👉🏽👉🏽👉🏽#Death, Where is Your #Sting? #Sheol, Where is Your #Victory?
Part 1
Grace and peace be upon you, beloved brethren, who walk in the ancient and life-giving path of the Orthodox faith.
Today, we come before the mystery that trembles even the angels, the cornerstone of our hope and the crown of our confession: the Resurrection of our Lord and God and Savior, Jesus Christ. For it is written:
“O death, where is your sting? O Sheol, where is your victory?”
(1 Corinthians 15:55)
Let every tongue be silenced, every grave shattered, and every doubt expelled, for the tomb is empty. Christ is risen not symbolically, not metaphorically, but bodily, triumphantly, eternally.
I. Death Could Not Hold Him: He Is the Resurrection
Our Lord was not merely one among the dead. He is “the Resurrection and the Life” (John 11:25). Death had no claim over Him. He entered the grave by His own will, and He departed from it by His own power. He did not beg, “Open the tomb for Me,” but He shattered the gates of Hades and emerged, not with weakness, but in glory.
He broke the sting of death, and by His triumph, turned the grave into a passageway to life.
Before the crucifixion, He declared this victory to His disciples. He did not hide it:
“The Son of Man must suffer… be killed… and on the third day be raised”
(Matthew 16:21; Mark 10:33; Luke 18:31).
Though the disciples wept in sorrow and confusion thinking of their reward, grieving His humility, fearing the loss of their Teacher they did not yet understand that His Kingdom was not of this world, but of Heaven.
On the road to Jerusalem, He foretold all, speaking even of Jonah, the sign of three days in the belly of the fish, and said:
“After I have risen, I will go ahead of you into Galilee.” (Mark 14:28)
II. The Jews Opposed the Resurrection, and By It Were Judged
The chief priests, knowing the weight of His words, remembered what He had foretold:
“That deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise again.’” (Matthew 27:63)
Terrified of the truth they denied, they sealed the tomb with a heavy stone, stationed guards, and even labored on the holy Sabbath a grievous hypocrisy. But what they intended as opposition, God used as testimony. For the seal and the guards stood as witnesses, not of fraud, but of glory. Even their lies could not hold back the rising Sun of Righteousness.
“Every act of opposition to the resurrection is a confirmation of it.”
So it was: they tried to stop the light, but instead, they spotlighted the truth.
III. The Empty Tomb and the Power of Resurrection
Let us consider now what was wrought by the Resurrection, what gifts it has poured out to the Church and to every soul who believes:
1. The Church Was Established in Power
The Sea of Tiberias, the house of Jairus, the calling of the apostles — all these became stones in the construction of the Church, but the cornerstone was laid in the Resurrection.
The apostles, once timid and scattered, would have returned to fishing and forgotten their calling. But when the Lord appeared to them, their despair was turned to fire.
“If Christ has not been raised, our preaching is in vain and your faith is also in vain… but now Christ is risen from the dead”
(1 Corinthians 15:14–20).
2. Shame Was Removed: We Stand Upright Again
The world has many prophets, many religions, many teachers but all their graves are full. Visit Mecca, and you find the remains of Muhammad. Go to India, and there lie the bones of Gandhi and the founders of Hinduism. To China or Japan, and the tombs of the Buddha and the Shinto saints remain untouched. But go to Jerusalem to the garden tomb and you will hear the angel’s proclamation:
“He is not here. He has risen, as He said.” (Matthew 28:6)
This is not philosophy. This is history, and it is holy.
Continues 👇🏽