Daily EncouragementSample

That “therefore” will take a lot of weight! It will not easily move if we lean upon it, and nor shall we move. Behind it is a gospel which has at its heart the proclamation, “Christ has been raised from the dead” (verse 20). That resurrection is the seal of his saving work; it is the guarantee of our resurrection; it spells the doom of “the last enemy”; it is the assurance of the final and complete victory of God - “thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (verse 56).

An appeal with such backing has some substance. In the end it is death which makes standing firm and striving for a cause, however good, ultimately futile. The flags and flowers and the moving speeches are as meaningless as the silent remains which so soon revert to dust. The watchword, “Death has been swallowed up in victory” (verse 54) turns all that upside down. In its light apostles can endanger themselves “every hour” and missionaries like Henry Martyn can face disappointment and work which seems to be in vain. “If there is one thing that refreshes my soul above all others,” he said, “it is that I shall behold the Redeemer gloriously triumphant at the winding up of all things.”