One of the most glorious truths is the real hope that God offers his people. It's a real, substantial hope of a future on a renewed earth, with renewed bodies, free of suffering, with God himself living among us.
Where might we look in the Bible to see this renewed-earth future promised?
I kicked us off with a look at 1 Corinthians 15, and then a look at 1 Thessalonians 4, before turning to Philippians 3 and then John 5 last week.
We're nearly there (for now). I want to look at two more passages, starting today with another one from Jesus himself: John 11.
I am the Resurrection and the Life
John 11:25-26 is one of the most famous sayings in John's Gospel, even in the whole Bible. Jesus says: "I am the resurrection and the life.", before explaining what he means in the sentence that follows:
I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die.
There are two parts to the "I am" saying, and they correspond to the two parts of the following sentence.
I am the Resurrection
What triggered this conversation was the death of Lazarus. Jesus reassures Martha (Lazarus' sister) that Lazarus will rise again. Martha replies "I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day".
Jesus replies with his famous "I am" saying. He does not correct her, but he does add to what she already understood.
Firstly, he says "I am the resurrection". This adds to the mere, impersonal, thought that Lazarus would rise at the last day, to the personal truth that Jesus is the resurrection. He is the one who will raise him: "The one who believes in me will live, even though they die."
Christians, followers of Jesus, are not exempt from dying. We thought about that truth when we looked at 1 Thessalonians 4. What we are promised is that death is not the end. For the one who believes in him, even though we still die, yet we "will live".
I am the Life
But that is only half of what Jesus says to Martha. He also says "I am the life", which he fleshes out like this: "whoever lives by believing in me will never die."
We've already thought what it means for the one who believes in Jesus to live — it means to be put into a living relationship with the living God, and with his Son Jesus Christ whom he sent into the world.
The wonderful truth about that life is that we "will never die". The relationship we have with God, through knowing Jesus, is one that never dies. Even death cannot take that relationship away from us.
This is nicely illustrated in the incident recorded in the Synoptic Gospels where Jesus debates with the Sadducees. He quotes the passage about the burning bush to them, where God says to Moses: "I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." The point is that the phrase "I am the God of" is covenant language. God is describing himself as being in a committed covenant relationship with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob — even though they died 400 years earlier. They may be dead, but God continues to relate to them, to care for them as their God.
Heaven then Life on Earth
When you put together these two halves of Jesus' saying, you get the two halves of the Christian future.
Firstly, you get the half that most people are familiar with — the idea of heaven when we die. A Christian is someone in relationship with the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ. That relationship goes on forever. Even when we die physically, we remain alive to God. In part, this is because we go (in soul) to be with Christ in heaven the moment we die.
Second, you get the other half. Jesus is the resurrection, which means there will be the "last day" that Martha looked forward to. On that day, Jesus himself will raise to life everyone who died knowing him; they may have died, but they will get to live again.
What a future God has indeed promised!
Add new comment