I once read a book entitled "It Happened In Tennessee" and in the book was a story about 74 year old Felix Breazeale (Uncle Bush) of Roane County. In June 1938, he drew national attention. On a hot Sunday afternoon, he attended his own funeral and listened while his eulogy was delivered. People had come from all across the nation for the event and it was hailed as the largest rural gathering ever to have occurred at that time in Tennessee. The highly publicized funeral was scheduled for 2:00 p.m., but by 9:00 a.m. more than a 1,000 had already gathered outside the small wooden Cave Creek Baptist Church, near Kingston.
     As the morning and early afternoon wore on, cars, trucks, and buses continued to arrive, filling every available field and barnyard. By the time the funeral began, an estimated 8,000 had assembled. Cars, double-parked along the narrow dirt road leading to the church created a mammoth traffic jam, delaying the arrival of the funeral procession for 40 minutes. While the state highway patrol worked to clear a path for the procession, stands dispensed cold drinks and sandwiches, as everyone eagerly awaited their first glimpse of the living corpse. The procession finally arrived, led by an undertaker from Loudon, with several press cars following. Then came the hearse, with the "deceased" seated by the driver. In the back rode the black walnut casket that Uncle Bush had built for himself.
     The eager mob surged forward to look and once again the officers worked frantically to clear a way for the pallbearers to carry an empty coffin to its place. Uncle Bush, with his long white beard neatly combed, followed the pallbearers, and sat beside the coffin as the service began. Gospel groups from Knoxville, Kingston, and Chattanooga provided the music. Fred Berry of Knoxville sang a solo. Rev. Charles Jackson, a former pastor, had come from Paris, Illinois to deliver the sermon.
     The whole thing got started years earlier when Uncle Bush had started making his own coffin. He told reporters that "boughten" caskets were cheaply made and he wanted a good one. While he labored over his coffin, he thought of its intended purpose and began to wonder what his funeral service would be like. Soon he was consumed by an intense desire to see that the service was conducted in the right manner and that facts of his life were correctly set out. Local papers heard of his plans and began to publicize them. When people read about the strange event about to take place, they wanted to have a part in it. A Knoxville funeral home took the handmade coffin and lined it. A Knoxville businessman brought him to Knoxville and had him fitted for a suit. Florists from Knoxville, Lenoir City, and Chattanooga donated floral arrangements.
     At the conclusion of the funeral service, Uncle Bush moved among the crowd shaking hands and signing with an X the programs that had been printed for the occasion. After the service he took his homemade coffin home. In the weeks to come, he was in constant demand. He rode in parades, made personal appearances in theaters, and appeared on Ripley's Believe It Or Not radio program. He was also featured in an illustrated article in Life Magazine. On February 9. 1943, about 5 years later, Felix Breazeale died. At his request, only a song and a prayer were used at a simple graveside service and he was laid to rest in his polished, handmade coffin.1
     Now you can plan your own funeral and even attend it like Uncle Bush. But there will come a time when it will be the real thing. As the scriptures tell us, "It is appointed unto man once to die" (Heb. 9:27). We can mock death but sooner or later we will meet death. I think of what Job 14:5 says: "Seeing his days are determined, the number of his months are with thee, thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass." Our days are determined by God. The numbers of our months are known by God. And furthermore, God has set the boundaries of life that cannot be passed. There is a boundary in our future that signals the end of life. To put it simply, we all face an appointment with death.
     For several studies we have been in the great resurrection chapter (I Cor. 15). Paul has been reminding us that in the future the believer awaits a bodily resurrection from the dead. Yet, Paul reminded us in verse 36, that before there can be a resurrection from the dead, there must first come death. We read, "Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die." The word "die" that Paul uses literally means, "to die off." The ideal is that we are even at this moment in a process of dying. Herbert Lockyer wrote, "As soon as we leave the cradle we commence our funeral march to the grave."2
     Bishop Hall writes, "Death borders upon our birth and cradle stands in the grave." Francis Quarles expressed it thus, "He that begins to live begins to die." A German proverb reads, "Man begins to die before he is born."3
     Someone has well said, "There is no sure thing in life, but death." I think of Stirling's sentence in Doomsday, "That fatal sergeant, Death, spares no degree." Another has written, "This world's a city, full of straying streets, and Death's the market place, where each one meets."
     Death may come in a slow way. It may be through a long and prolonged sickness that death comes to some of us. Death may come in a sudden way. For some, we may meet death in an unexpected moment and without warning. Death may come in a strange way. Aeschylus was killed by the fall of a turtle on his head, dropped from the claws of a bald eagle. Margutte died of laughter on seeing a monkey try to pull on a pair of boots. Fabius the Roman Praetor was choked to death by a single goat hair in the milk he was drinking. William III died from his horse stumbling over a molehill. Death may come in a slow way, a sudden way, or even a strange way, but sooner or later death will come.
     Death is as I Corinthians 15:26 describes, an enemy. It has been the enemy of every family. It has taken our loved ones and broken all our family circles. It has been the enemy to many a husband and wife, parents and children, brothers and sisters, and friends. It has invaded all relationships of life and torn them apart. It has been without prejudice and shown no mercy to any of us.
     But in the final verses of chapter 15 Paul tells us death has its day coming. There is a D-Day and a Waterloo for death. All of us can look death straight in the eye and say, "Death - your day is coming!" Lets notice verses 51-57 and notice how Paul tells death has its day coming. I point out 2 things in our text. Paul says, "Death your day is coming because:"

