Jesus Gives Us the Victory

1 Corinthians 15:56-57

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Our devotion today is based on the words of St. Paul to the Corinthians in his first letter, chapter 15. And he says these words and versus 56 and 57:

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

At the end of World War 2 there were many people that went out into the streets to celebrate. This long horrible war was finally over. People had been having to ration different things in their life, even though they never maybe went over to Europe or to Asia to fight in this war, they probably have loved ones that had been in the war or it meant some type of sacrifice for them in their life.

But suddenly when the war came to an end, and when that news came across the United States, in every little town like out in the middle of South Dakota and Montana, wherever, people even who had never been involved in the war went out to celebrate this tremendous victory because that victory would now have an impact on their day to day lives. And it meant their loved ones were going to be coming home.

When our Lord Jesus defeated death for us through the power of his resurrection, when he came back to life from the dead, even though it happened thousands of miles away from us. And even though it happened thousands of years away from us there’s still an impact from that victory that comes to each one of us. Because Jesus says “because I live you shall live also.” So those who have faith and trust in Him benefit from that same victory of His when He won the victory over death and the grave.

So St. Paul says to us

Thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

The Nike shoe company was created back in I believe the 1970s and they wanted a name for their company that would sound like victory and sound like champions. And so they picked a Greek word, the word Nike, and that’s exactly the word that St. Paul uses here in our text when it says that God gives us the victory for our Lord Jesus Christ. So every time I see that Nike swoosh on someone’s shirt or on their shoes it can be a reminder of Easter. It can be a reminder of the wonderful victory we have over our own death because our Lord Jesus has conquered death for us. Amen.