This time of year, everything is growing. Fast! The lawn is trying to get ahead of me again, and the weeds are growing faster than the veggies in the garden. God created the spring of the year, I think, to give us hope not only of physical life and health from eating the great foods that are available to us right now, but to remind us of the new life, a forever-life, that he has prepared for us through his Son, whom we know as Jesus.
We also face death in this physical life today. Just last week, one of my friends lost his mother to suicide, a sad and regrettable result of hopelessness. My mom died 36 years ago, and I still miss her. Death came into the world, according to Genesis 3, because of humanity's rebellion against God; our first parents didn't fully believe that God was providing completely for them, so they listened to a talking snake instead (how much sense does THAT make??). Death, in this physical world, is the ultimate result of the choices we've all made, and it's the end of the line as far as we can tell with our five senses; but God has promised us more.
John 3:16 says "For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life." Jesus says further in John's gospel, in chapter 5, "I tell you the truth, those who listen to my message and believe in God who sent me have eternal life. They will never be condemned for their sins, but they have already passed from death into life" (verse 24). Whoa, "already passed"? What's up with that? The next few verses explain that the "new life" starts with belief, but is made full at a future resurrection: "And I assure you that the time is coming, indeed it’s here now, when the dead will hear my voice—the voice of the Son of God. And those who listen will live...Don’t be so surprised! Indeed, the time is coming when all the dead in their graves will hear the voice of God’s Son, and they will rise again" (vs 25, 28). Why is it already true? Because "The Father has life in himself, and he has granted that same life-giving power to his Son" (v. 26) and those who chose then -- and choose now -- to believe in Jesus, are already living in that new kind of life, the life that will last forever.
So why the future resurrection? So that everything will finally be set right -- back the way it was before that first rebellion, and in fact even better. The Bible ends the same way it begins: in a garden. "Then the angel showed me a river with the water of life, clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb. It flowed down the center of the main street. On each side of the river grew a tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, with a fresh crop each month. The leaves were used for medicine to heal the nations. No longer will there be a curse upon anything" (Rev. 22:1-3) And all the hurt will be gone from this new life: “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them. He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever." (Rev. 21:3-4). Human bodies will be changed to eternal, glorified bodies with no more aches and pains: "Our earthly bodies are planted in the ground when we die, but they will be raised to live forever. Our bodies are buried in brokenness, but they will be raised in glory. They are buried in weakness, but they will be raised in strength. They are buried as natural human bodies, but they will be raised as spiritual bodies...It will happen in a moment, in the blink of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown. For when the trumpet sounds, those who have died will be raised to live forever. And we who are living will also be transformed. For our dying bodies must be transformed into bodies that will never die; our mortal bodies must be transformed into immortal bodies." (1 Cor. 15:42-53).
I'm looking forward to that for a lot of reasons. Are you?
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