He said,
"Lord, what is man–that You are mindful of him, or the son of man that
You visit him?"

He was speaking of Christ. You would have thought he was thinking of
man in his humblest estate, and that he was wondering that God should
be pleased to honor so frail a being as the poor fallen son of Adam.
You would never have dreamed that the glorious Gospel lay hid within
those words of grateful adoration! Yet, in the course of that
meditation David went on to say, "You made Him to have dominion over
all the works of Your hands, You have put all things under His feet."
Now, had it not been for the interpretation of the Holy Spirit, we
would still have considered that he was speaking of men in general, and
of man's natural dominion over the brute creation, but behold, while
that is true, there is another and a far more important Truth of God
concealed within it, for David, as a Prophet, was all the while chiefly
speaking of the Man of men, the model Man, the second Adam, the Head of
the new race of men!

It was of Jesus, the Son of Man, as honored of the Father, that the
Psalmist sang, "He has put all things under His feet." Strange, was it
not, that when he spoke of man, he must of necessity speak also of our
Lord? And yet, when we consider the thing, it is but natural and
according to truth. It is only remarkable to us because in our minds we
too often consider Jesus and man as far removed and too little regard
Him as truly one with man. Now, see how the Apostle infers from the
Psalm the necessity of the Resurrection, for if all things must be put
under the feet of the man, Christ Jesus, then every form of evil must
be conquered by Him and death among the rest. "He must reign till He
has put all enemies under

His feet."

It must be so and, therefore, death itself must ultimately be overcome.
Thus out of that simple sentence in the Psalm, which we would have read
far otherwise without the light of the Holy Spirit, the Apostle gathers
the doctrine of the Resurrection. The Holy Spirit taught His servant,
Paul, how, by a subtle chemistry, he could distil from simple words a
precious fragrant essence which the common reader never suspected to be
there. Texts have their secret drawers, their box within a box, their
hidden souls which lie asleep till He who placed them on their secret
couches awakens them that they may speak to the hearts of His chosen.

Could you ever have guessed Resurrection from the eighth Psalm? No, nor
could you have believed, had it not been told you, that there is fire
in the flint, oil in the rock and bread in the earth we tread upon!
Man's books have usually far less in them than we expect, but the Book
of the Lord is full of surprises! It is a mass of light, a mountain of
priceless revelations. We little know what yet lies hidden within the
Scriptures. We know the form of sound words as the Lord has taught us
and by it we will abide–but there are inner store houses into which we
have not peered–chambers of Revelation lit up with bright lamps,
perhaps too bright for our eyes at this present time.

If Paul, when the Spirit of God rested upon Him, could see so much in
the songs of David, the day may come when we, also, shall see still
more in the Epistles of Paul and wonder at ourselves that we did not
understand better the things which the Holy Spirit has so freely spoken
to us by the Apostle. May we at this time be enabled to look deep and
far and behold the sublime glories of our risen Lord!

To the text, itself, then–death is an enemy. Death is an enemy to be
destroyed. Death is an enemy to be destroyed last–"the last enemy that
shall be destroyed is death."

I. DEATH AN ENEMY. It was so born, even as Haman the Agagite was the
enemy of Israel by his descent. Death is the child of our direst foe,
for, "sin, when it is finished, brings forth death." "Sin entered into
the world and death by sin." Now, that which is distinctly the fruit of
transgression cannot be other than an enemy of man. Death was
introduced into the world on that gloomy day which saw our fall and he
that had the power of it is our arch enemy and betrayer, the
devil–from both of which facts we must regard death as the manifest
enemy of man.

Death is an alien in this world. It did not enter into the original
design of the unfallen creation, but its intrusion mars and spoils the
whole. It is no part of the Great Shepherd's flock, but it is a wolf
which comes to kill and to destroy. Geology tells us that there was
death among the various forms of life from the first ages of the
globe's history, even when as yet the world was not fitted up as the
dwelling of man. This I can believe and still regard death as the
result of sin. If it can be proved that there is such an organic unity
between man and the lower animals that they would not have died if Adam
had not sinned, then I see in those deaths before Adam the antecedent
consequences of a sin which was then uncommitted.