     1. YOUR RIGHT OVER HUMANITY WILL BE CANCELLED

     Paul begins verse 51 by saying, "Behold, I show you a mystery…" I have long been a lover and reader of mystery stories but when Paul spoke of a mystery he was not speaking of solving the murder on the Orient Express or finding out who killed Roger Ackroyd. The word "mystery" speaks of that which has been hidden in the past but is now revealed by God.
     What is it that had been hidden in the past but was now divinely revealed? Notice:

     A. THERE IS AN EXEMPTION FROM DEATH

     We read in Romans 5:12 that "death passed upon all men." All men, everyone, was placed under the sentence of death. Death was part of the penalty of sin and since all men are sinners, then all were sentenced to die. But Paul tells us there is an exemption to this sentence. He says in verse 51, "We shall not all sleep." In other words, he says that not everyone is going to die. There are those who will not experience death.
     Who are these that will not have to die? We find as we read the Word of God that it is the believers that are living when Jesus comes again. We read in I Thessalonians 4:17, "Then we which are alive and remain (those that are living when Jesus comes) shall be caught up…" Instead of dying "we shall all be changed" (I Cor. 15:51). Paul has already described the wonderful change that will take place at the resurrection of the body, but he now reveals that some will experience the same change without dying.
     Paul is saying, "Death, your day is coming. Your right over all humanity will one day be cancelled. You have had the right to take everyone that has lived in ages past, but the day is coming when there will be those you cannot touch or claim."
     There have only been 2 people who ever lived that death lost the right to claim. That was Enoch and Elijah. The Bible says of Enoch that he was "translated that he should not see death" (Heb. 11:5). The Bible says of Elijah that he "went up by a whirlwind into heaven" (II Kings 2:11). But, glory to God, there is coming a day when a whole crowd will not see death. Like Enoch they will be translated and like Elijah they will be carried up into heaven. It is very possible that some of us in this place will be among that crowd.

     B. THERE IS AN ESCAPE FROM DEATH

     Paul tells us that instead of dying there are those that will escape death. How will they escape death? He tells us in the latter part of verse 52, "the dead shall be raised" and the living "shall be changed." Again, he is talking about the hour when Jesus comes again. When He comes the dead are going to be resurrected, their bodies raised from the grave, and will come forth in glorified bodies. As for those who are living, there is no resurrection for they have not died. For them it will be a rapture. They will be changed and caught up.
     How will this rapture and change take place? Paul tells us in verse 21 that it will happen in "a moment." We get our "atom" from the word translated "moment." The word speaks of that which cannot be cut or divided. In Paul's time the word represented in reference to time, the smallest fraction conceivable. Paul is telling us that when Jesus comes those that are living, as well as the dead, are going to be changed, raised up and caught up, and it will happen so fast it is almost beyond our ability to measure.
     It will happen so fast that it not only unimaginable, but also unobservable. Paul tells us that it will happen "in the twinkling of an eye" (Vs.52). It is not necessarily at the blink of an eye but the twinkling of an eye. The phrase speaks of the time to cast a glance. The time that is takes to cast a glance is almost unobservable. You can be standing in front of someone and they not even notice that you have glanced to the right or left. He is talking about something that is going to happen and happen so fast that at one second we are here and the before the next second we are gone.
     Then he used a statement that blesses my heart. Paul says that this escape from death will occur "at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound." Trumpets have a large place in the activities of the Bible. In the Old Testament trumpets were used to call the congregation together, to announce the journeying of the camps, and as an alarm or notification. Trumpets were also blown during Israel's feasts and over their sacrifices in the beginning of their months.
     It is not surprising that Jesus will use the trumpet to announce His coming. We read in 1 Thessalonians 4:16, "For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God." The phrase "the last trump" was a Roman military term. One trumpet sound was a signal to the soldiers to pack up and strike their tents. Another trumpet sound signaled them to line up. Then a third trumpet sound, or the last trump, signaled to pull out and march. One of these glorious days we will hear the last trump and it will say to every believer "It's pulling out time!" Instead of dying, we will escape death. Instead of an appointment with the grave it will be an arrival in glory.
     Death has had the right to lay claim on everyone for centuries of time but one of these days that right will be cancelled. There will be those that will not have to die! Paul says, "Death, your right over humanity will be cancelled!"
     He also says, "Death, your day is coming because:

