JESUS:“I AM THE RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE.”

John 11: 25-26  

Jesus said to her,
 “I am the resurrection and the life.
Whoever believes in me, though he die,
yet shall he live,  and everyone who lives
and believes in me shall never die.
Do you believe this?”

 

For almost all of us, as we closely watch the dying of a loved one—there is a pain, there is an aching emptiness, there is an ugliness to the whole process. We find ourselves questioning almost everything—even God Himself. We often find ourselves weeping, both inside and out. But in the Scripture above, our beloved Savior who wept at Lazarus’ tomb, declared Himself as the Resurrection and the Life—and then proved it by raising back to life His dear friend. I believe this was a living parable in which Jesus chose to remind us how deeply He understands and empathizes with our suffering—and delivers us by this truth: He is our guaranteed resurrection. Praise the Lord. Throughout Scripture He reminds us time after time how He really is hope in the face of the ugliness of death.

Yet when we spend nights and days by the sick bed of one we deeply love and admire, we need His assurance again and again, and His Word is filled, even in the most challenging of books, overflowing with His undeniable power of sin and death. Even Job, in the midst of his horrible suffering proclaims his conviction that God is His absolute home.

Job 19: 25-27

For I know that my Redeemer lives,
and at the last he will stand upon the earth.
And after my skin has been thus destroyed,
 yet in my flesh I shall see God,
whom I shall see for myself,
  and my eyes shall behold, and not another.

 

Already in his early years David faced grave danger as he guarded his sheep from great dangers, even lions and bears; yet He found in the person of His Good God and Shepherd, deliverance in the face of death. We can depend on Jesus, our Good Shepherd, as the eternal Victor over the very reality of death.

Psalm 23:4

Even though I walk through the valley
of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.

In fact, Jesus, as He spoke to Nicodemus, promised all of those who came to believe in Him, would not ultimately die, but would have eternal life. As believers in Him, we can know that we will live in His Presence forever.

 

John 3:16

“For God so loved the world,
that he gave his only Son,
that whoever believes in him
should not perish but have eternal life.

Because Jesus and God are one, and since God has given us to Jesus, no one can snatch eternal life from us—no one can snatch us from the eternal grip of Jesus’ strong hands. We are His, and we shall remain eternally His.

 

John 10:28-30

“I give them eternal life, and they will never perish,
and no one will snatch them out of my hand.
My Father, who has given them to me,
is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.
I and the Father are one.”

 

Late in life David, as he reflected on God’s Provision and Protection, prays for his Guidance into His Way everlasting. He recognizes, as should we, how our eternity with God is in His Good Hands, and as we put our trust in following Him, we can depend on Him.

 

Psalm 139: 23-24

Search me, O God, and know my heart!
Try me and know my thoughts!
And see if there be any grievous way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting!

Here is the Good News: The free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Eternal life is not earned; it is given to us by grace through the life, death, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Praise be to God!

Romans 6:23

For the wages of sin is death,
but the free gift of God is eternal life
in Christ Jesus our Lord.

These past weeks I have witnessed and experienced deep moments and even days of suffering. I have witnessed the coming of physical death in all of its finality. But, praise God, I know deep in my heart, how true these words are—God is bringing us to glory which will wipe away all of the pain of that suffering—in one glorious instant. 

 

Romans 8:18

For I consider that the sufferings
of this present time are not worth comparing
with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

The more God gets ahold of me as I surrender to Him, the more I understand His heart for me and His desire for me to turn to Him and so, find life and healing eternal. I depend on Him more and more, and He holds me more tightly in the embrace of His loving arms.

Ezekiel 18:32

For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone,
declares the Lord God;
so turn, and live.”

Death seems to be life’s worst sting because I cannot in my fallen human nature keep myself from sin. But then, I join the Apostle Paul in giving thanks to God because He gives me victory through my Lord Jesus Christ

1 Corinthians 15:56-57

The sting of death is sin,
and the power of sin is the law.
But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory
through our Lord Jesus Christ.

 

So, God remains faithful to His Word, of course. He has overcome death. Though we briefly suffer here from the pangs of losing those we love to death, we know His Victory is sure, and death will be no more. Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!