If by the merits of Jesus there was salvation before He had offered His
atoning Sacrifice, I do not find it hard to conceive that the foreseen
demerits of sin may have cast the shadow of death over the long ages
which came before man's transgression. Of that we know little, nor is
it important that we should, but certain is it that as far as this
present creation is concerned, Death is not God's invited guest but an
intruder whose presence mars the feast. Man, in his folly, welcomed
Satan and sin when they forced their way into the high festival of
Paradise, but he never welcomed Death. Even his blind eyes could see in
that skeleton form a cruel foe!

As the lion to the herds of the plain, as the scythe to the sowers of
the field, as the wind to the sere leaves of the forest, such is Death
to the sons of men. They fear him by an inward instinct because their
conscience tells them that he is the child of their sin. Death is well
called an enemy for it does an enemy's work towards us. For what
purpose does an enemy come but to root up and to pull down and to
destroy? Death tears in pieces that comely handiwork of God, the fabric
of the human body, so marvelously worked by the fingers of Divine
skill. Casting this rich embroidery into the grave among the armies of
the worms, to its fierce soldiery, Death divides "to everyone a prey of
many colors, of many colors of nee-dlework"–and they ruthlessly tear
in pieces the spoil!

This building of our manhood is a house fair to look upon, but Death,
the destroyer, darkens its windows, shakes its pillars, closes its
doors and causes the sound of the grinding to cease. Then the daughters
of music are brought low and the strong men bow themselves. This vandal
spares no work of life, however full of wisdom or beauty, for it looses
the silver cord and breaks the golden bowl. Lo, at the fountain, the
costly pitcher is utterly broken and at the cistern the well-worked
wheel is dashed in pieces! Death is a fierce invader of the realms of
life and where he goes, he fells every good tree, stops all wells of
water and mars every good piece of land with stones.

See a man when Death has worked his will upon him–what a ruin he is!
How is his beauty turned to ashes and his comeliness to corruption!
Surely an enemy has done this! Look, my Brothers and Sisters, at the
course of death throughout all ages and in all lands. What field is
there without its grave? What city without its cemetery? Where can we
go to find no sepulchers? As the sandy shore is covered with the traces
of the worm, so are you, O Earth, covered with those grass-grown
hillocks beneath which sleep the departed generations of men! And you,
O Sea, even you are not without your dead!

As if the earth were all too full of corpses and they jostled each
other in their crowded sepulchers, even into your caverns, O mighty
main, the bodies of the dead are cast! Your waves must become defiled
with the carcasses of men, and on your floor must lie the bones of the
slain! Our enemy, Death, has marched, as it were, with sword and fire
ravaging the human race. Neither Goth, nor Hun, nor Tartar could have
slain so universally all that breathed, for Death has allowed none to
escape! Everywhere he has withered household joys and created sorrow
and sighs! In all lands where the sun is seen, he has blinded men's
eyes with weeping. The tear of the bereaved, the wail of the widow and
the moan of the or-phan–these have been Death's music of war and he
has found, therein, a song of victory!

The greatest conquerors have only been Death's executioners, journeymen
butchers working in his shambles. War is nothing better than Death
holding carnival and devouring his prey a little more in haste than is
his common way. Death

has done the work of an enemy to those of us who have as yet escaped
his arrows. Those who have lately stood around a new grave and buried
half their hearts can tell you what an enemy Death is. It takes the
friend from our side and the child from our bosom, neither does it care
for our crying. He has fallen who was the pillar of the household. She
has been snatched away who was the brightness of the hearth! The little
one is torn out of its mother's bosom though its loss almost breaks her
heartstrings–and the blooming youth is taken from his father's side
though the parent's fondest hopes are thereby crushed.

Death has no pity for the young and no mercy for the old! He pays no
regard to the good or to the beautiful! His scythe cuts down sweet
flowers and noxious weeds with equal readiness! He comes into our
garden, tramples down our lilies and scatters our roses on the ground!
Yes, and even the most modest flowers planted in the corner and hiding
their beauty beneath the leaves that they may blush unseen–Death spies
out even these! He cares nothing for their fragrance, but withers them
with his burning breath. He is your enemy, indeed, you fatherless
child, left for the pitiless storm of a cruel world to beat upon with
none to shelter you! He is your enemy, O widow, for the light of your
life is gone and the desire of your eyes has been removed with a
stroke.

