Jack Gutknecht ABC/DTS graduate, guitar music ministry Baptist church

I went to Kiva Elementary School in Scottsdale, Arizona for 6th-8th grades, and my sister (Judy) went for 5th-8th grades in the late ’50s or early ’60s. I remember once a low-flying swarm of bees that flew through our playground one afternoon. I think it was the last period of the day when we had our Physical Education class. Thus lots of kids were outside on the playground and suddenly and without warning, myriads of bees flew through about shoulder height, and we all had to duck, even hitting the deck, or be hit with the swarm. I remember the blood-curdling scream, "Hit the deck!" Did I yell this? The bees were going across to an orange grove located on the other side of the playground. Otherwise, all of us would have been STUNG but good! People have died by being stung by a swarm of killer bees.

According to Warren Wiersbe's Index of Biblical Images, “Sting” symbolizes “sin” (1 Corinthians 15:55) -- “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?” 
--
King James Version (KJV), and it can also symbolize “rebuke” (Ezekiel 5:15). 
Ezekiel 5:15 New International Version (NIV).

15 "You will be a reproach and a taunt, a warning and an object of horror to the nations around you when I inflict punishment on you in anger and in wrath and with stinging rebuke. I the Lord have spoken."

NIRV
"You will be put to shame. The nations will make fun of you. You will serve as a warning to others. They will be shocked when they see you. So I will punish you because I am very angry with you. You will feel the sting of my warning. I have spoken. I am the Lord."

That’s it. 
1 Corinthians 15:56 "The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law."

Bee Sting of Death Illustration:
MM. R. DeHaan, M.D.recalls "While walking in the field one day with my two young sons, a bee from one of my hives made a beeline for the elder boy and stung him just above the eye. He quickly brushed it away and threw himself in the grass, kicking and screaming for help. The bee went straight for the younger son and began buzzing around his head. The next thing I knew he too was lying in the grass, yelling at the top of his lungs. But I picked him up and told him to stop crying. “That bee is harmless,” I assured him. “It can’t hurt you. It has lost its sting.” I took the frightened lad over to his elder brother, showed him the little black stinger in his brow, and said, “The bee can still scare you, but it is powerless to hurt you. Your brother took the sting away by being stung.” Then I explained 1 Corinthians 15:56 by telling them that the sting of death is sin. But our Elder Brother the Lord Jesus hung on the cross and took the sting out of death by dying in our place. Since the law demands satisfaction only once, death is powerless to hurt us if we accept the work of Christ on our behalf. The unbeliever is filled with fear because he must face God with his sin. But for us, death’s sting is gone; it was left in Jesus. Death may still buzz around and scare us at times, but it can no longer harm us."

April 05 2019 • 2 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report