Cody Carnes - Christ Be Magnified Sample

Title: The Death of Death

Devotional:

Verse 1:

God and man were crucified

The day the Promised One had died

It seemed that heaven’s love had lost

As Jesus hung upon the cross

Verse 2:

His broken body laid to rest

As earth was filled with hopelessness

Till the Son of Man began to wake

And the tomb became an empty grave

Oh the tomb became an empty grave

Chorus 1:

It was the death of death

When You rose to life

When the dark surrendered to the Risen Light

Oh praise the Savior, Jesus Christ

The death of death is Your victory

Verse 3:

The war is won the work is done

And hope for all the world has come

The Victor never lost His crown

Cause hell and grave can’t hold Him down

No, hell and grave can’t hold Him down

Chorus 2:

It was the greatest gift, Your life for mine

Fear is finished, my future bright

You gave it all for my heart the prize

The death of death is our victory

The death of death is our victory

I wonder what was going through the disciple’s minds when Jesus was on the cross. I can only imagine the immense pain and loss they were feeling as they saw their rabbi, their teacher and Messiah, be crucified. 

I wonder if they believed what Jesus had said beforehand. If, despite the death, they had hope for a resurrection.

I wonder what would happen if we fully believed, despite the death, hurt, pain, and loss that often surrounds us in this world, that Jesus’ death was and is enough. Enough to pay the cost for our sins. Enough to bring healing. Enough to give us abundant life now and into eternity.

Friend, the finished work of Jesus is enough!

1 Corinthians 15:55 (NLT) declares, “Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” 

What seemed like the end was only the beginning. What seemed like Hell’s victory became Heaven’s triumph. For what the enemy had used against the children of God – death – Jesus used to defeat him once and for all on the cross. 

Jesus gave his life for our sins, just as God our Father planned, in order to rescue us from this evil world in which we live. Galatians 1:4, NLT

The war was won. The tomb was empty. Death was defeated by death. And I love how Jesus describes Himself after all is said and done in Revelation 1:17-18 …

“I am the First and the Last. I am the living one. I died, but look—I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and the grave (NLT).” 

Because of Jesus, the death of death was and is our victory!

But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!) For he raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus. Ephesians 2:4-6, NLT