The Victor of our battles

“For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy that will be destroyed is death.”

– 1 Corinthians 15:25-26

God did not design us to have to contend with death.

It’s why grief and sorrow strike so deeply to the unreachable places within us.

We weren’t made to know loss — we were made to know God.

But our sin – our rebellion against Him – invited the curse of death into this world.

And it is a curse felt in every loss – whether old or young. Expected or unexpected. Each one leaves wounds that time doesn’t really heal -- it just acquaints us with the familiarity of the pain’s presence.

You can know all of God’s Word: the truth of the goodness and faithfulness of our God. The hope of heaven that awaits any soul who has given their life into the hands of Jesus Christ.

And it helps – because it is true.

But it doesn’t remove the hurt.

Our sin brought death into this world.

And God surrendered His own Son unto that same death – to that same hurt and sorrow and grief – so that there might be a solution for that sin.

Time is an element of God’s creation. And in that, some concepts in scripture leave us grappling for understanding.

God sees everything. There is none like Him. And only He can declare the end from the beginning (Isaiah 46:9-10).

Revelation 13:8 speaks of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

And in what we read in 1 Corinthians 15, we see that Jesus shall reign victorious; that He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet. And that the last enemy that will be destroyed is death.

It is a moment still to come. It is a moment as true right now as the day it will come to pass. And it is a moment that was true before moments were created.

Whatever you are facing right now, whatever may come tomorrow, Jesus will be victorious. More so, He is victorious already.

He is the victor of our battles before they have begun. The One Who holds us and comforts us and draws us close in our hurt.

His victory – through our eyes – started with Him hanging on a cross, bleeding out upon the ground. With Him being wrapped in linen and buried in a tomb.

To all the world, it looked like defeat. But three days later, to those who saw Him, victory.

Eternity, under the blood of Jesus Christ, is free from the sting of death. And yet death still stings us in the present.

In living for Jesus, victory often doesn’t look the way we expect.

It plays out beyond the confines of our earthly lives.

It’s wrapped up with grace and mercy and forgiveness and humility all woven through it.

In every situation, though, Jesus remains the victor of our battles before they have begun.

Always, He will be defeating death – all around us. And He doesn’t waste a single moment. Not a single tear.

Every shred of whatever we suffer here tells the story of who He is, and what He has done. And someone else, hurting the same hurts you are, will see Who He is through what He is doing through you.

Death will be destroyed.

It has been destroyed.

With God, death – His last enemy – is already finished.

And in that truth, we find hope, and joy, and rest.

“And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.” – Revelation 21:4.

Joey Crandall is the pastor at Calvary Chapel Carson Valley.