The Virus in the Blood
Death is a basic fact in the world, a great and awful and universal fact. It ravages night and day round the globe. It is the main thing that most men and women fear and dread. They know that it usually approaches silently and stealthily. They must leave family and friends, businesses and comforts and wealth. Being shut up in the coffin and consigned to the tomb, people dread the thought. Many have wished death to wait a while. But death will not wait a while, not even for philosophers to finish their deliberations.
Paul says, “The sting of death is sin” (1Corinthians 15:56). It is sin that stings unto death. We are all stung by what can be called ‘The virus in the blood’. We cannot arrest the law of sin and death in our bodies. It is only a question of time until the end comes. David, at the close of his life, said, “For we are strangers before thee, and sojourners, as were all our fathers” (1Chronicles 29:15). The Bible tells us, “We all do fade as a leaf” (Isaiah 64:6). “Your fathers, where are they? And the prophets, do they live for ever?” (Zechariah 1:5).
We find the wages of sin in Genesis 3:17. There, at that time, the virus entered the human blood of the first creation- Adam. Let us forget all that has happened since, such as HIV/AIDS, Ebola and all the other literal viruses, this universal virus has been in the human blood since Edenic condemnation. It is a sentence to return to dust. The apostle Paul stresses that by one man’s offence, the virus has spread to all. Never mind the test results for literal viruses such as AIDS, this virus is in the blood of every human being, and all must die.
What a blank it makes in loving hearts. It closes the loving eye, stops the benevolent heart, silences earnest and eloquent tongues, paralyses active limbs and shuts down the thoughtful brain. It robs us of life, it robs us of those we love. Dust to dust- this is death, this is how sin stings. Everybody tests positive in the divine laboratory for this virus.
Medically, people often discriminate against those perceived to be HIV/AIDS positive. There is a stigma, with travel and movement restrictions in many places. But the Bible says that the problem with humanity is not HIV or Ebola, but the sinful nature we possess. We inherited it from Eden. Whether king or queen, president or prime minister, rich or poor, we all test positive for sin. In the divine laboratories, we are all infected.
Advanced research in the medical field and, especially, human reproductive health has seen tremendous discoveries like vaccines to sustain life and postpone death. But the Edenic virus is too deep for doctors’ skills: it is in the constitution. It is the blood: it is deeplyengrained and incurable. All the doctors can do is- nothing. In contrast, the Lord Jesus Christ is the only spiritual physician with the cure of this virus in our bodies. He has promised to fashion us like unto his own glorious body.
Life, life: that is what humanity wantsendless, painless, joyful life. That is what is promised (1 John 5:11-12). Death by Adam: endless life through Christ Jesus. Jesus is the saviour (Acts 4:12). We must be united to that all-saving name. We cannot save ourselves, however hard we try. We are saved entirely by the grace of God (Ephesians 2:8). There is no other way of escape from the sting of sin. Only through the blood of Jesus Christ shall the virus be wiped out from our blood.
“He will swallow up death in victory”. This is a promise partly fulfilled “For he hath swallowed up death in victory” in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is for the completion of the work that we wait. “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as in heaven.” Meanwhile, death reigns and tears flow.
Bro Gordon Ochieng (Madiany, Kenya)
