The last enemy that shall be destroyed is
death.
] Not eternal death; for though that is abolished by Christ with
respect to his own people, who shall never be hurt by it, and
over whom it shall have no power; yet the wicked will always be
subject to it, and under the dominion of it: but a corporeal one
is here meant; which is an enemy, the fruit, effect, and wages of
sin; the penalty and curse of the law; is contrary to human
nature, and destructive of the work of God's hands: it is,
indeed, through the blood, righteousness, and sacrifice of
Christ, become the friend of his people; it is disarmed of its
sting, and ceases to be a penal evil; it is the saints' passage
to glory, what frees them from the troubles of this world, and is
their way to the joys of another; but yet in itself is formidable
to nature, and disagreeable to it: and it is the last enemy; it
is so both in its rise and duration; it appeared as an enemy
last; Satan was the first enemy of mankind, who attacked,
tempted, and ruined the first parents of human nature, and all
their posterity in them; and by this means, sin, the next enemy,
came into the world of men; and, last of all, death, with its
numerous train of calamities, either going before, attending, or
following of it: and as it was the last enemy that came into the
world, it is the last that will go out of it; for when the saints
are rid of Satan, and clear of sin, they will remain in the grave
under the power of a corporeal death till the resurrection, and
then that will be "destroyed": for the saints will be raised to
an immortal life, never to die more, and to an enjoyment of
everlasting life, in the utmost glory and happiness; and though
the wicked when they rise, they will rise to damnation, to shame
and contempt, yet their worm will never die, nor their fire be
quenched; they will always live, though in torment, there will be
no more corporeal death, neither among the righteous nor the
wicked; it will be utterly abolished: and thus the apostle,
though he seems to digress from his subject awhile, by relating
the several things which will either immediately or quickly
follow the second coming of Christ; yet at the same time has it
in view, and proves the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead,
which must needs be, or death cannot be said to be destroyed, and
by degrees returns to his subject again.