We Want Life to Continue

John 5:28-29

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We want life to continue. I was standing beside the bed of a man on his death bed. He’d been seriously ill for a number of weeks. He knew that death was coming. He wasn’t afraid of death. He said that he was confident because of his faith in Jesus of what would happen when he died. But there was a part of him that didn’t want to die. He wanted life to continue.

I think we also get a sense of this desire for life to continue when we’re standing at the grave of a loved one. We wish that they were alive again. We wish that their relationship with us was still ongoing. We want their life to continue.

But death seems to have the last word. When we’re standing beside the coffin of that loved one and we reach out and feel their cold lifeless body. It seems as if death is screaming “I won!” What comfort then Jesus has for us as he teaches in John chapter 5:

For a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and will come out. (John 5:28-29)

It seems as if death has the last word. But Jesus says there is a day coming when he will speak and all the dead will be raised. Jesus and His resurrection proves that he has the power to raise the dead. And so now we no longer need to fear death. We can be assured that Jesus will have the last word at our grave and through faith in him he will take us to be with Him in Heaven forever. That’s what his death and his resurrection have won for us all.

So be at peace. Jesus will have the last word he has conquered sin, death, and the devil. Amen.