End of Death

 The resurrection of Jesus, the representative Man, signaled the end of the age of death and the beginning of the new humankind, the new creation that is no longer subject to death but shares the very life of God, everlasting life. The stone rolling away from the tomb announced the beginning of the eternal age that knows no end. 

Enoch and Elijah had cheated death, and numerous others had been resuscitated from the dead to die again later. But Jesus had freely entered into death, destroyed it, and risen out of it never to die again. In His resurrection, the reign of death was declared over and finished and every man and woman carried in Him out of its grasp. 

Henceforth, the race of Adam outside of Him would be termed the “old man(kind).” All who believe upon Him and are part of the new creation founded on the new covenant would be the new man(kind) who partake of eternal life, the life of eternity, the powers of the age to come, the life of God Himself. For such believers, the end of the world has come; in His resurrection, the new creation has dawned. 

The New Testament never speaks of believers dying; we “fall asleep in Jesus.” The pain of death is in those who live having lost for a short while their loved ones. For the believer, death is a “life-ing” into the presence of Jesus. Death has lost its sting and is the old servant to escort us to Jesus until his retirement at the resurrection at the Second Coming.

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?” 

John 11:25,26 For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. ...to depart and be with Christ, which is far better.  Philippians 1:21,23

- Malcolm Smith