     2. YOUR RULE OVER HUMANITY WILL BE CONQUERED

     Death has not only had the rights to every human being but from since the beginning of time has ruled over the human race, sitting as the eventual victor for every person. But Paul says, "Death, your day is coming when your rule will be conquered." Beginning in verse 53 it is almost like Paul is taunting death. He taunts death with:

     A. A PROPHETIC WORD

     We read in verses 53-54, "For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. [54] So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, 'Death is swallowed up in victory'". Paul explains that something must happen before the believer can live in heaven and in the presence of God. The change he has mentioned has to occur. Our corruptible and mortal bodies must put on incorruption and immortality.
     When that change takes place then will be fulfilled the prophecy, 'Death is swallowed up in victory'. The prophecy Paul refers to is found in Isaiah 25:8: "He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth, for the Lord hath spoken it." It is like Paul is saying, "Death, you have ruled over the human race, making all bow ultimately to your demands. But Death, your day is coming, for one day you will be swallowed up and vanquished in triumphant victory."
     I can almost see Paul sticking out his tongue at death, taunting death and reminding death that for centuries it has limited the days of man on the earth, but that its days are numbered. Death has been the conquering one for the ages, but one day death will be the conquered one.
     We also hear Paul taunting death with:

     B. A PERSONAL WORD

     In verse 55 we hear Paul chanting, taunting death by saying, "O Death, where is your sting? O grave, where is your victory?" The word "sting" is descriptive of a bee's stinger. Paul was taunting death saying, "Hey old boy, one day you are going to get your stinger pulled out." I can see Paul as he looks down at a grave and says, "Grave, you have claimed us all, held us all, but one day, old boy, you are going to get the whipping of your life."
     Do you remember when you were kids playing on the school playground and the times you and your friends made fun of someone. You would go, "Na, na, na, na, na, na." I can hear Paul doing the same with death. "Death, your day is coming!"
     We read in verse 56, "The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law." Paul reminds us why death even exists. First he reminds us that the sting of death is sin. Sin is the reason people die. Death gets its sting from the reality that we are sinners. Secondly, the strength of sin is the law. It is the law that reveals that we are sin. Sin is revealed and proven by the law.
     But Paul adds in verse 57, "But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." With one final word to taunt death, Paul says, "Death, you have had certain rights and have ruled through the ages because of sin, but Someone has taken care of that problem and He has conquered both sin and death. Death, just in case you think you are still the big boy on the block, I want you to know that Jesus Christ has won the victory for me and everyone who puts their trust in Him. Death, your day is coming!"
     Someone has written: "There is a preacher of the old school but he speaks as boldly as ever. He is not popular, though the world is his parish and he travels every part of the globe and speaks in every language. He visits the poor, calls upon the rich, preaches to people of every religion, and the subject of his sermon is always the same. He is an eloquent preacher, often stirring feelings which no other preacher could, and bringing tears to eyes that never weep. His arguments none are able to refute, nor is there any heart that has remained unmoved by the force of his appeals. He shatters life with his message. Most people hate him; everyone fears him. His name? Death. Every tombstone is his pulpit, every newspaper prints his text, and someday every one of you will be his sermon."
     Thank God I can say, by the authority of God's word, "Death, your preaching days are numbered. Death, your day is coming!"

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1. "It Happened In Tennessee," by James Ewing, Rutledge Hill Press, 1986, pp. 115-118
2. "Last Words of Saints & Sinners," Kregel Publications, 1969, p. 9
3. "Ibid." p. 94. Quoted by John Macarthur in "The Macarthur New Testament Commentary - I Corinthians," Moody Press, 1984, pp. 441-442

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