The experience of overcoming death is not rare among the saints. By the blood of the lamb, the Israelites were delivered from the hand of the angel who smote the firstborn of Egypt. David was delivered from the paws of the lion and the bear and also from the hand of Goliath. Elisha once cast meal into a pot to get rid of a fatal poison (2 Kings 4:38-41). Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego were not hurt in the burning fiery furnace (Dan. 3:16-27). Daniel saw God shutting the lions' mouth when he was cast into their den (6:21-23). Paul once shook off a viper into the fire without being hurt (Acts 28:3-5). Enoch and Elijah were both raptured into heaven without tasting death—even more excellent examples of overcoming death.
God's intention is to lead His children into the experience of overcoming death. To overcome sin, the self, the world, and Satan is very crucial; but our victory still is not complete if we fail to overcome death. If we want to have a complete victory, we must overcome "death, the last enemy" (1 Cor. 15:26). We leave one enemy undefeated if we do not experience overcoming death.
There is death in the natural world, death within us, and death that originates from Satan. The earth is under a curse, and every creature is under the ruling of this curse. If we want to live with constant victory in this world, we have to overcome the death in this world. Moreover, death is in our body. On the day we were born, death was already operating in us. And who among us, having been born, is not now going toward the grave? We should not think of death merely as a "gate"; we should know that death is a process. Death is already in us, and it is gradually and continually eating us up. The final breaking away from our physical body is simply the work of death at its climax. Death can attack our spirit to make it short of life and power; it can attack our soul to make it confused and devoid of feeling, thought, and opinion; or it can attack our body to make it weak and sick.
Romans 5 says that "death reigned" (v. 17a). This is not only death; it is the reign of death. This reigning of death exists in the spirit, soul, and body. Although our body is not dead yet, death already reigns in it. Although the power of death has not reached its climax, it is already reigning and expanding its territory in the entire body. The various sicknesses that we find in our body show how much the power of death is in us. All of these lead us to the end of our human life.
In addition to this reign of death, there is also the reign of life (v. 17b). The apostle said that whosoever receives the gift of righteousness by Jesus Christ "will reign in life," a reigning that far surpasses the power of the operation of death. Because believers today put so much emphasis on the matter of sin, they forget the problem of death. Overcoming sin is crucial, but we must not neglect the overcoming of death—the two complement each another. Romans 5 through 8 deals most clearly with the matter of overcoming sin, but this passage gives equal attention to the matter of overcoming death: "The wages of sin is death" (6:23). The apostle stresses not only sin itself but also the result of sin. He not only shows that righteousness is versus sin but also that life is versus death. Many believers concern themselves only with overcoming various manifestations of sin in their daily life and character, yet they neglect overcoming death, which is the result of sin. But God does not say much through the apostle in these chapters regarding the various manifestations of sin in daily living; He rather stresses very much the result of sin—death.