The Resurrection, The Life, and New Creatures
Resurrection, reanimation, death reversal, revivification. Our fascination with the idea of life after death, as seen in Young Frankenstein (imho the greatest comedy film ever made) and in many other films and shows, is a bizarre and unbelievable concept. Dead is dead, right? To be made alive after being dead is just a romantic notion meant to ease the pain of the bereaved and nothing more. The truth is, the notion that death is the end is relatively new. It was not until after The Enlightenment in the 18th century that people began to cease believing in life after death.
For most of history, people have believed that this life is not the end but, in one sense, only a placeholder as we await the much longer life that comes after this one. Islam has Barzakh, Hinduism has Samsara, Norse Mythology has Valhalla, to name a few. But it’s Christianity which has Jesus, The Way, The Truth, and The Life which contains the only truth on death after life. The Enlightenment replaced the Bible with natural law and set man up as his own god. After all, it’s always more fun to accept the new idea over the old one, even though, as accepted truth, it has served humanity well throughout its history. As from The Garden, it has always fallen to God’s people to understand, publish, and preserve the truth, regardless of how uncool it may be to some people and Christians still hold the concept of death after life to be true. Problem being that in believing in life after death on earth, we give up our claim to be our own god thereby casting off any moral responsibility other than that which makes us feel better about ourselves.
Of course, we have what we call original sin to blame for the trouble. Adam and Eve did not come with an expiration date and were meant to live forever. It was their sin that ushered in the curse of death for all mankind. Fortunately for us, God sent His Son, the Second Adam to be born a man, live a sin-free life, die a horribly tortured death, and, three days later be resurrected from the dead, conquering sin and death forever for us. This historical event is the reason we continue to believe in and place our hope in Jesus. All hail The Conqueror Of Death!
My mother, June, passed away a few years ago. She had a hard life in the wake of my father’s abandonment of our family and struggled to keep us sheltered and fed. Through it all, she was a picture of grace and love.
Many years ago, my father-in-law Roy passed away. My own father abandoned my Mother and siblings when I was 11 years old, leaving a huge gap that Roy largely filled for me. He was a mentor to me and taught me much about business, marriage, and, most importantly, about how to follow Jesus. It’s been tough since his passing but the lessons he taught me are still teaching me.
More recently, my friends Thom and Johnny have passed on and, like my mom and father-in-law, I miss the camaraderie and Christian fellowship we had for so many years.
The longer my own sanctification has continued, re-making me more each day into the image of Jesus, two things increasingly give me great comfort: practicing gratitude for the time I’ve had with my deceased loved ones and by the truth that I will see my Christian family members and friends again in the life that happens after this life. First, in heaven, and after that, on God’s New Earth where we will reign as Kings and Queens with Him, and all our reunions will glorify the Living God as we catch up on all that’s happened since our partings. As I write this, tears of joy are in my eyes and my heart is greatly gladdened as I consider what will be. Our physical bodies will be renewed with no more pain, sickness, or death as we are restored to that which God originally intended for us.