The Living Hope
Job 14:14
I Corinthians 15:12-19
It’s an old question, been around as long as mankind itself. It is a question of which the hearts of billions of people all over the world would like an answer. The question is found in the book of Job, one of the oldest books in the Old Testament. “If a man die, shall he live again?”
But what an odd question to ask; it really is you know – if a man die? All of us will die, won’t we? When I was a child, I can remember thinking that I couldn’t possibly die. I wasn’t able to comprehend the end of my own existence. Only old people die I thought to myself, and I am so very different than any of them. Did you ever feel this way as a child?
My great grandfather Bartlett was in his eighties when I knew him – I being only 7 or 8 at the time. I can still recall telling my father that I would not come to the dinner table to eat with the rest of the family because he was there. He had wrinkles and moles and long hairs coming out of his ears and even hairs coming out of his moles. He had big bushy eyebrows and bad teeth. He looked old and scary to me. But my father’s response was one of sympathy and understanding. I think he had once felt the same way years before in his life.
But now as an adult, I have long since accepted the fact that I too will grow old and eventually die – certainly if the Lord tarries. And I already have hairs growing out of my ears, and I am still waiting for my moles to come. However since I am a Christian, I believe in life eternal and most importantly in the resurrection of the dead. But do I have good cause for such beliefs?
Millions of Christians recite the Apostle’s Creed and have throughout the centuries. But is it full of lies? The Scriptures certainly insist on the resurrection of Jesus Christ. But have we all been lead astray?
We tend to disguise death with makeup and flowers and beautiful words and songs. We go to a great amount of trouble and we pay a good deal of money to make a dead body appear life-like. Is it because death frightens us and shakes our existence to its very foundation because we know deep down that death ends it all? (Click on title above to see the rest of the message)