rs for him. But, had the power of the
devil in death been unassailed and uncounteracted, the dissolution of the
body and the eternal ruin of the soul would have been alike complete and
irrecoverable. By the consciousness of guilt, Satan has infused an
element of insupportable terror into death. For it is that consciousness
which makes death dreadful. It is quite probable that, if man had not
sinned, his body would have undergone some great change, that it might be
fitted for that "kingdom of God," which "flesh and blood cannot inherit;"
but such change would have inflicted no pain, and involved no
humiliation; it would only have been a change "from glory to glory;" and
would have been anticipated with no sentiments contrary to desire and
hope. But death, besides its own inherent ghastliness, is rendered
dreadful through the malice of the devil, and the guilty fear of the
penal hereafter which haunts all those who are in his power.

3. _Jesus died to destroy_ "_him that had the power of death_." He has
indeed provisionally destroyed death itself for all "the sons of God."
"Death, the last enemy, shall be destroyed." But it is not absolutely
and immediately abolished. The death of the body remains, even for God's
people, as a sad and humiliating monument of the evil of sin; but to them
it is not now a punishment, but the mode of their birth into a new and
more glorious life.

"Mortals cry, 'A man is dead!'
Angels sing, 'A child is born!'"

It may be truly said of the hour when a good man dies, that it is the
hour when he enters into life. And this is because Jesus destroyed "him
that had the power of death." He did not annihilate him, the word does
not mean that, but He neutralized, counteracted, stripped him of his
power. The whole design and effect of death, when in the power of the
devil, has been defeated and reversed by the death of Christ. Though the
bodies of his people be consigned to the grave, it is in sure and certain
hope of the resurrection to everlasting life. That melancholy seed-time
in which we cast the dust of our beloved into the earth, is the prelude
to a glorious harvest; that when "He giveth his beloved sleep," is
preparatory to their awaking to glory and immortality. "It is sown in
corruption, it is raised in incorruption; it is sown in weakness, it is
raised in power; it is sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory; it is
sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body."