But it no longer matters. Death is defeated, and we face death without fear. God says:
1 Corinthians 15:55 O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? 56 The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
I'm aware there are some who disagree. But I'll go with God on this one.
It does still matter because we're not meant to exist in a disembodied form in a spiritual realm. We're meant to be material beings in a material, physical world. Heaven is a "far better" place than this fallen world, but it's not where we're meant to be. The fact that death has lost it's "sting" is just in that knowing that someday, we'll be resurrected on a new Earth, in a new glorified body. Not that our spirit goes to the presence of the Lord currently, not in a way He didn't intend for us to exist, that's not defeating death, that is just part of the process, it's a layover, and to be perfectly honest, that part of the plan sounds kind of boring. Not having a body, just kind of being there waiting for the second coming when you'll get a body again and be able to DO something. Too many Christians I think even extend that existence into eternity thinking that in the new Earth we'll just fall on our faces around the throne singing hymns for all of eternity and while that is an activity specified, I think God is way more creative than that and has way more fun plans than for an eternity sing-a-long. God gives us new bodies to DO things with, and He will have work He wants us to do, and creation is vast, far more than just surrounding a throne. However long we'll have disembodied as spirits will probably have you thirsting to have a body again and do things other than just bask in God's presence, and thank the Lord that He's not that boring to have made humans in His image designed to work and have dominion, and be creative in their own right, just to fall on their faces around His throne singing songs for all eternity like robots, He has specific angels that fulfill that capacity. He made us for more than that. You may counter with "we were made to worship God" and that's true, but with our free will, creativity, and our physical bodies worship takes many forms. Feasts in thanksgiving are done as a means to worship God (and in fact the wedding supper of the lamb is one such feast we'll take part in), Abraham built altars, David
danced as a form of thanksgiving and worship (and by the description of "with all his might", I always think of David doing some pretty acrobatic moves, something not too unlike capoeira or breakdancing, something that shows a lot of strength, power, and finesse), playing musical instruments can also be worship, singing praise is of course one way, as is prostrating yourself, but they're not the only ways, but we'll need bodies to do even just those ways.
So because we still leave our physical bodies, I still see death as in checkmate rather than having been truly beaten yet, the current defeat is that there's the promise that it will be defeated, a surety of it.
