Out of Death and Into Life!

2 Chronicles 17; Zechariah 2; John 5; Revelation 6

Concentration is difficult. The world is in a mess, or at least the news says it is. A well-known pastor says it is ripe for the antichrist. While many have great hope in new leadership, history shows that human leaders are flawed and very soon the people who elect them are again dissatisfied. Personally, I’m grieving the losses. We are in lockdown here. Everything but essential services are closed. Our church went back to online only. Our family cannot join us for Christmas dinner. Even worse, we wait for confirmation but it seems our great-nephew has died. My heart struggles to see what I know is there; that God loves us and He never makes mistakes.

Jesus illustrates the fact of “the big picture” in the plan of God by telling the religious people of His day that this plan started a long time ago. They missed it because from the beginning, they refused to rely on the Lord and instead trusted their “own way” no matter how many times their efforts got them in trouble.

Like that description of insanity, sin also is about doing the same thing over and over thinking the results will be different. In the case of the religious Jews, Jesus said to them:

You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life. I do not receive glory from people. But I know that you do not have the love of God within you. I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not receive me. If another comes in his own name, you will receive him. How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God? Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you: Moses, on whom you have set your hope. For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?” (John 5:39–47)

There are days when the reality of unbelief and the consequences of sin get me depressed. I can repent for myself but cannot change the hearts of those bent on doing their own thing to their destruction. This is not to say that the people of God will not die a physical death. However, biblical ‘destruction’ is about separation from God for eternity. Some will die forever because of their determination to reject God’s salvation. Yet others will die physically because they determined to follow Jesus Christ!

When he opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, “Come!” And I looked, and behold, a pale horse! And its rider’s name was Death, and Hades followed him. And they were given authority over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by wild beasts of the earth. When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne. They cried out with a loud voice, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been. (Revelation 6:7–11)

If this life only is the most important thing, then we are all coming to the same end, but as Jesus said, there is more to life than this life:

Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment but has passed from death to life. “Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. (John 5:24–25)

APPLY: Today, this promise from Jesus is my comfort. The young man that we have been fervently praying for has passed, not from life to death, but from death to life. He stands before the throne of God complete and more alive than when he was here. And we will see him again, not just for a short visit but forever and ever.