June 25, 2013 (Tuesday)
“I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day” (2 Timothy 1:12 KJV).
In spite of the fact that I think I understand the human reproductive system, the birth of a baby is still a marvelous mystery to me. Two people of the opposite sex are responsible for the birth of a brand new human being. Every birth is very special. A new person has entered the human family, and from the first breath that person is a unique individual. Even though the process of reproduction is scientific and understandable, the appearance of that new person is nothing short of a miracle. And, repeating myself, it is a mystery.
There is another mysterious event in the life of a human being that we don’t understand quite as well: death. We know what it is, and then again we don’t. “Near death experiences” are interesting, varying from one individual to another, but when a person really dies, he/she never returns to tell us what it was like to die, and what it all really means.
The human family has many ideas about death. Some people are quite sure they know the truth about it, while others have doubts and are uncertain about it.
Many who are reading this blog today are Christians who believe with all their hearts that Jesus really died and was buried, but rose from the dead. He defeated death because He is Divine. It is impossible that death could maintain its hold on the Son of God. But what about the rest of us? We believe what the Bible tells us. First of all, at death we leave the body and the Scripture says simply, “Absent from the body, present with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:8). That’s good enough for me. I am quite interested in all the Scripural teachings about resurrection and Heaven, but knowing that I will be with Jesus at the moment of my passing from this life is really all I need to know for sure. And I do. Death is indeed a mystery but I believe the Lord Jesus Christ has solved it. No need for me to worry about it.
If you do not have this kind of hope, please remember that “God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16 NIV).