The Last Enemy

2 Thessalonians 2:7-12 “For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming. The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with how Satan works. He will use all sorts of displays of power through signs and wonders that serve the lie, and all the ways that wickedness deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.”

Bible passages like John 8:44, Mark 4:15, Revelation 12:9 and the passage above show that Satan has kept the whole world on bondage throughout its history. How? Pastor Kennedy contends that it is through the fear of death. He states that you need but look at the pagan cultures of the world and you can see that there has been a desperate fear of the black unknown beyond the grave. The question: “Where will you go when you die?” is in the back of everyone on earth who is going to die one day. The latest study shows the rate of mortality at 100% and steady. Surely, death is rightly called the “king of terrors.” Today that fear is repressed and it is taboo to talk about death.

Hebrews 9:26b-28 “Now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.

Men and women have been disobeying, breaking, ignoring and defying the laws of God, and now they are afraid to face that great appointment, which is their’s. We all have our appointment with the Lord of lords, Jesus Christ, in Heaven on the day that we die. Like it or not, it is an appointment that we cannot postpone indefinitely. It is unavoidable as death itself. Kennedy asks; Did you ever have an appointment that you dreaded so much that you tried any way you could to get out of it? Nobody gets out of this life alive, yet that is the way many seem to face death. “Just ignore it and it will go away?” … no.

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

The truth is that the grace of God transforms death into the very portal to paradice, as the only way to Heaven. Jesus Christ said in John 3:36 “He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him”, and later in John 11:25 “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live.” What a glorious promise that is! Isaiah 25:8a tells us: “He will swallow up death forever, and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces.” Death is swallowed up in victory. Praise be to God!

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

The last enemy, death, is destroyed.  In Christ, Brian