He is your enemy, husband, for your house is desolate and your little
children cry for their mother of whom Death has robbed you. He is the
enemy of us all, for what head of a family among us has not had to say
to him, "You have bereaved me again and again!" Especially is Death an
enemy to the living when he invades God's House and causes the prophet
and the priest to be numbered with the dead. The Church mourns when her
most useful ministers are struck down, when the watchful eye is closed
in darkness and the instructive tongue is mute. Yet how often does
Death thus war against us! The earnest, the active, the indefatigable
are taken away.

Those mightiest in prayer. Those most affectionate in heart. Those most
exemplary in life–these are cut down in the midst of their labors,
leaving behind them a Church which needs them more than tongue can
tell. If the Lord does but threaten to permit Death to seize a beloved
pastor, the souls of his people are full of grief and they view Death
as their worst foe, while they plead with the Lord and entreat Him to
bid their minister live. Even those who die may well count Death to be
their enemy–I mean not now that they have risen to their seats and, as
disembodied spirits, behold the King in His beauty–but earlier while
Death was approaching them.

He seemed to their trembling flesh to be a foe, for it is not in
nature, except in moments of extreme pain or aberration of mind, or of
excessive expectation of Glory, for us to be in love with Death. It was
wise of our Creator so to constitute us that the soul loves the body
and the body loves the soul, and they desire to dwell together as long
as they may, else had there been no care for self-preservation and
suicide would have destroyed the race–

"For who would bear the whips and scorns of time, The oppressor's
wrong, the proud men's contumely, When he himself might his quietus
make With a bare knife?"

It is a first law of our nature that skin for skin, yes, all that a man
has, will he give for his life, and thus we are nerved to struggle for
existence and to avoid that which would destroy us. This useful
instinct renders Death an enemy, but it also aids in keeping us from
that crime of all crimes–the most sure of damnation if a man commits
it willfully and in his sound mind!

I mean the crime of self-murder. When Death comes, even to the good
man, he comes as an enemy, for he is attended by such terrible heralds
and grim outriders as do greatly scare us–

"Fever with brow of fire. Consumption with palsy, Half-warmed with
life, And half a clay-cold lump; Joint-torturing gout, And ever-gnawing
rheum; Convulsion wild; Swollen dropsy; panting asthma; Apoplexy full
gorged."

None of these add a particle of beauty to the aspect of Death. He comes
with pains and griefs. He comes with sighs and tears. Clouds and
darkness are round about him. An atmosphere laden with dust oppresses
those whom he approaches and a cold wind chills them even to the
marrow. He rides on the pale horse and where his steed sets its foot
the land becomes a desert. By the footstep of that terrible steed, the
worm is awakened to gnaw the slain!

When we forget other grand Truths of God and only remember these
dreadful things, Death is the king of terrors to us. Hearts are
sickened and reins are loosened because of him. But, indeed, he is an
enemy, for what comes he to do to our body? I know he does that which
ultimately leads to its betterness, but still, it is that which, in
itself, and for the present, is not joyous, but grievous. He comes to
take the light from the eyes, the hearing from the ears, the speech
from the tongue, the activity from the hand and the thought from the
brain. He comes to transform a living man into a mass of
putrefaction–to degrade the beloved form of brother and friend to such
a condition of corruption that Affection, itself, cries out, "Bury my
dead out of my sight."

Death, you child of sin, Christ has transformed you marvelously, but in
yourself you are an enemy before whom flesh and blood tremble, for they
know that you are the murderer of all born of woman, whose thirst for
human prey the blood of nations cannot slake! If you think for a few
moments of this enemy, you will observe some of his points of
character. He is the common foe of all God's people and the enemy of
all men–for however some have been persuaded that they should not
die–yet is there no discharge in this war. And if in this conscription
a man escapes the ballot many and many a year till his gray beard seems
to defy the winter's hardest frost, yet the man of iron yields at last!
It is appointed unto all men once to die.

The strongest man has no elixir of eternal life to renew his youth amid
the decays of age. Nor has the wealthiest prince a price with which to
bribe destruction. To the grave must you descend, O crowned Monarch,
for scepters and shovels are akin! To the sepulcher must you go down, O
mighty man of valor, for sword and spade are of like metal! The prince
is brother to the worm and must dwell in the same house. Of our whole
race it is true, "Dust you are, and unto dust shall you return." Death
is also a subtle foe, lurking everywhere, even in the most harmless
things. Who can tell where Death has not prepared his ambush? He meets
us both at home and abroad. At the table he assails men in their food,
and at the fountain he poisons their drink.

