What does it mean that Jesus Christ conquered death?

Christ Himself bore witness, and still bears witness by the Spirit, to the souls of believers, that redemption work is completed, and by this they are participators in all His blessedness. He comes to them with the blessed information of death being triumphed over, guilt being put away for ever, and Satan overcome. That is the comfort, the joy, the peace He brings to the soul, which the knowledge of these facts leads to. "I will declare thy name unto my brethren"; as if He had said, I will come and make known to your souls, my brethren, the victory I have obtained over all your enemies, and the consequences resulting from it, as standing perfectly justified. And in this full position of acquittal all His people stand, when Christ was declared "to be the Son of God, with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead." And having ascended, think you that He has less power now? No. Having risen over sin, death, the grave, and Satan, He gives the Spirit now as a witness to the soul, to prove the subjugation of all its enemies - death triumphed over, guilt removed, and Satan overcome.

It was not rolled away to let the Lord Jesus out of the tomb, but to let you and me look in and see the wonderful proofs of that which had taken place. The resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ is the evidence that death was annulled, the power of Satan broken, God perfectly glorified about sin, and that sin for ever put away. He defeated Satan morally in the wilderness first, then came out and spoiled his palace, but now He goes right down into the very centre of his kingdom, meets him in the citadel of his strength — death — and overcomes him absolutely. By death He destroys death, and him who had the power thereof (Heb. 2:14). And then He rises from the dead, the mighty Victor, and hastens to bring others into all the blessed fruits of His glorious victory.

Finally, it has been sought to identify the destruction of death (verse 26) with death being swallowed up in victory (verse 54); and as the former is confessedly at "the end," or immediately preceding it, it has been contended that so is the latter. But the swallowing up of death in victory is not necessarily the destruction of death. A foe, long triumphant, may have laid his rueful grasp on the rightful subjects of some mighty prince; he may, by that prince's conquering hosts, be swallowed up in victory, and all his captives set at liberty — and yet the life of the tyrant may be spared; yea, he may be spared to act the part of jailer to the prince's enemies. It is exactly so in the case before us. Death has had under his grasp the bodies of God's beloved people. At the coming of the Lord, the Prince of life, he will be compelled to relinquish every captive: not one of all the bodies of God's people shall be left in the grasp of the fell destroyer. He must disgorge his prey. He must give up all. Already has he been compelled to release that blessed One Himself, who once entered, voluntarily entered, his dark domains. It was then that death was conquered. A mightier than he who had the power of death had voluntarily subjected Himself to death in atonement; and having in His death put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself, He came forth, bursting every barrier, and leading captivity captive. Not only was it impossible that He Himself should be holden of death; His death in atonement set aside death's title over the saints. He abolished death; and having spoiled principalities and powers, He made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in Himself. Faith knows this now, and rejoices in this perfect victory of Christ over death. True that for wise and gracious purposes death is still permitted to retain in his grasp the bodies of those who have been put to sleep by Jesus. But when Jesus comes, the bodies of all His saints shall be delivered from every trace of the power of death. Death shall then indeed be swallowed up in victory! Still death is not destroyed. It is, so to speak, for a thousand years longer, the jailer of those unhappy ones who have lived and died in sin. They, too, shall then be raised in the resurrection of judgment, and then death itself shall be destroyed. "Death and hell (hades) were cast into the lake of fire." But this brings us to Rev. 20, and to that chapter we must now turn our attention.

(5.) Christ took human nature most really, though not in a state identical with ours (as is more fully explained — strange that it should be needed by the believer! — in Hebrews 4:15); but He took it to die, that through death He might destroy (annul, render void) him that has the power of death, that is, the devil, and might deliver, etc. To avail for God's glory or even for us, it was into death that grace led the Saviour. There only could Satan's might be brought to nought; thus only could redemption be wrought, a ruined creation be reconciled to God, guilty souls be atoned for effectually and for ever. All this and more was done by the death of Christ, though its power be displayed in resurrection alone. All else fails to vindicate God, annul Satan, or deliver man.

Here is the deduction. "Since then the children have a common share (κεκοινώνηκεν) of blood and flesh, he also himself in like manner took part in the same, that through death he might annul him that hath the power of death, that is, the devil, and might deliver all those that by fear of death were through the whole of their life subject to bondage" (verses 14, 15). The Son of God became man, as the children were men, in order to meet Satan in his last stronghold of death, and thus by dying exhaust his power for those who being under law were harassed all their life long by fear in their conscience. It is plain that the enemy is here in view, as God was in verse 10, and as the sufferings of Christ vindicated God's holy nature and character, leaving His love free to act in saving us and bringing us to glory, so did His death break Satan's power to nought and deliver from fear the troubled saints, henceforth in peace, for He was raised for their justification. Satan is no longer to the believer the King of terrors. Christ has disarmed the enemy by submitting to death, and his power is gone for ever for His own. His resurrection proved the seal of death broken for us, as for us He died; and our resurrection will be the demonstration of its truth, not to us that believe who have in ourselves the witness of His grace and glory, but to all who disbelieve, rejecting Christ and the gospel.

