159. He Went First

Colossians 1:18

Have you ever gone to see a movie that was hyped up to be the biggest, best, most amazing thing to ever happen in the history of entertainment only to find that the movie completely sucked? The trailers are playing at every theater and on every TV commercial break for months. The producers have spent the most money ever and hired the best actors of all time and you’re so freaking pumped to see it, and it totally bombs. Don’t you just feel so robbed by a movie like that? Well, I want to tell you that in the best possible way, death is going to be like that hyped up, but very bad movie. Here’s what I mean: You know how they always say we’ll never know what it’s like to die until we actually die, because no one has ever died and then come back to tell us about it? Well, that’s not actually true. Jesus died. He died the most horrible death ever conceived by man, and then He got up out of His grave into a whole new kind of life to tell the tale. Jesus defeated death and now lives forever. He came back from the grave and told us some things. He told His boy Thomas to touch His scars, which means that old wounds don’t hurt anymore. He told His boys to go preach even though people would torture them, which means there’s nothing to fear. And He told us He would never, ever leave us. You see, in the end, death is going to be like that bad movie - it’s not all it’s hyped up to be after all. As Paul said, “Where O death is your sting? Where O grave your victory?”