Acts 13:34-39

How Does It All Fit Together?

A Question of Story

Throughout the gospels, we read stories of a few people who are raised from the dead. The cold fact is that those people did not live forever and died again. As our verses for today read, David, a man after God’s own heart, died and was buried like everyone else. People are born, live life, and die. This is the simple fact of life.

But this is not the story of Jesus. Because Jesus was man and God, once he rose from the dead, he did not die again. Jesus ascended into heaven and took the seat at the right hand of the Father (Mark 16:19). This is extraordinarily important for the story of the world. Our salvation relies on Jesus conquering death. If Jesus resurrected just to die again, then he did not actually beat death. This is not what happened. Jesus conquered death once and for all.

Because of Jesus’ story, each of us can defeat death as well. Yes, we will die, but our dying leads to eternal life with God in heaven. Because of Jesus’ actions on the cross and his defeating of the grave, we can proclaim with a loud voice, “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” (1 Cor 15:55). Praise God that Jesus’ victory over death can be our story!