He waylays us in the streets and he seizes us in our beds. He rides on
the storm at sea and he walks with us when we are on our way upon solid
land. Where can we fly to escape from you, O Death, for from the summit
of the Alps men have fallen to their graves and in the deep places of
the earth where the miner goes down to find the precious ore, there
have you sacrificed many a hecatomb of precious lives! Death is a
subtle foe and with noiseless footsteps follows close at our heels when
least we think of him. He is an enemy whom none of us will be able to
avoid, take what by-paths we may, nor can we escape from him when our
hour is come.

Into this fowler's nets, like the birds, we shall all fly! In his great
seine must all the fishes of the great sea of life be taken when their
day is come. As surely as the sun sets, or as the midnight stars at
length descend beneath the horizon, or as the waves sink back into the
sea, or as the bubble bursts, so must we all, sooner or later, come to
our end and disappear from earth to be known no more among the living.
Sudden, too, full often, are the assaults of this enemy–

"Leaves have their time to fall, And flowers to wither at the north
wind's breath, And stars to set–but all, You have all seasons for your
own, O Death!" Such things have happened as for men to die without an
instant's notice. With a Psalm upon their lips they have passed away!
Or engaged in their daily business, they have been summoned to give in
their account. We have heard of one who, when the morning paper brought
him news that a friend in business had died, was drawing on his boots
to go to his counting-house and observed with a laugh that as far as he
was concerned, he was so busy he had no time to die. Yet, before the
words were finished, he fell forward and was a corpse. Sudden deaths
are not so uncommon as to be marvels if we dwell in the center of a
large circle of mankind.

This is Death–a foe not to be despised or trifled with! Let us
remember all his characteristics and we shall not be inclined to think
lightly of the grim enemy whom our glorious Redeemer has destroyed.

II. Secondly, let us remember that Death is AN ENEMY TO BE DESTROYED.
Remember that our Lord Jesus Christ has already worked a great victory
upon death so that He has delivered us from lifelong bondage through
its fear.

He has not yet destroyed death, but He has gone very near to it, for we
are told that He has "abolished death and has brought life and
immortality to light through the Gospel." This surely must come very
near to having destroyed death altogether.

In the first place, our Lord has subdued death in the very worst sense
by having delivered His people from spiritual death. "And you has He
quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins." Once you had no Divine
Life whatever, but the death of original depravity remained upon you
and so you were dead to all Divine and spiritual things. But now,
Beloved, the Spirit of God, even He that raised up Jesus Christ from
the dead, has raised you up into newness of life and you have become
new creatures in Christ Jesus! In this sense death has been subdued.
Our Lord, in His lifetime, also conquered death by restoring certain
individuals to life.

There were three memorable cases in which, at His bidding, the last
enemy resigned his prey. Our Lord went into the ruler's house and saw
the little girl who had lately fallen asleep in death, around whom they
wept and lamented. He heard their scornful laughter when He said, "She
is not dead but sleeps," and He put them all out and said to her,
"Maid, arise!" Then was the Spoiler spoiled and the dungeon door set
open! He stopped the funeral procession at the gates of Nain, from
where they were carrying forth a young man, "the only son of his
mother, and she was a widow," and He said "Young man, I say unto you,
arise."

When that young man sat up and our Lord delivered him to his mother,
then, again, was the prey taken from the mighty! Chief of all, when
Lazarus had laid in the grave so long that his sister said, "Lord, by
this time He stinks," when, in obedience to the word, "Lazarus come
forth!" forth came the raised one with his grave clothes still about
him, but yet really quickened, then was Death seen to be subservient to
the Son of Man! "Loose him and let him go," said the conquering Christ,
and Death's bonds were removed, for the lawful captive was delivered!

When at the Redeemer's Resurrection many of the saints arose and came
out of their graves into the holy city, then was the crucified Lord
proclaimed to be victorious over death and the grave. Still, Brothers
and Sisters, these were but preliminary skirmishes and mere foreshadows
of the grand victory by which Death was overthrown. The real triumph
was achieved upon the Cross–

"He Hell in Hell laid low Made sin, He sin overthrew: Bowed to the
grave, destroyed it so, And Death, by dying, slew."

When Christ died He suffered the penalty of death on the behalf of all
His people and, therefore, no Believer now dies by way of punishment
for sin, since we cannot dream that a righteous God would twice exact
the penalty for one offense! Death, since Jesus died, is not a penal
infliction upon the children of God! As such He has abolished it and it
can never be enforced.

