This is part 5 of an 8-part series. View the entire series here.
Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in Me will live, even after dying.” – John 11:25 NLT
The sting of death is real, and no one is immune to it. Many of us have experienced the stabbing pain of watching a loved one leave this earth. And whether we acknowledge it or try to brush the idea away, all of us await the day when we will be the one leaving family and friends behind with our final breath.
This was the heartache that befell Mary and Martha as they mourned the death of their brother Lazarus. Despite sending word of his illness to their close friend, Jesus, the Healer didn’t arrive on time. Their brother––his laughter, his comfort, his mere presence––had vanished from existence.
At least, from their perspective.
But God does not see death as we do. As an infinite and eternal being, God has always been, and He will always be. So while we see death as a definitive end, the conclusion to a story whose opening chapters were written at our birth, God sees it as a doorway. A liminal space that, through Jesus, leads to new, abundant life.
This is not to say that death does not grip God’s heart with sorrow. Jesus wept over Lazarus’ death. He paused to feel the weight of Mary and Martha’s grieving alongside them. But more than that, He mourned the goodness that creation was meant to experience when God spoke it into existence. Death was not part of the paradise God envisioned for the Garden.
But despite death’s entrance into our story, it would not hinder God’s intervention into our fate. He provided a promise in Genesis 3—to save humanity and put death itself in the grave. An end to “the end” that has plagued mankind since the beginning.
Through Jesus, we have been redeemed, bought back from the wages of sin, and reconciled to God so that we can have new, resurrected life. Not simply restored life back into this broken creation––but the hope of eternal life in God’s perfect Kingdom when Jesus returns and makes a new heaven and earth. A space for us to dwell with Him in perfect harmony forever.
Jesus is our hope for this life and the life to come. When we unite with Him in His death, so too will we unite with Him in His resurrection (Romans 6:5).
