But thanks be to God! - Part 1

“But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1 Cor 15:57

In literature and film great villians are those who are too big or powerful to defeat; their presence makes for an thrilling adventure.

When I was little I used to love watching the Star Wars films for a couple of reasons. The first was because Darth Vader was a great villain. The most important quality to have as a villain is to be unstoppable; to have such a vast army at your disposal that it is impossible for anyone to imagine your power slipping.

Darth Vader ruled the universe; it was his decision whether planets and galaxies would continue to exist. More than that, the lives of our heroes were in his hands. Most movie villains are small and defeatable; they have limited power and limited influence. There is no genuine threat in that. With Darth Vader his very presence exuded the threat of defeat and destruction. He didn’t have to do anything and you were worried.

Ruth and I met Darth Vader once.
It was the day upon which I proposed to her [and she more or less accepted]. We were in Edinburgh for the day and so was a Star Wars exhibition, so we went along. At one point in the exhibition you are directed into Darth Vader’s chambers. Taking up the once-in-a-life-time opportunity we began walking gingerly around one corner and then the next. With each turn it became darker and darker until we found ourselves facing complete darkness. Unexpectedly our hearts were pounding and then all of a sudden, from behind us, we heard the most chilling of sounds; his unmistakably amplified breathing. We spun round to see his iconicly villainous figure stood there looking down on us. We instinctively backed away [the CCTV footage may claim that we ran].
That was the day that we came face to face with Darth Vader and got engaged.

The other reason I loved watching the films was because somehow our heroes won! And not just won either; this unstoppable villain was transformed and redeemed!

In life we do not celebrate villains in the same way because their power is real and their presence threatening.
Sin, death and guilt are a sinister trio of villains that dance in and out of our lives with chilling effect. We try our best not to even think about them because their power seems overwhelming. We find it hard to even imagine a world without them, but we hope for it [desperately]. However, in Christ we have the ultimate hero; his existence reminds us of our villain’s is defeated - even when it threatens to even overcome our very life, we know we have won!

“But let me tell you something wonderful, a mystery I'll probably never fully understand. We're not all going to die—but we are all going to be changed. You hear a blast to end all blasts from a trumpet, and in the time that you look up and blink your eyes—it's over. On signal from that trumpet from heaven, the dead will be up and out of their graves, beyond the reach of death, never to die again. At the same moment and in the same way, we'll all be changed. In the resurrection scheme of things, this has to happen: everything perishable taken off the shelves and replaced by the imperishable, this mortal replaced by the immortal. Then the saying will come true:
‘Death swallowed by triumphant Life!
Who got the last word, oh, Death?
Oh, Death, who's afraid of you now?’
It was sin that made death so frightening and law-code guilt that gave sin its leverage, its destructive power. But now in a single victorious stroke of Life, all three—sin, guilt, death—are gone, the gift of our Master, Jesus Christ. Thank God!” 1 Cor 15:51-57 (Msg)

Thanks be to God because we live [and perhaps die, but only for a time] in victory!