Why do the saints die, then? Why, because their bodies must be changed
before they can enter Heaven. "Flesh and blood," as they are, "cannot
inherit the kingdom of God." A Divine change must take place upon the
body before it will be fit for incorruption and Glory! And death and
the grave are, as it were, the refining pot and the furnace by means of
which the body is made ready for its future bliss. Death, it is true
you are not yet destroyed, but our living Redeemer has so changed you
that you are no longer Death, but something other them your name!
Saints do not die now, but they are dissolved and depart.

Death is the loosing of the cable that the boat may freely sail to the
fair havens! Death is the fiery chariot in which we ascend to God! It
is the gentle voice of the Great King who comes into His banqueting
hall, and says, "Friend, come up higher." Behold, on eagle's wings we
mount! We fly, far from this land of mist and clouds, into the eternal
serenity and brilliance of God's own house above! Yes, our Lord has
abolished death! The sting of death is sin and our great Substitute has
taken that sting away by His great Sacrifice! Death without a sting
abides among the people of God, and it so little harms them, that to
them, "it is not death to die."

Further, Christ vanquished Death and thoroughly overcame him when He
rose. What a temptation one has to paint a picture of the Resurrection,
but I will not be led aside to attempt more than a few touches. When
our great Champion awoke from His brief sleep of death and found
Himself in the withdrawing room of the grave, He quietly proceeded to
put off the garments of the tomb. How leisurely He proceeded! He folded
up the napkin and placed it by itself, that those who lose their
friends might wipe their eyes. And then He took off the winding sheet
and laid the grave clothes by them-

selves that they might be there when His saints come there, so that the
chamber might be well furnished and the bed ready sheeted and prepared
for their rest.

The sepulcher is no longer an empty vault, a dreary morgue, but a
chamber of rest, a dormitory furnished and prepared, hung with the
drapes which Christ, Himself has bequeathed! It is now, no more, a
damp, dark, dreary prison– Jesus hag changed all that–

"'Tis now a cell where angels use,

To come and go with hea venly news." The angel from Heaven rolled away
the stone from our Lord's sepulcher and let in the fresh air and light
again upon our Lord–and He stepped out more than a conqueror! Death
had fled. The grave had capitulated–

"Lives again our glorious King!

Where, O Death, is now your sting?

Once He died our souls to save;

Where's your victory, boasting Grave?" Well, Brothers and Sisters, as
surely as Christ rose, so did He guarantee an absolute certainty the
resurrection of all His saints into a glorious life for their bodies,
the life of their souls never having paused even for a moment! In this
He conquered Death! And since that memorable victory, every day Christ
is overcoming Death, for He gives His Spirit to His saints and having
that Spirit within them they meet the last enemy without alarm. Often
they confront him with songs. Perhaps more frequently they face him
with calm countenance and fall asleep with peace. I will not fear you,
Death, why should I? You look like a dragon, but your sting is gone!
Your teeth are broken, oh old lion, why should I fear you? I know you
are no more able to destroy me, but you are sent as a messenger to
conduct me to the golden gate wherein I shall enter and see my Savior's
unveiled face forever!

Expiring saints have often said that their last beds have been the best
they have ever slept upon. Many of them have enquired–

"Tell me, my Soul, can this be death?" To die has been so different a
thing from what they expected it to be, so easy and so joyous! They
have been so unloaded of all care, have felt so relieved instead of
burdened, that they have wondered whether this could be the monster
they had been so afraid of all their days! They find it a pin's prick,
whereas they feared it would prove a sword thrust! It is the shutting
of the eyes on earth and the opening of them in Heaven, whereas they
thought it would have been a stretching upon the rack, or a dreary
passage through a dismal region of gloom and dread!

Beloved, our exalted Lord has overcome death in all these ways. But
now, observe, that this is not the text–the text speaks of something
yet to be done. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is Death, so
that Death, in the sense meant by the text, is not destroyed yet. He is
to be destroyed, and how will that be? Well, I take it he will be
destroyed in the sense, first, that at the coming of Christ, those who
are alive and remain shall not see death! They shall be changed–there
must be a change, even to the living, before they can inherit eternal
life, but they shall not actually die. Do not envy them, for they will
have no preference beyond those that sleep. Rather do I think theirs to
be the inferior lot of the two in some respects. But they will not know
death–the multitude of the Lord's own who will be alive at His coming
will pass into Glory without needing to die.

