Death is Swallowed Up in Victory

Death has shaken your soul to its core. Mine too.

When I first heard the words, “I’m sorry, there’s no heartbeat,” it seemed like my life was being siphoned out of me. I strained to take in each new breath of air, and as I looked up at the monitor, staring at the stillness of my baby, I felt as though I was watching someone else’s nightmare unfold before my eyes.  In that moment, death seemed to consume me.

The death of your child is an excruciating heartache that alters the course of your life. 

There may be times when it seems as though you are being crushed and overcome by the weight of death. Perhaps you feel as if you will never escape its grim shadow—that joy will never be able to pierce through the cloud of grief that death has caused in your life. 

But dear one, there is hope. On this day—Easter Sunday—we celebrate the monumental moment in history when death was defeated. 

Did you read those last three words?

Death has been defeated! Death is not the end! Death—that which has brought such acute anguish and despair upon mankind—has been quelled by God’s own Son! 

As believers, we must continually reflect on Christ’s death on the cross, but it is just as important that we remind ourselves what happened next. Christ arose, and upon His resurrection, He laid death itself in His grave.   As remarkable as the death of Christ is, it is crucial that we don’t end the story there. Jesus rose again from the dead, and in so doing death was vanquished.

On that beautiful, marvelous, extraordinary day, death was swallowed up in victory! (1 Cor. 15:54) Death was not the final answer for Christ, and it is not the final answer for those who place their trust in Him.

Through His death and resurrection, Jesus obtained the “keys of death” (Rev.1:18) with which He “abolished death and brought life and immortality to light” (2 Timothy 1:10). And while we will still feel the effects of sin and death on earth, we can endure because we know that death is not the end!  By placing your trust in the Lord, you can stare death in the face and say,

“O death, where is your victory?
 O death, where is your sting?”
-1 Corinthians 15:55

Death lost its sting when Christ rose from the grave!  Through His work on the cross, we too can overcome the power of death, and someday be reunited with our beloved children! 

As devastating as it feels to be separated from your child on earth, rest in the hope that your baby was given victory over death and has received everlasting life and fulness of joy in the presence of our Great God!  Because He lives, our beloved children have been removed from the brokenness of this world and have received everything that is lovely, joyful, and perfect.  They are enjoying the pleasure and goodness of God’s eternal presence!

When your heart aches to hold your precious baby who has gone home before you, look to the cross. Your little one is safe in the loving hands of God. Because of His great love for you, God sent His Son to be tortured, ridiculed, and killed to offer His forgiveness to you. Jesus’ death on the cross made it possible for you to be redeemed! His death cancelled the debt you owed because of sin, and satisfied the wrath of God.  His death has given you life.

Because Christ rose again, we have also been raised with Him through faith to new life on earth, and we will one day be raised into eternal life in His presence. And this resurrection power that has been bestowed upon us cannot be undone. It is secure, unshakable, imperishable.

So, when the sorrow that you carry feels too great to bear, take heart and remember that death has been defeated!  Our death—your baby’s death—was overturned through the finished work of Christ. And when He returns, death will meet its final end. 

“He will swallow up death forever;
and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces.”
-Isaiah 25:8a

“The last enemy to be destroyed is death.”
-1 Corinthians 15:26

“And He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.”
-Revelation 21:4

And so, this Easter and on every day to come, fix your eyes on the cross, and the empty tomb that followed. For it is there that our brokenness is mended, our greatest needs are met, and our hope is found, because death was swallowed up in victory!

“Crown Him Lord of life
Who triumphed o’er the grave
And rose victorious in the strife
For those He came to save
His glories now we sing
Who died and rose on high
Who died eternal life to bring
And lives that death may die”

-Crown Him with Many Crowns, Matthew Bridges (1851)

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