day no. 15,563: out of the eater, something to eat

"Boys, when they see a bear, a lion, or a wolf dead in the street will pull off their hair, insult over them, and deal with them as they please; they will trample upon their bodies, and do that unto them being dead, which they durst not in the least venture upon whilst they are alive. Such a thing is Death, a furious beast, a ramping lion, a devouring wolf, the hellus generis humani (eater up of mankind). Yet Christ has laid him at his length, hath been death of death, so that God's children have played upon him, scorned and derided him, by the faith they had in the life of Christ, who hath subdued him." -- Martin Day as quoted in The Shadow of the Broad Brim by Richard E. Day

Because death is dead, God's children are free to mock it. We are free to treat it in a way that we never would if it were a living thing. But death is dead. It is lying in the street, unable to bite, unable to sting, unable to bind, unable to move and unable to rise ever again.

Because Jesus rose, death stays down.
Because Jesus forever lives, death is forever dead.
Because Jesus is omnipotent, death is impotent.
Because Jesus holds the keys to Hades, death's door remains unlocked.
Because Jesus reigns, we do not fear, but leer at death.

If death was previously the eater up of all mankind, it is now the final course in the feast at the wedding supper of the Lamb.

Judges 14:14
Out of the eater, something to eat;
out of the strong, something sweet.

Love is as strong as death, but it's sweeter.

Song of Songs 8:6
Set me as a seal upon thine heart,
as a seal upon thine arm:
for love is strong as death

Because love has won, death is done and all of God's children do well to defy it.

1 Corinthians 15:51-58
Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:

“Death is swallowed up in victory.”
“O death, where is your victory?
 O death, where is your sting?”

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.