Thus Death, as far as they are concerned, will be destroyed. But the
sleeping ones, the myriads who have left their flesh and bones to mold
back to earth, Death shall be destroyed even as to them, for when the
trumpet sounds they shall rise from the tomb! The Resurrection is like
destruction of death! We never taught, nor believed, nor thought that
every particle of every body that was put into the grave would come to
its fellow and that the absolutely identical material would rise–but
we do say that the identical body will be raised and that as surely as
there comes out of the ground the seed that was put into it, though in
very different guise, for it comes not forth as a seed but as a
flower–so surely shall the same body rise again!

The same material is not necessary, but there shall come out of the
grave, yes, come out of the earth if it never saw a grave, or come out
of the sea if devoured by monsters–that same body for true identity
which was inhabited by the soul while here below. Was it not so with
our Lord? Then so shall it be with His people! And then shall be
brought to pass the saying that is written, "Death is swallowed up in
victory. O death, where is your sting! O grave where is your victory!"

There will be this feature in our Lord's victory, that Death will be
fully destroyed because those who rise will not be one whit the worse
for having died!

I believe, concerning those new bodies, that there will be no trace
upon them of the feebleness of old age. None of the mark of long and
wearying sickness, none of the scars of martyrdom! Death shall not have
left his mark upon them at all, except it is some glory mark which
shall be to their honor, like the scars in the flesh of the
Well-Beloved which are His chief beauty, even now, in the eyes of those
for whom His hands and feet were pierced! In this sense Death shall be
destroyed because he shall have done no damage to the saints at
all–the very trace of decay shall have been swept away from the
redeemed.

And then, finally, there shall, after this trumpet of the Lord, be no
more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, for the former things will have
passed away. "Christ, being raised from the dead dies no more, death
has no more dominion over Him." And so the quickened ones, His own
redeemed, they, too, shall die no more. Oh dreadful, dreadful
supposition, that they should ever have to undergo temptation or pain
or death a second time! It cannot be. "Because I live," says Christ,
"they shall live, also." Yet the doctrine of the natural immortality of
the soul, having been given up by some, certain of them have felt
obliged to give up with the eternity of future punishment the eternity
of future bliss–and assuredly, as far as some great proof texts are
concerned, they stand or fall together!

"These shall go away into everlasting punishment, and the righteous
into life eternal." If the one state is short, so must the other be!
Whatever the adjective means in the one case it means in the other! To
us, the word means endless duration in both cases–and we look forward
to a bliss which shall never know end or duration! Then in the
tearless, sor-rowless, graveless country, Death shall be utterly
destroyed.

III. And now last of all, and the word, "last," sounds fitly in this
case, DEATH IS TO BE DESTROYED LAST. Because he came in last, he must
go out last. Death was not the first of our foes. First came the devil,
then sin, then Death. Death is not the worst of enemies. Death is an
enemy, but he is much to be preferred to our other adversaries. It were
better to die a thousand times than to sin. To be tried by Death is
nothing compared with being tempted by the Satan! The mere physical
pains connected with dissolution are comparative trifles compared with
the hideous grief which is caused by sin and the burden which a sense
of guilt causes to the soul.

No, Death is but a secondary mischief compared with the defilement of
sin. Let the great enemies go down first! Smite the shepherd and the
sheep will be scattered. Let sin and Satan, the lord of all these
evils, be smitten first and Death may well be left to the last. Notice
that Death is the last enemy to each individual Christian and the last
to be destroyed. Well now, if the Word of God says he is the last, I
need to remind you of a little piece of practical wisdom–leave him to
be the last. Brother, do not dispute the appointed order, but let the
last be last! I have known a Brother wanting to vanquish Death long
before he died. But, Brother, you do not need dying Grace till dying
moments! What would be the good of dying Grace while you are yet alive?

A boat will only be necessary when you reach a river. Ask for living
Grace, and glorify Christ and then you shall have dying Grace when
dying time comes! Your enemy is going to be destroyed, but not today.
There is a great host of enemies to be fought today–and you may be
content to let this one alone for a while! This enemy will be
destroyed, but of the times and the seasons we are in ignorance–our
wisdom is to be good soldiers of Jesus Christ as the duty of every day
requires. Take your trials as they come, Brother! As the enemies march
up, slay them, rank upon rank! But if you fail, in the name of God, to
smite the front ranks, and say, "No, I am only afraid of the rear
rank," then you are playing the fool! Leave the final shock of arms
till the last adversary advances! Meanwhile, hold your place in the
conflict.

