Death Has Lost Its Venom

” ‘Death is swallowed up in victory. O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?'” (1 Corinthians 15:54-56).

Death has lost its sting. We sing this in hymns. We hear it in funeral sermons. We etch it into the hearts of the grieving like a balm. Yet for those who sit in the shadow of death’s chill, for those who visit a grave with flowers that fade too quickly, for those who hold an empty cradle or fold clothes that will never be worn again, this claim may sound hollow. How can death be powerless when it has taken so much? How can we declare victory when we still feel so defeated? How has death lost its sting when it still hurts?

These are not the questions of doubters; these are the groaning of the faithful. The Apostle Paul himself does not shy away from the cry. He dares to taunt death with the voice of a child mocking a once-feared monster: “O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?” These are not words of denial. These are not slogans to silence grief and sorrow. They are the voice of a man who has stared death in the face and lived to proclaim the One who overcame it.

The sting of death is sin, Paul says (v. 56). Death was never meant to pierce us. There is no such thing as “a natural death.” In Eden, we were created for life—life in the presence of God, life unmarred by decay, life untouched by time. But when sin entered the world, it carried death in its hands like a scorpion holds its prey in its pedipalps. Death became more than an end—it became a curse. And sin, which we so easily treat as a trifle, is the venom that gave death its poison. Every lie, every selfish deed, every turning away from the God who formed us from dust has added to the sting.

And sin does not stand alone; it finds its power in the Law—the holy and perfect will of God, written not only on stone tablets but also upon human hearts (Romans 2:15). The Law is not the villain—it is the mirror. It reveals what ought to be. It exposes what we are not. It pronounces the sentence upon every soul who cannot keep it: “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23a). The Law gives sin its weight; it binds every one of us under its verdict, and so Death came like a debt collector whose claim could not be denied.

This is the sting: not merely that we die, but that we die guilty. We do not fall asleep in peace by nature; we fall condemned. And this is why death hurts—because it is not just the absence of breath, but the shadow of judgement. It is our curse staring us in the face—a staring contest we cannot win.

Yet Paul does not stop with the sting. He does not leave us with the pain. His song is not a dirge, but a cry of triumph. The serpent has lost his venom; the scorpion has lost its barb. The devil who prowls around like a roaring lion has lost its teeth (1 Peter 5:8). The worst he can do now is gum you to death.

How? Not by pretending death is harmless. Not by softening the reality of loss with “celebrations of life” or lies that “Heaven has gained another angel,” which would be a downgrade. But by pointing to the cross; for there, the sting was spent.

Christ, the sinless Son of God, took the sting into Himself. He bore our sins, though He committed none. He stood beneath the Law’s holy gaze and fulfilled every jot and tittle. Yet He did not escape death—He embraced it. He let it pierce Him. And in doing so, He turned its weapon inward. Jesus drained death of its venom.

Death, which once devoured everything, found all its venom spent in the Lamb of God, who by its sting took away the sin of the world (John 1:29), which includes all your sins; and then Death found itself devoured by the Lion of Judah (Revelation 5:5). The grave, which swallowed countless sons of Adam, was forced to yield to the Son of God, the second Adam (1 Corinthians 15:45). Sin, which damned us, was itself damned upon the tree. And the Law, which condemned us, was fulfilled in perfect obedience by the One who died in our place. So now, the Gospel finishes what the Law cannot do, “but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23b).

This is why we can mock death, for it no longer holds the last word. Not because it no longer comes, but because it no longer conquers. The grave may still claim our bodies, but it cannot keep them. Your tears may still fall, but they will not last forever (Revelation 21:4). Christ is our great Thief—He robbed Death of its victory, not by avoidance, but by invasion. He went into the belly of the beast in His death and burst through its bowels in His resurrection.

And so, when we stand at the graveside, when we feel the ache that will not be soothed by time alone, we do not need to pretend the pain is small. It is real, sharp, and bitter; but it is not final. Death still wounds, but it cannot claim us. It can still steal our breath, but it cannot steal our inheritance of eternal life. It can still separate us from those we love, but it cannot separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:31-39).

The hurt remains… for now. But the venom is gone. The bite cannot infect. The wound cannot destroy. Death is now a gardener, planting our bodies in the hope of the resurrection that is to come. It is a hallway, no longer a prison; and it is a slumber, not an end.

So, we grieve, but not as those who have no hope (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18). We sorrow, but not as those who are condemned. We die, only to rise again. “I am the resurrection and the life,” Jesus says. “He who believes in Me, though He may die, he shall live” (John 11:25).

The pain of death is not a contradiction to Christ’s victory; it is the echo of a war already won. It is the bruise left behind by a defeated foe, and it is fleeting. The trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised incorruptible, and what is mortal will put on immortality (1 Corinthians 15:51-54).

For now, the question is answered by faith; on the Last Day, it will be answered by sight. The tear-streaked eyes will behold the Lamb who was slain and now lives forever. Every grave will open its mouth and spit out the dead, and every saint will rise in glory. We shall say with hearts no longer heavy and voices no longer choked, “O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?” Because, finally, the answer will ring across eternity: “Swallowed up. Death is swallowed up forever in Jesus Christ.”