In our Bible study we looked at 1 Cor 15:50-58, the final verses in Paul’s triumphant chapter on the resurrection. Here, he speaks of Christ’s ultimate victory over death (see 1 Cor 15:26, 1 Cor 15:55-56) and the glorious hope we have because of Christ’s resurrection. The Christian is assured of eternal life where the perishable will be clothed with the imperishable and the mortal will put on immortality (1 Cor 15:53) and reminded of God’s great victory which He gives us through Jesus (1 Cor 15:57).

Attitudes to death vary enormously. Most of us are afraid of dying to some extent; even if we have the hope of being with Christ in eternity, we are not at all sure we will have the courage or strength to go through the process of dying and are worried about pain and suffering. Death is a great unknown, and we often are fearful of the unknown and resistant to change. Many of us cope with death by ignoring it as much as possible, refusing to think about our own mortality (a strategy that is easier when we are younger and death seems a remote possibility…) Paul’s attitude does not seem like this. He says that ‘for to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain’ (Phil 1:21), going on to say ‘If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labour for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body.’ (Phil 1:22-24) This chapter gives us the key to understanding Paul’s attitude to death and can transform our attitudes too.

Keith Krell writes, ‘We cannot exist long-term in physical bodies that are subject to decay or corruption, and we cannot exist long-term where the inevitability of death exists. These two aspects must be changed.’ Christ’s resurrection means that the perishable can put on the imperishable and the mortal can be clothed in immortality, but this means a transformation of our physical bodies which are subject to decay. Death can be seen, therefore, as a re-clothing, something God urges us to do daily to some extent (see Eph 4:22-24, Col 3:12). He has provided us with new garments (see Is 61:10) which we will experience in fulness after death.

The real problem is not simply death, but sin, which gives death its sting or power (1 Cor 15:56, Rom 6:23). The good news is that through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, sin has been dealt with decisively once and for all (see Gal 3:10-14, 1 Pet 2:24), and as a consequence, Jesus has broken the devil’s power over death and freed those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. (Heb 2:14-15) Death for the Christian is simply the journey to with the Lord eternally in our new dwelling (see 2 Cor 5:1-5, Jn 14:1-4).

Our attitude to death is therefore very different to people who have no hope (see 1 Thess 4:13). We may grieve and mourn the loss of those we love, but we can find comfort, solace and hope in the fact that death is not the ultimate end, a cessation of being. Because Christ lives, we also will live (Jn 14:29, see also Jn 11:25) Jesus is the ‘Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.’ (Rev 1:18) Hallelujah!

There are days when we wonder how we are going to get through all that lies before us. Weariness, discouragement, exhaustion, fear and anxiety may well be lurking, ready to trip us up (sin crouching at the door, as God told Cain.) What do we do on days like that?

The good news is that God offers us, each day, an amazing exchange: His life for ours, His power for our weakness, His strength for our frailty. As Casting Crowns put it:

‘In my worry, God, You are my stillness.
In my searching, God, You are my answers.
In my blindness, God, You are my vision.
In my bondage, God, You are my freedom.
In my weakness, God, You are my power.
You’re the reason that I sing
‘Cause You’re the God of all my days.’ (‘God Of All My Days’, Casting Crowns)

Or in another song:

‘My life, Your grace
Here I exchange…

Your life, my gain
Here I exchange…

All of me, I lay down for all You are

All of me, I lay down for all You are

Jesus, all of me, I lay down for all You are

All of me, I lay down for all You are.

I lay at Your feet my broken heart

And I’ll find my healing in Your scars
All of me for all You are.’ (‘For All You Are’, Casting Crowns)

The good news is we don’t have to struggle on on our own. We can exchange so much and receive God’s righteousness; we can exchange ‘all that I am for all that You are.’ (‘All That I Am’, Rend Collective) That seems to me an amazing deal!

Dave spoke again on the subject of revival, something the church desperately needs. Revival sees an increase in the spiritual life of God’s people and leads to the salvation of many, but the key factor in revival is God’s presence, which seems to fall in a fresh and awesome way.

Is 57:15 talks of two key aspects found in every revival. God is the ‘high and exalted One’ who lives in a high and holy place. In revival, there is a reaching high towards God. We become dissatisfied with where we are in God and yearn for more. There is always a sense of repentance and confession; as Brian Edwards says, ‘We often have a tinted view of revival as a time of glory and joy and swelling numbers queuing to enter the churches. That is only part of the story. Before the glory and joy, there is conviction; and that begins with the people of God. There are tears of godly sorrow. There are wrongs to put right, secret things…to be thrown out, and bad relationships, hidden for years, to be repaired openly. If we are not prepared for this, we had better not pray for revival.’

Often, we want things and blessings more than we want God. If we are to see revival come, we must pray for it and long for God to come down among us (see Is 64:1) Duncan Campbell once said that ‘revival is a community of people saturated by God’, and it is this sense of reaching high for God Himself – for someone, not something – that is so necessary.

Revival also involves bowing low, however. There has to be repentance, contrition and brokenness: the God who lives in a high and holy place also lives with the one who is contrite and lowly in spirit. So often, instead of coming before God in brokenness and repentance, we are complacent, satisfied with the status quo and content to treat God like a slot machine who answers our prayers by doling out blessings. We can take God for granted, but if we are to see revivals like those recorded in history, we have to be prepared to seek God fervently and without ceasing, stretching like elastic. Without this hunger for God, manifested in committed prayer, we will not see revival.

