ALL HAVE PERISHED
June 13, 2023
“Then those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.” – 1 Corinthians 15:18
If there had been no Easter… meaning there was no resurrection of Jesus Christ after death, what would it mean for us Christians? We have spent the last 5 days looking at what it would mean for us. It would mean our preaching is in vain, our faith is in vain, we are all false witnesses, our faith is worthless, and we are still in debt for our sins.
It would also mean that those who died before us are all still dead. 1 Corinthians 15:18 says, “Then those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.”
This word “perished” means, “destroyed, kill, destroy utterly, demolished, destruction.” In other words, your mother, your father, your children, your loved ones, and your friends who had faith in Jesus… are gone forever!
If the resurrection didn’t happen, you will never see them again. They are in the grave to rot and decay. That’s it. It’s over. It is finished. Death has won. Think about that today.
If Jesus was just another man and didn’t rise from the grave, then all we can hope for is to get older and older and sicker and sicker until we finally die. And that’s it. We stop breathing, we are buried, and we rot and decay in the ground. And that’s it. That’s pretty sobering to think about, is it not?
This would all be the case, if not for Jesus’ resurrection. We have spent six days answering this question, and we are going to spend one more. But what I want you to get out of this is understanding what the resurrection really means.
Jesus CONQUERED death. He didn’t just die for you and me. If He had, that would have been so selfless of Him. But it wouldn’t have really been different than someone jumping in front of you and taking a bullet for you.
Jesus dying on the cross, wouldn’t have even prolonged your life. He would have just died. But that isn’t the end of the story. Because He conquered death, you and I have a future and hope of spending eternity with Him and our loved ones!
“Then those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.” – 1 Corinthians 15:18
If there had been no Easter… meaning there was no resurrection of Jesus Christ after death, what would it mean for us Christians? We have spent the last 5 days looking at what it would mean for us. It would mean our preaching is in vain, our faith is in vain, we are all false witnesses, our faith is worthless, and we are still in debt for our sins.
It would also mean that those who died before us are all still dead. 1 Corinthians 15:18 says, “Then those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.”
This word “perished” means, “destroyed, kill, destroy utterly, demolished, destruction.” In other words, your mother, your father, your children, your loved ones, and your friends who had faith in Jesus… are gone forever!
If the resurrection didn’t happen, you will never see them again. They are in the grave to rot and decay. That’s it. It’s over. It is finished. Death has won. Think about that today.
If Jesus was just another man and didn’t rise from the grave, then all we can hope for is to get older and older and sicker and sicker until we finally die. And that’s it. We stop breathing, we are buried, and we rot and decay in the ground. And that’s it. That’s pretty sobering to think about, is it not?
This would all be the case, if not for Jesus’ resurrection. We have spent six days answering this question, and we are going to spend one more. But what I want you to get out of this is understanding what the resurrection really means.
Jesus CONQUERED death. He didn’t just die for you and me. If He had, that would have been so selfless of Him. But it wouldn’t have really been different than someone jumping in front of you and taking a bullet for you.
Jesus dying on the cross, wouldn’t have even prolonged your life. He would have just died. But that isn’t the end of the story. Because He conquered death, you and I have a future and hope of spending eternity with Him and our loved ones!
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