Every now and then I have
a moment when it seems like God pulls back the corner of the veil to
give me just a glimpse of His glory and majesty. I was reading
something that mentioned the song, “
Arise, My Love” by NewSong, and I had to listen to it to remember all
the words. It draws on imagery of 1 Corinthians 15:54-55 (ESV),
“Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?” But the Apostle Paul didn’t stop
there. He goes on to say, “The sting of death is sin, and the power
of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory
through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
As I read that, I
realized that I’ve held an incomplete understanding of all that
Paul is saying in these verses. My primary thought has always been
that death is the consequence of living in a sinful, fallen world—in
essence, that death is the sting of sin. But Paul said it the other
way around. “The sting of death is sin.” In Romans Paul wrote,
“We know that our old self was crucified with Him in order that the
body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer
be enslaved to sin” (6:6), and “now we are released from the law,
having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the
new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code”
(7:6). Then he pulls it all together in 8:1-2, “There is therefore
now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of
the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of
sin and death.”
Sin and death are
intimately intertwined. The first sin brought death into the
world—not just the death of the physical body, or even the eternal
death of condemnation, but also the daily “walking death” of
lives wrapped up in sin. But the death of Jesus on the cross freed us
from all the reign and power of sin and death. We are no longer bound
to that old master. Yes, physical death will still occur for whatever
time remains for this earth, but it is ultimately conquered. Sin will
also remain for a time, but its power is defeated. We are free to say
no to temptation and freed from the daily death of sin.
I wish NewSong had
written another verse to their song, because God didn’t just call
Jesus to arise from the grave. He also calls us to arise from the
grave of sin every day. He keeps saying, “Arise, My love, the grave
no longer has a hold on you!” When temptation comes our way,
“Arise, My love, and listen to the voice of your true Master!”
When sin trips us up, “Arise, My love, you are forgiven!” When
death darkens our door, “Arise, My love, this is not the end!”
My beloved speaks and
says to me:
“Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come
away,
for behold, the winter is past;
the rain is over and
gone.
The flowers appear on the earth,
the time of singing has
come,
and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land.
The
fig tree ripens its figs,
and the vines are in blossom;
they
give forth fragrance.
Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come
away.”
(Song of Solomon 2:10-13)
We no longer belong to
the realm of sin and death, but we live in the kingdom of life. May
we all hear His voice calling us to arise out of whatever grave we
find ourselves in today.
“Thanks be to God
for His inexpressible gift!” (2 Cor. 9:15).
© 2017 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise
indicated all images are copyright free from pixabay.com.
