<p>15:26 <i>The last enemy that shall be abolished is death</i>- &quot;Last&quot; doesn't have to have a chronological reference, as if death is the enemy destroyed at the end of a period. It can simply mean the one great enemy. Just as all forms of power and authority shall be abolished (:24), so shall death. The same words are used in 2 Tim. 1:10 of how the Lord Jesus has right now &quot;abolished death&quot;; for through His death He has &quot;destroyed s.w. 'abolished' the devil which has the power of death&quot; (Heb. 2:14). This is not only a case of 'Now but not yet'. It is the case rather that for those in Christ, death has been abolished by the Lord's death and resurrection; for our hope of conquering death is certain. That hope is to be spread progressively to others, and by the elimination of all who refuse it, there will come &quot;the end&quot; when death shall have been abolished not just for us but for all on this planet.</p><p>As in our own day, literature and thought of Bible times tried to minimize death. Yet in both Old and New Testaments, death is faced for what it is. Job 18:14 calls it &quot;the king of terrors&quot;; Paul speaks of death as the last and greatest enemy (1 Cor. 15:26). Humanity lives all their lives &quot;in fear of death&quot; (Heb. 2:17). Facing death for what it is imparts a seriousness and intensity to human life and endeavour, keeps our sense of responsibility to God paramount, and the correct functioning of conscience all important. We see this in people facing death; but those who've grasped Bible truth about death ought to live like this all the time, rejoicing too that we have been delivered from it.</p>