Overcoming the Inevitable

 I am the living one! I was dead, but now I am alive forever and ever. I have authority over death and the world of the dead.

– Revelation 1:18

Although few like to talk about it, it’s something we’ll all have to face one day. It’s not a trip to the dentist’s office or an audit by the IRS. It’s something much more inevitable: DEATH.

Why do so many people worry about dying? For those who aren’t Christ-followers, death represents the unknown. It’s a gaping, black hole. And who knows what’s at the bottom of that pit or who’s on the other side? And besides, death is just so … final.

That doesn’t sound very reassuring. So here’s some good news: If you’ve accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you have nothing to fear from death. In fact, death is simply

the transition between our relatively brief existence on Earth and an eternity of joy. It’s from Revelation — the final book of the Bible — that we learn that all our troubles, tears and sorrows will be a thing of the past. That’s something to anticipate rather than fear!

How is this possible? 

Unlike you and me, Jesus lived a perfect, sin-free life. And he willingly accepted the death penalty on a Roman cross to pay for our failure to live up to God’s perfect standards. Then he proved that he was indeed God-in-the-flesh by fulfilling Old Testament prophesies and rising to life. The huge stone that had sealed his grave was rolled away, and the tomb was revealed to be empty and hollow. Likewise, so now was the devil’s greatest weapon against mankind: the threat of death.

It’s a reminder of a difficult truth: One day, death will take you. But if you’ve surrendered your life to Jesus, death can’t keep you. That’s because it’s already been defeated through his triumphant resurrection. It's in John’s gospel that we find this familiar passage about Christ’s power to overcome the grave: 

“I am the resurrection and the life,” the Savior proclaims. “He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?"

Although death is a sobering fact of life, you can believe in Jesus’ promises and have great confidence in your eternal future. It’s because he conquered death that every Believer will overcome the inevitable.