What is Mortal will be Swallowed up by Life

I just received word an hour ago that my aunt passed away last night after a six month battle with brain cancer. Although I rejoice that she is in the presence of Christ, I still cannot look upon her death and not feel outrage and anger at the effects of sin. It is once again an all too real reminder that death is the last, but also the ugliest, strongest, and merciless enemy that we will all have to face. I take comfort in the fact that Christ has gone before us and that even He experienced death. Furthermore, we all died with Him in His crucifixion, yet we are all raised with Him in His resurrection. It’s moments like these when I feel blessed in a very real way to emotionally and spiritually enter into the sufferings of Christ. It is not something to run from, rather it is to be embraced and cherished. Count it pure joy, brothers, when you experience trials of various kinds. Christ entered into our sufferings by offering Himself on our behalf. The pain that I now feel is the very pain that Christ felt. The outrage at looking upon death is the very outrage that He expressed. The Gospel becomes very real in the midst of loss. Through the deepest possible pain, I can still say, God is enough. Although I cannot begin to understand why or how, I know that it “cannot” be that He doesn’t love us. The cross totally blows that out of the water. I long to be with my family, especially my mother at this time. I knew that moving 2600 miles away from home would have its drawbacks, but this is by far the toughest. I feel as if I am being poured out. I try to focus on this in relation to the loneliness that Christ felt, but He was abandoned by everyone, His Father included. This gamut of emotions pales in comparison to what Christ experienced but I trust that I do not run from this pain. Death is a curse, but is also a blessing for those who are in Christ. “This perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?...For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened--not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.” It is in death that we truly find life. Look to Jesus, it is in His death alone that we may truly begin to live. This is the Gospel! A holy God cannot leave sin unpunished, yet a merciful God cannot leave us without a way of redemption and forgiveness, reconciling us to Himself. As John Owen, the famous puritan put it, the cross is the death of death in the death of God. Christ became what He hated most so that He could make us become righteous and holy. This great exchange, He took my sin, which really wasn’t His and gave me His righteousness which really wasn’t mine! So, as I sit here and sort this out, I hope and pray that I do not forget this day. I am outraged and livid when I look at death and the effects of sin and suffering, yet I am comforted and blessed to enter into the very sufferings of my Savior, even if it is but a glimpse of what He experienced!