It wasn’t until I lost my grandparents, and then my husband’s grandparents, over the past four years that the questions began to pulse through my mind with regularity. Since then, all of my “book knowledge” about the Lord has been tested on the stage of real life.
What do I believe about life and death? Where are my grandparents now? Will I see them again? Is mere sentiment and wishful thinking enough to make a place as wonderful as heaven become a reality for me and those I love?
These questions are overwhelming and intimidating, to say the least. Like most burning issues of life, they feel completely out of my league.
Insert the Bible. God’s word to His people. The tangible, concrete, objective thing that bridges the gap between an unseen God and His creation. What a tender, generous, loving gift for God to leave us.
This is what Jesus has to say about what happens when people who believe in Him die:
“I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live.” (John 11:25)
Though we all die, we will live if we believe in Jesus.
Over two thousand years ago God sent His Son out of a perfect heaven to dwell among us. Why on earth would He do such a thing? It’s hard for me to get off the couch to get my child a cup of water and the Son of God left heaven? Why?
Love.
“God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him.” 1 John 4:9
Jesus’ death and resurrection is the chief event in all of history God allowed in order to communicate His love to us.
Satan loves for us to doubt this fact. He wants us to be obliterated by waves of cynicism, skepticism, and unbelief—the same waves that beat against the hearts of so many with relentless regularity. And the tide is rising.
As I write this, things aren’t smooth sailing in our household. Parenting struggles, sickness, and sibling conflict have us feeling cranky and out of sync. But do my “issues” change history? Do the things that have happened in my life and things that will happen have the power to change God’s love for me?
The Holy Spirit of God combats the lies of the enemy and reminds me, “No!” The events of my life do not change God’s love for me.
The greatest act of love in all of history has already happened. Let me hinge my life on that.
So what happened on that cross anyway?
Because God is just, sin angers Him and must be punished. We reflect this same sense of justice because we are made in God’s image. Someone cuts us off in traffic and we get ticked. They aren’t supposed to do that! Where’s the cop to give them a ticket like they deserve? The only reason we aren’t entitled to this anger is because we aren’t holy like God. We, too, cut people off in traffic. It’s a dangerous thing to want justice because we have it coming to us just the same as the next guy.
So what then? Is God just going to sweep everyone’s sin under the rug with one fell swoop so we can all go to heaven? That would turn God into a glorified pushover, a far cry from “Holy, holy, holy”.
No. God punished our sin on the cross and pardons those who receive His gift by faith.
Just days before Jesus’ death, He was transfigured in the presence of His disciples. His face shone and the glory of the Lord was seen about Him. Then, God the Father spoke from heaven and declared, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!” (Matthew 17:5)
In all of God’s wisdom, He knew the disciples would need this reminder when they beheld their leader dying on a tree. We too, would do well to remember that when bad things happen to us it doesn’t mean God doesn’t love us.
“Why?” the disciples must have moaned in their hearts. “Why won’t you come down and show everyone what we saw? Show them your glory, Jesus! Pleeeaaase come down. Don’t leave us!”
But Jesus didn’t come down. He refrained from using His miracle-working power that would have silenced the scoffers. Jesus stayed on the cross because He needed to absorb the full wrath of God.
“Out of my presence!” is the justified scourging of a holy God. Out of God’s presence went Jesus for me. On the cross Jesus cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken Me? (Matthew 27:46) The greatest exchange in all of history was happening. Jesus took my sins and bore my punishment, so I could receive His righteousness and gain eternal life. Can you fathom such a love?
From cradle to grave, Jesus never sinned. He willingly put on flesh when He came to this earth and perfectly relied on His Father to help Him deny that same flesh each time temptation came His way. The astonishing thing about the Gospel is that Jesus’ righteousness is reckoned to my account when I put my trust in Him. In Christ, my white-knuckled pride which screams, “I must be perfect” becomes a white flag of surrender that reads, “Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!”
What is more, when Jesus denied Himself unto death, He left me an example to follow. Jesus said, “And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave—just as the Son of Man
did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” (Matthew 20:28)
Jesus extends to me words of life and my flesh wants to argue. Daily. I am prone to scoff in my misguided feelings of self-importance and declare, “Not me! I’m not going to be a slave!”
But God’s grace is stronger and the Holy Spirit is real. Oh, the love of God that He didn’t leave us as orphans when Jesus ascended to heaven. The Holy Spirit is my Helper who daily helps me die.
Surprisingly, in my dying I find life. Death could not hold Jesus and neither will it hold His people who lay hold of Him by faith. Whatever it is that dies—be it my dreams, my comfort, my image, or my very life—I can rest assured that what God resurrects will be for my good and His glory. The empty tomb is proof of that.
“My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20)
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