No battle we face has the power to overcome us. We may be knocked down, but we can get back up and start afresh: God is the God of second (and third and fourth) chances. We may feel oppressed and weak and unable to win through to victory, but we hold on to God’s Word: ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ (2 Cor 12:9) We may feel hopeless, but we are reminded that when all is said and done, faith, hope and love will remain. (1 Cor 13:9)

Paul’s life was one of many battles, but he was not deterred by these: ‘We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.’ (2 Cor 4:8-9) He knew that life wasn’t always easy. He said that at times he and the apostles ‘were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself.’ (2 Cor 1:8) But he also knew that in those times, he learned to lean on God: ‘this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead.’ (2 Cor 1:9) He found blessings even in battles, lessons that he was then eager to pass on to us: ‘He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us again. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, as you help us by your prayers.’ (2 Cor 1:10-11) God’s deliverance in the past gives us hope for deliverance in the present and in the future: He will deliver us again; He will continue to deliver us.

Matt Redman’s song ‘It Is Well’ reminds us:

‘Weeping may come
Remain for a night,
But joy will paint the morning sky.
You’re there in the fast;
You’re there in the feast.
Your faithfulness will always shine.’ (‘It Is Well’, Matt Redman & Jonas Myrin)

No matter what the battle, God is there with us, in the thick of it. His faithfulness doesn’t change; every morning, His mercies are new to us (Lam 3:23). The compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness (Ex 34:6), is with us, so we need not fear. Our part is to trust His name and trust His ways, even when we can’t see where we’re going and don’t understand what is happening. Our part is to lift up our eyes and see the King of Glory, seated on the throne, strong and mighty, mighty in battle, ready to fight for us (see Ps 24:7-10, Ex 14:14).

In the midst of battles, trials and difficulties, it is easy to develop a ‘siege mentality’. In mediaeval times, siege warfare was a typical military operation, whereby the enemy would surround or blockade a town, a castle or a fortress in an attempt to capture it. The people being besieged would be unable to get out to get provisions or help; meanwhile, the enemy would be pelting them and attacking them using a trebuchet, an awesome catapult, which attackers would use to bombard towns with fireballs and rotting flesh to wear down those being attacked.

A replica trebuchet at Warwick Castle

It can be hard to keep perspective and hope when you are starving and under attack, when each day brings no relief, when you feel beleaguered and oppressed. And that’s how many of us feel as Christians. We feel daunted, overcome, often defeated… but that is because our eyes are on the battle, rather than on God. As Casting Crowns sing,

‘If your eyes are on the storm
You’ll wonder if I love you still,
But if your eyes are on the cross
You’ll know I always have and I always will.’ (‘Just Be Held’, Casting Crowns)

We need to remember that ‘God specialises in things thought impossible.‘ Nothing is impossible with God. The God who made the heavens and the earth by His great power and outstretched arm finds nothing too difficult. (Jer 32:17) The God who could breathe life into the valley of dry bones and raise up an army from that can breathe life into our dry bones and use us in ways we can’t even imagine. (Ezek 47) The God who came upon Mary by the power of the Holy Spirit and enabled a virgin to conceive is able to breathe life into our deadness and bring hope to the hopeless. The angel said to Mary, ‘For no word from God will ever fail’ (Luke 1:37).  ‘No matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ.’ (2 Cor 1:20)

Our role is to fix our eyes on the God of the impossible: ‘‘Don’t shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ—that’s where the action is. See things from his perspective.’  (Col 3:1-2, The Message) As we do this, God gives faith, hope and peace to us and enables us to abound in grace: ‘And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.’ (2 Cor 9:8) 

When we think of the word ‘battle’, we often have different mental images, formed by the books we’ve read or the films we’ve seen. We may think of Roman battle scenes in the film ‘Gladiator‘:

… or mediaeval battle scenes with bows and arrows, as at the battle of Agincourt in 1415:

We may think of the Battle for Middle Earth in ‘Lord of the Rings’:

… or science-fiction battles such as seen in ‘Independence Day‘:

The Bible tells us of different kinds of battles.

1. Sometimes, a battle can be because we have many enemies – the Bible has a lot to say about enemies and people who come against God and His people, and about the ultimate source of conflict and hatred in the world, as well as about the ultimate victory God has over every enemy which sets itself up against Him.
2. Sometimes we can, intentionally or unintentionally, antagonise people and cause problems for ourselves. Again, the Bible has a lot to say about that: we see that God is involved in helping us even when we perhaps get ourselves into bother and battles and mess up.
3. Sometimes the battle can be within our own family, and these are often the most painful and traumatic kind of battle, because we don’t expect trouble to come from those sources and it’s all the more painful when our friends and family hurt us and let us down. We expect adversaries to cause problems; we don’t expect those we love to cause our wounds, but sometimes that happens. Again, the Bible is very honest about the kinds of battles that can occur within families and gives us reasons and strategies for dealing with these.
4. Sometimes the battle can be internal: our own struggle with sin, our own failings and failures, the complexities of our own personalities and our own health struggles, be these physical, mental or emotional. These kinds of battle can be the hardest sometimes, because they are often invisible to others, but they can be wearing, debilitating, draining and downright discouraging! There are many Christians who feel crippled by these kind of battles and who dare not own up to the difficulties they face.

Whatever the sources or form of the battles we face, however, God is the One who brings us the victory. Twice in the psalms, we read the prayer, ‘Give us aid against the enemy, for human help is worthless.’ (Ps 60:11, Ps 108:12) We know ultimately that God is the One who delivers us and brings us victory: ‘But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.’ (1 Cor 15:57)