Death is not our friend.
It steals away those we love. It ends life too soon and causes immeasurable hurt and despair.
But the worst thing about death is that it’s something we cannot stop. It is inevitable.
“The future (death) is something everyone reaches at the rate of 60 minutes per hour, whatever he does, whoever he is.” – C.S. Lewis
Death is inevitable. We cannot stop it. We cannot avoid it. Our lives are short, and death is near. We will all soon face our own death.
But, as you know, there is a solution to this brokenness. There is hope. There is good news.
God is rich in mercy, and because of His great love, He has acted on our behalf. God became one of us and entered in to our brokenness in order to fix our problem of sin.
Jesus absorbed death in our place so that even though we die, we will yet live forever.
How is that possible? What does that look like? How is it that we will yet live even though we die?
Well, to make a long story short, it looks like…resurrection.
One day, at the return of Christ, those in Christ will be raised back to life. They will live forever with a living, breathing, physical body.
We will live with God on the newly refined and remade earth, our eternal home, where God dwells, and therefore where heaven is as well.
Have you ever noticed how many times Scripture refers to death as “falling asleep”?
None of us fear falling asleep. We can easily awaken from a nap.
Jesus taught us not to fear death because He can and will awaken us one day.
Recall Jairus, a ruler of the synagogue, who came to Jesus asking that he come heal his 12-year-old daughter. As Jesus made his way to Jairus’ house, he was delayed by a woman who grabbed hold of his cloak so that she could be healed from her bleeding.
By the time he got to Jairus’ house, his daughter had died. Someone from Jairus’ house came out and said, “Your daughter is dead; do not trouble the Teacher any more.”
Do you remember what Jesus said? He said, “Do not weep, for she is not dead but sleeping.” And they laughed at him, knowing that she was dead.
Do you see? To Jesus, the almighty creator and sustainer of life, death can be reversed as easily as waking someone from a nap.
He demonstrated this that day for Jairus’ daughter. He demonstrated it again at his own resurrection. And he will demonstrate His power over death in the future at the resurrection of our bodies as well.
The Day will come when there will be a sudden, personal, visible, audible, bodily return of Jesus Christ, and when Jesus returns, He will raise to life all those who are in Christ, and they will reign forever with Him on the new earth.
Those who are in Christ look forward to this day, when their spirit is reunited with their body.
God will be victorious over Satan and all evil, and will establish His perfect kingdom in a new heaven and a new earth. God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit will reign and will be worshipped in a never-ending kingdom with no more sin, sorrow, suffering, and yes, no more death!
I long for this day. I long for the day of resurrection. I long for the day when we will be restored and will live forever on the new earth with our King, our Creator, our Redeemer.