In the old creation, man belongs to death. Hence it has been truly said that the very moment man begins to live he begins to die. Solemn fact! Man cannot escape death. There is not so much as a single thing which man possesses in the old creation that will not be wrenched from his grasp by the ruthless hand of death. Death takes everything from him, reduces his body to dust, and sends his soul to judgment. Houses, lands, wealth, and distinction, fame and influence, all go when the last grim foe approaches. The wealth of the universe, were it in a man’s possession, could not purchase one moment’s respite. Death strips man of all and bears him away to judgment. The king and the beggar, the peer and the peasant, the learned philosopher and the ignorant clown are all alike. Death seizes upon all within the limits of the old creation.

But in the new creation, death belongs to man. There is not so much as a single thing that the Christian possesses which he does not owe to death. He has life, pardon, righteousness, peace, acceptance, glory, all through death, the death of Christ. The entire aspect of death is changed. Satan can no longer bring it to bear upon the soul of the believer as the judgment of God against sin.

But as the one who had the power of death, Satan has been destroyed. Our Lord Christ has wrested his power from him, and He now holds in His omnipotent hand the keys of death and the grave. Death has lost its sting, the grave its victory. Therefore, if death does come to the believer, it comes not as a master but as a servant. It comes, not like a policeman to drag the soul to its eternal prison house, but as a friendly hand to open the door of the cage and let the spirit fly to its native home in the skies.