HE ABOLISHED DEATH
But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel (2 Timothy 1:10).
When I came across this verse years ago, for a second I thought I didn’t see it. “Did Paul actually say Jesus Christ abolished death?” I wondered. I studied the verse in-depth, looking in the original Greek and dissecting every word used. I found out after my study that the verse meant exactly what it said: Jesus Christ abolished death.
Some people try to reason it out and say Paul was referring to spiritual death. A thousand times, no! Observe from our opening verse that Jesus not only abolished death, He brought life and immortality to light. If the death was spiritual death, what about immortality? Could the Bible have meant spiritual immortality? That expression makes no sense; in fact, it’s a contradiction. Thus, the reason Paul made reference to immortality is because he was talking about physical death.
Some people however get troubled by what the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 15:26: “The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.” So they say, “We still have death to deal with; it’s the last enemy to be destroyed.” No, that’s not what the Scripture is saying and I’ll explain.
It’s like when the Bible says in the book of Revelation, “And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God…” (Revelation 12:10). The fact that the voice said “Now is come salvation” didn’t mean everyone in the world was receiving salvation for the first time. People had been saved before then.
So, when the Bible says death is the last enemy to be destroyed, it’s talking about death as a spirit that would be cast into the lake of fire: “And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death” (Revelation 20:14). That’s when death will be destroyed. But already, it has been overcome; the law of death has been abrogated. The Master didn’t come from heaven for nothing. He didn’t die for nothing. He came to abolish death and He achieved it! Blessed be God!
PRAYER
Dear Father, thank you for our victory over death, hell and the grave; thank you for bringing us into life and immortality through the Gospel. I’m born of the life-giving Spirit of Christ Jesus. Therefore, I’m a life-giving spirit and I live by the law of the Spirit of life in Jesus Christ. Amen.
FURTHER STUDY:
1Corinthians 15:51-57, Revelation 20:14
1-YEAR BIBLE READING PLAN: Matthew 11:1-30, Genesis 36-37
2-YEAR BIBLE READING PLAN: Acts 9:21-31, Job 1-2
