1st Corinthians 15:55-58, “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.”
The Bible teaches that the “STING OF DEATH IS SIN.” Romans 6:23, “For
the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life
through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Our sin brings death. We read in
Romans 5:12, “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world,
and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that
all have sinned.” Adam's sin opened the floodgate of sin
into the world. Every human being that has been born since Adam has been
born with an inherent sin-nature. We are not sinners because we sin; but
rather, we sin because we are sinners.
A bee sting hurts! However, if you remove the stinger, then a swarm of bees or wasps cannot hurt you. Likewise, the sting and pain of death is sin, which sends people to Hell to burn in fire forever, suffering the wrath and vengeance of a holy God. 2nd Thessalonians 1:8-9, “In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power.” But thanks be to God, we have the victory in Jesus Christ and don't have to go to Hell to be punished for our sins. Jesus paid a debt that He did not owe, because we owed a debt that we could not pay. JESUS PAID IT ALL!!! Christ took away the sting of death, which is sin. Notice that the Bible doesn't say the sting of sin is death; but rather, the sting of death is sin! That is, a person who dies in their sins goes to Hell to be punished for their sins FOREVER AND EVER!
May I say, Christians don't have to let the world go to Hell because the world is already going to Hell. All you have to do to go to Hell is NOTHING!!! Ye must be born-again! (John 3:5-7). 1st Corinthians 15:55-58 wonderfully teaches that since Christ has removed the sting of death, by cleansing away our sins by His precious blood (Hebrews 1:18-19), we ought to abound in the work of the Lord, knowing that our labours are never in vain in the Lord. Even giving a drink of water in a disciple's name of Christ will be rewarded (Matthew 10:42). Isn't that wonderful! Even helping someone who is serving Christ will be rewarded! Death has no power over the Christian believer because Christ has delivered us from the penalty to sin.
God never sent anyone to Hell who didn't choose to go there by consciously rejecting the light which God gave them. Titus 2:11, “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.”
NO ONE has ever escaped death except the Lord Jesus Christ, which is why Mark 15:37 says Jesus “gave up the ghost.” Jesus decided when to die, because He didn't have to die. Jesus didn't have to be crucified, He could have called twelve legions (72,000 angels) to rescue Him. Matthew 26:53, “Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels?” The Lord didn't even need to call angels. If He wanted, the Lord could have dropped the cross and gone back to Heaven, letting us all rot in Hell forever where we deserve to be for our sins.
The Bible tells us that Enoch was taken by God. Genesis 5:24, “And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.” We also read concerning the prophet Elijah that the Lord took him up by a whirlwind of fire into Heaven. 2nd Kings 2:11, “And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.” Consequently, it appears that neither of these men of God DIED. If this is true, then these men will be the two prophets of Revelation 11:3-7, who will be killed. If Enoch and Elijah didn't die back in the Old Testament, then they must one day die, because they were SINNERS. Every sinner must die the first death, that is, the physical death. I'm not saying that Enoch and Elijah didn't die, but there is no Biblical record of them dying a physical death. For this reason (although I wouldn't argue the point), I am convinced that the two prophets that God will send during the 7-year Tribulation will be Enoch and Elijah. Some say Moses, but Moses is plainly said to have died in the Bible (Deuteronomy 34:7).
The Roman Catholic Church is no church at all. They are a demonic religious cult. Catholics teach that Mary was also born of a virgin. They call it the “Immaculate Conception.” I call it the Immaculate Deception! Catholics also teach that Mary never sinned, being just as perfect as the Lord Jesus Christ. Mary is said in Catholicism to have remained a “Perpetual Virgin” (another lie of the Devil). One false doctrine begets another. Since Catholics errantly teach that Mary was born without sin and lived a perfect life, they have to also teach that Mary never died a sinner's death. So Catholics claim that Mary was bodily taken into Heaven, which they call the doctrine of “The Assumption Of Mary” (which was made official Catholic dogma in 1950 by Pope Pius XII).
We welcome death as Christians, because we are looking forward to Heaven. 2nd Corinthians 5:8, “We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.” Philippians 1:21, “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” Those two statements were made by the apostle Paul. Only a born-again believer whose sins have been washed away by faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ could rejoice in such statements. I am ready to die! Are you? I am not suicidal, but I look forward to dying, for death is simply the graduation for the believer from this earthly life to eternity. When you think about it, we are already living in eternity, we just change bodies from corruptible to incorruptible at the Rapture; but the unbeliever goes to Hell forever and ever to burn! Where will you spend eternity?
Jesus removed the dreaded bee stinger of sin. Thankfully, because of the Lord's blood sacrifice we can know for certain that we are going to Heaven when we die. We don't have to fear death as do the unsaved world. Thank God! Thank God! Thank God, for the precious blood of Jesus that washes our sins away and takes the stinger out of death!!! Let us labour diligently and tirelessly to win this lost world to Christ, by teaching and preaching Christ's death, burial and resurrection (1st Corinthians 15:1-4)!!!
