The Sting of Death

I made a couple of mistakes in my sermon and corrected them in the transcript.

The scorpion is cited as an animal under the control of Satan to inflict pain on human beings in Revelation 9:3, 5, 10. The sting of the scorpion is cited in Deuteronomy 8:15 and 1 Kings 12:11-14.

1 Corinthians 15:53-54 describes our resurrection body as something put on top of our mortal, corruptible bodies, like a coat made out of incorruption and immortality.

Paul then cites Isaiah 25:7-8, where he tells us that the LORD himself would swallow up death.

The Canaanites believed in death as a literal monster whose mouth reached from under the earth up into the skies. Their god Mot (מות) was going to swallow up everything they valued. But Isaiah foretold that God himself would swallow up Mot.

Isaiah looked forward to the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ who would defeat death in Jerusalem, "on this mountain."

Paul then alludes to Hosea 13:14 in 1 Corinthians 15:54-55 and tells us that sin is the stinger death uses (1 Corinthians 15:56), taking us back to Genesis 2:25; 3:8-12.

The Lord Jesus took the stinger into himself as he was beaten and crucified in our place and defeated death by his resurrection. Our Westminster Confession of Faith speaks about Christ having purchased for us liberty from certain things, including, it says, "the sting of death" and "the victory of the grave."

Hebrews 2:14-15 tell us that Satan holds people in bondage to the fear of death. To be free of the fear of death is true Christian liberty.