Through His Death, He Trampled Upon Death

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My beloved brethren,

On the occasion of the glorious and joyous feast of the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, I would like to extend my wishes to you for a happy feast. May the blessings of this day be with us all.

The most important blessing that the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ brings about is victory over death; as we chant in the Resurrection hymn, through His death, He trampled upon death.

A commonly asked question is Why did God create death. The answer is that God did not create death. On the contrary, He created us to live eternally with Him God did not make death, and He does not delight in the death of the living. For, He created all things so that they might exist; the generative forces of the world are wholesome, and there is no destructive poison in them, and the dominion of Hades is not on earth. For, righteousness is immortal (Wisdom of Solomon 1:13-15).

However, death entered into the world through the envy of the devil (Reconciliation Prayer of St. Basils Liturgy). Death passed to all those who were deceived by Satan and did evil therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned (Rom 5:12). Every human being is involved in that fall.

Satan deceived us into disobeying the Lord, falsely promising us equality with God (Genesis 3:4,5). So, through this deception we fell from Eternal Life, and were exiled from the Paradise of Joy. As a result, our original nature changed from being pure and eternal to becoming sinful and mortal; the wages of sin is death (Rom 6:23). Thus sin entered our world separating us from our Creator the source of life; and subjecting us to corruption and death which are both the cause and effect of sin do not invite death by the error of your life, or bring on destruction by the works of your hands (Wisdom 1:12), God created us for incorruption, and made us in the image of his own eternity, but through the devil's envy death entered the world, and those who belong to his company experience it (Wisdom 2:23,24).

After the fall, Satan who had the power of death (Heb 2:14) became the ruler of the world (John 14:30) and procured dominion over us. Consequently we became fearful of death even before experiencing it and thus subject to its bondage all our lifetime (Heb 2:15).

This power of death enslaved us to three enemies i.e. the world, the flesh, and Satan (1 John 2:16). Because we are mortals we have an inherent tendency to want to enjoy the world as much as we can and to care for our flesh so we may live longer on earth., and we became self conceited just like Satan; only to die after all of that, and return to the source from which we came. Thus death and fear from death became our biggest and most enduring enemy (1 Cor 15:26).

After the fall, God promised Adam and Eve that the seed of the woman shall bruise the head of the serpent (Genesis 3:15) who had the seed of death. Then, in order for God to keep His promise vivid in the minds of people and hence maintain in them hope for permanent restoration of life and complete victory over death, God gave glimpses of victory in the lives of some Old Testament figures who had proven to be godly and pleasing to Him.

The first man who defeated the power of death was Abel. Death just was not able to stop him from bearing witness to God. There is a secret behind Abels victory. St. Paul described the secret behind Abels victorious attitude saying: by faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts; and through it he being dead still speaks (Heb 11:4).

Another example of a man who walked in victory and was exempted from death because of his faith, manifest in works, is Enoch. For by faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death, and was not found, because God had taken him; for before he was taken he had this testimony, that he pleased God (Heb 11:5).

Another victory designed by God was through the blood of the Passover lamb when I see the blood, I will pass over you; and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt (Exodus 12:13).

Among the Old Testament famous figures to whom the victory of the Cross and Resurrection was revealed is King David. Through his prophetic eye, the psalmist David saw this victory and wrote: Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me (Psalm 23:4).

These incidents of victory over death consolidated faith in the hearts of the Old Testament godly people causing them to look at death from a different perspective. Hence when physical death came, these all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth (Heb 11:13).

The final, wholesome, ultimate, long-awaited-for, death-liberating and fear-removing agent dawned on humanity with the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. This He accomplished through His Crucifixion and Resurrection. In this, St. Paul said, by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel (2 Tim 1:10). The Lord chose the cross to be the way of His death in order to defeat death in its ugliest and strongest form; thus defeating all others forms of death, leaving no room nor chance for death to rule once again. Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us for it is written, Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree (Gal 3:13).

Through His Death and Resurrection our Lord Jesus Christ destroyed Satan and set us free from the fear of death in as much then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage (Heb 2:14,15). Why is then death still considered as an enemy and consequently so much feared?

Any enemy can only bring fear into our hearts as long as we do not decide to bravely face, define and confine his weakness. Now realizing the magnitude of our weapon, the Cross of our Lord, which we have with us all the time, we can confront our enemy (death) with all bravery and courage and disarm it from all its seemingly frightening attempts, claiming, through faith, our victory which resides in the Resurrection of the Lord. St. Paul himself, out of personal experience recorded who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written: For Your sake we are killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Rom 8:35-39).

The stages through which our Lord had passed till He reached the Cross passing through the valley of death but emerging resurrected and victorious, are the same stages that true believers go through. For during the journey of our life, we go through the stages of dying to the world, the flesh and ourselves, get buried with our Lord Jesus Christ in Baptism, pass through the valley of trials and spiritual warfare but then emerge triumphant able to shout victoriously with our Lord Jesus Christ: O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory? (1 Cor 15:55). St. Paul beautifully sums these stages up in his epistle to the Romans saying, therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life (Rom 6:4). Thus Death is replaced by life and fear by joy.

That explains why death has lost its meaning and definition. We dont fear death anymore because it does not separate us from God nor end our life for to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain (Philippians 1:21), nor stop us from serving God or praising Him. The new prospect and dimension that the Resurrection has added to our definition and understanding of life and death is that ...if we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord's (Rom 14:8). Death does not conclude my joyful journey in Christ but rather deepens it having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better (Philippians 1:23).

Moreover, it became clear to us that after the victory that we have gained in our Lord Jesus Christs Resurrection, the physical death of the body is just temporary until the second coming of our Lord; for, in His second coming, He will raise our bodies because He is the savior of the body (Eph 5:23). Through the Resurrection of the Lord the Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire (Rev 20:14) and the song of resurrection became O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory? (1 Cor 15:55).

May the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ and His glorious Resurrection empower us against all evil, liberate us from all bondage to the world, the flesh and ourselves, and allowGod to reign and rule over our hearts.

All glory and praise be to our Lord and savior, the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ.

H.G. Bishop Youssef
Bishop, Coptic Orthodox Diocese of the Southern United States