Perhaps it was when you stood by the graveside of your loved one and saw the coffin poised over the open grave soon to be lowered and covered with the earth. Maybe it was when you went to visit the grave of your father, your mother, brother, husband, or dear friend, and you stood in tears as memories came alive. Or maybe you have walked in old cemeteries, gravestones dating back hundreds of years, people swallowed up in forgetfulness, veterans, children who died in infancy, mothers in childbirth, young girls in an outbreak of cholera, young men in war. But we know something about the grave that unbelief cannot know. The grave has no victory.
Death is swallowed up in victory.
Jesus speaks of the coming hour of resurrection. He speaks of the most momentous, awesome, marvelous moment in history when, at the end of the world, He returns to pass a final judgment. He will stand on the earth and He will speak. And all who are in the graves shall come forth - every grave, every human being since Adam died. Billions of men and women, boys and girls, infants, those whose bodies long ago dissolved into the dust, those consumed by fire, drowned in the sea, or lost in the war - all will hear His voice and come forth to be judged in body and to hear His verdict of life or damnation, Paradise or hell, the joy of Father's house or the lake of fire and brimstone.