Already by the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has annulled death, life and incorruptibility have been brought to light. It was in God’s purpose; but by His death and resurrection He has secured it for us, blessed be His holy Name! “Fear not,” He says, “I am the Living One.” He has the keys of death and of hades. Satan had “the might of death,” but He has been into death’s dark domain and annulled him; and moreover, He has risen victorious. He is the glorious First-fruits from the dead; and just as surely as He is this, the after-fruits shall be raised like Him, when He comes again. He is marked out as Son of God by resurrection. His triumph is also seen in this. When His assembling shout is heard; when the Lord Himself shall come, then the mighty operations of resurrection power shall be set in motion; then the dead in Christ shall rise; and then the living, changed, shall be caught up together with them to meet the Lord—the marked out Son of God, the Resurrection and the Life.

Verse 55 is a question cited from Hosea 13:14. Death has been a righteous sentence of God against sin, and spoken of as an "enemy." But is not God greater than the sentence He has imposed: Is the sting of death final? Does death (or it may be "hades") gain the final victory? Whether "death" or "hades," it is the same question, for death is the state of the body as separate from spirit and soul; while hades is the state of the spirit and soul in separation from the body. But sin is "the sting of death," the very poison that brought death; and sin has been perfectly atoned for by the death of Christ, the effectual basis therefore of complete victory over death. Now also the law is said to be "the strength of sin." For the law, applied in its pure justice, brings sin out clearly in its strong, bold, evil character, and condemns it. But it can of course do nothing as regards taking sin away. So great a work as this could be done by none other than the eternal Son of God Himself, and then by means of the sacrifice of Himself, Himself bearing our sins in His own body on the tree. We have seen this basis laid down in verses 3 and 4 of our chapter, the basis upon which sin and death will be completely triumphed over, so far as present day believers are concerned, at "the resurrection of the just."

No wonder that the apostle refers to the challenge of another prophet, "Death, where [is] thy victory? Death, where [is] thy sting?" (Hosea 13:14) with the comment, "Now the sting of death [is] sin, and the strength of sin the law; but thanks to God that gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." (Vers. 55-57.) What a triumphant answer is the resurrection and the change of the saints at the coming of the Lord! It is sin which gives not only occasion, but its sting, to death; and the law, however righteous, could work no deliverance for the guilty, but proves in effect the strength of sin, by provoking its rebellious will so much the more against the commands of God. His grace; not the law, is the strength of holiness, as we learn from Romans 6:14; and therefore does the apostle here break forth into thanksgiving as he sees God giving us the victory so completely and for ever, through our Lord Jesus Christ. "Wherefore, my brethren beloved, be ye stedfast, immovable, abounding in the work of the Lord always, knowing that your toil is not vain in [the] Lord." (Ver. 58.) Christ's resurrection is the pledge of ours, the witness of salvation, the pattern of deliverance, and the spring of hope in the midst of labour as well as suffering for Christ,

The life that overcomes was God's gift to us when we believed on our Lord Jesus Christ, for “the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 6:23), and its greatest triumph, when at last we leave the field of conflict and depart this life to be with our Lord, is also God's gift to us, for we read, “Thanks be unto God, who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ,” (1 Cor. 15:57). And, thanks be unto God His Word cannot fail us, we have taken our stand in fearless faith upon it, and this we will continue to do. His gift of life He will never recall, and in the life that He has given His saints must always triumph through Him that loves us. The final victory is over death, the last enemy. The King of Terrors we used to call it, but no longer does that name apply to it for the children of God, for death has met its Master—it is a defeated, throneless, crownless king; wrenched from its hands are the keys of its stronghold, annulled is its greatest power, and delivered are those who through fear of it were all their lifetime subject to bondage. For if by man came death, by Man came also the resurrection from the dead, and it is because Christ died and rose again that we have the victory. “Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and was buried, and rose again the third day according to the Scripture,” and we can say “Thanks be unto God that giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

I see this great and full salvation in a risen Christ; and what I get is, that death is mine; "all things," says the apostle, "are ours;" yes, death is "ours." Satan has meddled with death and judgment, and his power in death is completely broken. Like Pharaoh, he has been overcome in the last stronghold in which he held us captive. "Through death," Christ "has destroyed him that had the power of death," etc. Have the waves of the Red Sea, the billows of the wrath of God, gone over Christ? He has abolished all that was against us. Satan has come, and meddled; and what has he done? He has, put Christ to death; but the triumph of the prince of darkness was but the display of his defeat. He has come and grappled with Christ, put forth all his strength against Him, struck Him with the whole sting and power he had in death; but Christ has risen out of it on - the other side, beyond his reach; and now, morally, death has no power for the believer.