God will, in due time, help you to overcome your last enemy, but
meanwhile see to it that you overcome the world, the flesh and the
devil! If you live well, you will die well. That same Covenant in which
the Lord Jesus gave you life contains, also the grant of death, for,
"All things are yours, whether things present or things to come, or
life or death, all are yours, and you are Christ's, and Christ is
God's." Why is Death left to the last? Well, I think it is because
Christ can make much use of him. The last enemy that shall be destroyed
is Death, because Death is of great service before he is destroyed. Oh,
what lessons some of us have learned from Death!

"Our dying friends come o'er us like a cloud to dampen our brainless
ardors," to make us feel that these poor fleeting toys are not worth
living for! They remind us that as others pass away so must we, also,
be gone–and thus they help to make us let loose of this world and urge
us to take wing and mount towards the world to come! There are,
perhaps, no

sermons like the deaths which have happened in our households–the
departure of our beloved friends have been to us solemn discourses of
Divine Wisdom which our heart could not help hearing. So Christ has
spared Death to make him a preacher to His saints.

And you know, Brothers and Sisters, that if there had been no death,
the saints of God would not have had the opportunity to exhibit the
highest ardor of their love. Where has love to Christ triumphed most?
Why, in the death of the martyrs at the stake and on the rack! O
Christ, You never had such garlands woven for You by human hands as
they have brought You who have come up to Heaven from the forests of
persecution, having waded through streams of blood! By death for Christ
the saints have glorified Him the most. So is it, in their measure,
with saints who die from ordinary deaths–they would have had no such
test for faith and work for patience as they now have if there had been
no death!

Part of the reason of the continuance of this dispensation is that the
Christ of God may be glorified, but if Believers never died, the
supreme consummation of faith's victory must have been unknown.
Brothers and Sisters, if I may die as I have seen some of our Church
members die, I court the grand occasion! I would not wish to escape
death by some by-road if I may sing as they sang! If I may have such
hosannas and hallelujahs beaming in my very eyes as I have seen, as
well as heard, from them, it were a blessed thing to die! Yes, as a
supreme test of love and faith, death is well respited awhile to let
the saints glorify their Master!

Besides, Brethren, without death we should not be so conformed to
Christ as we shall be if we fall asleep in Him. If there could be any
jealousies in Heaven among the saints, I think that any saint who does
not die, but is changed when Christ comes, could almost meet me and
you, who probably will die, and say "My Brother, there is one thing I
have missed. I never lay in the grave. I never had the chill hands of
Death laid on me, and so in that I was not conformed to my Lord. But
you know what it is to have fellowship with Him, even in His death."
Did I not well say that they that were alive and remain should have no
preference over them that are asleep? I think the preference, if
anything, shall belong to us who sleep in Jesus and wake up in His
likeness!

Death, dear Friends, is not yet destroyed, because he brings the saints
home! He does but come to them and whisper his message and in a moment
they are supremely blessed!–

"Have done with sin and care and woe, And with the Savior rest."

And so Death is not destroyed yet, for he answers useful purposes. But,
Beloved, he is going to be destroyed! He is the last enemy of the
Church collectively. The Church, as a body, has had a mass of foes to
contend with, but after the Resurrection we shall say, "This is the
last enemy. Not another foe is left!" Eternity shall roll on in
ceaseless bliss! There may be changes, bringing new delights, perhaps.
In the eternity to come there may be eras and ages of yet more amazing
bliss and still more superlative ecstasy! But there shall be–

"No rude alarm of raging foes, No cares to break the last repose." The
last enemy that shall be destroyed is Death and if the last is slain
there can be no future foe! The battle is fought and the victory is won
forever! And who has won it? Who but the Lamb that sits on the Throne,
to whom let us all ascribe honor, glory, majesty, power, dominion and
might forever and ever! The Lord help us in our solemn adoration! Amen.

PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON–1 Corinthians 15:1-34. HYMNS
FROM "OUR OWN HYMN BOOK"–909, 843, 841.
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The Great Birthday