Hope

Last Saturday I stood in an old cemetery in Dunmore, PA where I was leading a graveside burial service, I was surrounded by hundreds of monuments, some dating back more than a century.  I spoke the familiar words - “we commit her body to the earth in the in the certain hope of the Resurrection through the grace and mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, ashes to ashes and dust to dust.” 

On the drive home, I thought back to Friday evening when I was called to pray with a man near the death. I stood in the presence of grief with his family, anointing him with oil, confronted with the ugly reality of dying.  In prayer, I invited the angels to lead him through the ‘valley of the shadow of death’ to his home with the Lord.  The grim darkness of the cemetery, the heavy sorrow in the room of that dying man, starkly contrasted with the joy of Resurrection Sunday worship a few days previous when we sang - “Christ, the Lord, is risen today, Alleluia!”

Death seems an implacable enemy, doesn’t it? We ignore aging, move quickly through the rituals of mourning, and too often attempt to smother the grief that comes after the loss. We may ask questions of our faith, wondering if our hope is real. Those stones with names etched on them, the grimness of a vigil at the bedside of the dying, can make the promise of life eternal hard to grasp.

Yet, I do have hope and so can you! "But the fact is that Christ has been raised from the dead. He has become the first of a great harvest of those who will be raised to life again. So you see, just as death came into the world through a man, Adam, now the resurrection from the dead has begun through another man, Christ." (1 Corinthians 15:20-21, NLT)   That whole passage invites us to faith.  Paul reminds us that the Resurrection is based on solid witness testimony. "I passed on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me—that Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said. He was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day, as the Scriptures said. He was seen by Peter and then by the twelve apostles. After that, he was seen by more than five hundred of his followers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died by now. Then he was seen by James and later by all the apostles." (1 Corinthians 15:3-7, NLT)

But what of those graves filled with bones of those now long dead, we might ask? 

There will come a time when God will call them from the grave, when He will miraculously and mysteriously give those who now live in His Presence, new bodies, eternal bodies, imperishable bodies.  The bodies long decayed into dust will somehow be raised, but new and beyond the death of mortality.  "It is the same way for the resurrection of the dead. Our earthly bodies, which die and decay, will be different when they are resurrected, for they will never die. Our bodies now disappoint us, but when they are raised, they will be full of glory. They are weak now, but when they are raised, they will be full of power. They are natural human bodies now, but when they are raised, they will be spiritual bodies. For just as there are natural bodies, so also there are spiritual bodies." (1 Corinthians 15:42-44, NLT)

Those who have left us do exist in the Presence of God even now.  We are told that "when this earthly tent we live in is taken down—when we die and leave these bodies—we will have a home in heaven, an eternal body made for us by God himself and not by human hands. … we will not be spirits without bodies, but we will put on new heavenly bodies. … God himself has prepared us for this, and as a guarantee he has given us his Holy Spirit. So we are always confident, even though we know that as long as we live in these bodies we are not at home with the Lord. That is why we live by believing and not by seeing. Yes, we are fully confident, and we would rather be away from these bodies, for then we will be at home with the Lord." (2 Corinthians 5:1-8, NLT)  Those who die slip beyond our reach but they remain ‘alive’ in God’s Presence awaiting that moment of final Resurrection, the end of this old earth and the expectation of a new creation!

This is our hope, assured by the Resurrection of Jesus, who is the evidence of what is to come. Do we understand it all? No, we do not. By faith we only see the outlines of the Promise. The veil between this world and the next remains impenetrable for us at the moment. So we look to Jesus and we pray, “I do believe, help me overcome my doubts!”

Are you grieving, dear friend? Seek the comfort of Christ Jesus, focused on the promise of Heaven’s home.

Do you live in fear of dying? Hold onto the assurance of the gift of life that is provided freely through Jesus’ grace, purchased by His death at the Cross.

Hope!  We know it, by faith, and find strength to live, though we are indeed now in a mortal body that will surely die!

The word from the Word urges us to the best life, lived in the light of Eternity. Let this truth own your mind and your heart.  "For our perishable earthly bodies must be transformed into heavenly bodies that will never die. When this happens—when our perishable earthly bodies have been transformed into heavenly bodies that will never die—then at last the Scriptures will come true: “Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” For sin is the sting that results in death, and the law gives sin its power. How we thank God, who gives us victory over sin and death through Jesus Christ our Lord! So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and steady, always enthusiastic about the Lord’s work, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless." (1 Corinthians 15:53-58, NLT)   Add your Amen!

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(Video of this blog at this link)

 

Graves Into Gardens

I searched the world but it couldn't fill me

Man's empty praise and treasures that fade

Are never enough

Then You came along and put me back together

And every desire is now satisfied here in Your love

 

Oh there's nothing better than You

There's nothing better than You

Lord there's nothing

Nothing is better than You

 

I'm not afraid to show You my weakness

My failures and flaws

Lord You've seen them all

And You still call me friend

'Cause the God of the mountain

Is the God of the valley

There's not a place

Your mercy and grace won't find me again

 

You turn mourning to dancing

You give beauty for ashes

You turn shame into glory

You're the only one who can

 

You turn graves into gardens

You turn bones into armies

You turn seas into highways

You're the only one who can

 

Brandon Lake | Chris Brown | Steven Furtick | Tiffany Hudson

© 2019 Brandon Lake Music; Maverick City Publishing Worldwide; Music by Elevation Worship Publishing; Bethel Music Publishing

CCLI License # 810055