Jesus is the Answer to the Question – Does Death Have the Last Word?
A Question – Does Death Have the Last Word?
“Then, when our dying bodies have been transformed into bodies that will never die, the Scriptures will be fulfilled: ‘Death, where is your victory? Death, where is your sting? Sin gives death its sting, and God’s standards give sin its power. Thank God that he gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Or as the Message puts it… “Death swallowed up by triumphant life! Who got the last word, oh Death? Oh, Death, who’s afraid of you now? But now in a single victorious stroke of Life, all three – sin, guilt, death – are gone, the gift of our Master, Jesus Christ. Thank God!” (1 Corinthians 15:54-57).
“I AM the Resurrection and the Life! Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying. Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this? (John 11:25).
Context of Resurrection Declaration. As recorded in John 11, Jesus received word that His close friend Lazarus was deathly sick in his home town of Bethany. Lazarus and his two sisters, Mary and Martha, were very close friends of Jesus, and so this news certainly troubled Jesus. But He decided to stay where He was for a couple of days. Jesus saw a timely opportunity to make a big statement, and unfortunately He needed Lazarus to die to make it. Finally, on the fourth day after His friend’s death, Jesus and His disciples arrive in Bethany, which is only two miles from Jerusalem. Jesus first had conversations with both sisters about Lazarus and their understandable grief. Both Mary and Martha wondered why Jesus delayed in coming. Both women believe in Jesus, and that He has the spiritual power to do great things. Jesus told them not to worry about Lazarus. He told them that He is the resurrection and the life. He has power over death and is the source of everlasting life. Jesus then leads the mourners to the tomb holding the dead body of Lazarus. He offers a prayer within the hearing of everyone in attendance. a word of thanks to the Father for what is about to happen. Jesus then shouts, with authority, “Lazarus! Come out!” Miracle of miracles, after the stone is rolled away, Lazarus does indeed walk out of the tomb, alive. Human death is no match for Jesus’ life. It wasn’t long before Lazarus’ burial clothes were taken off, and he returned to something like a normal life. But of course, Lazarus was never the same again.
Another Miracle, Please? A resurrection of a dead person is still unexpected, even if Jesus had already accomplished two resurrection miracles: 1. – Jairus’ daughter was raised to life by Jesus (Matthew 9, Mark 5, Luke 8); and 2. – the widow’s son was raised, while lying dead in his coffin, no less (Luke 7). Is this what Martha was thinking when she told Jesus, “Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask.” (v. 22). Perhaps Martha, in a moment of great faith, was hoping against hope that God would give Jesus the power of another resurrection miracle for her brother Lazarus.
I AM. In literally a matter of life and death, Jesus once again used the I AM formula in a startling self-description. He is taking the Name of the Great I AM as His own. This is a scandal in the eyes of the religious authorities. The sacred Name of Yahweh, I AM WHAT I AM, is the most treasured and most personal Name for the God of Israel. With this claim, Jesus states that He is on equal footing with God Himself! Who does He think he is? Jesus used the name tag I AM around 20 times in John. The seven metaphors He uses with I AM are especially enlightening as to the roles Jesus has in His ministry on earth. Throughout Scripture Yahweh has power over death and is the Source of life. Jesus embraces these divine powers when He claims to be I AM. Jesus underlined His being the Author of life by inserting “life” into three of those seven metaphors… I AM the Bread of Life (John 6:35); I AM the Resurrection and the Life (John 11:25); and I AM the Way, the Truth and the Life (John 14:6). As Jesus says in John 10:10, “I have come so that my sheep may have real and eternal life, that they may have life in abundance – to the full, till it overflows – Better life than they ever dreamed of.”
Afterlife. When Martha confirmed her belief in the general resurrection at the End, she revealed that she had indeed been listening to Jesus’ earlier teachings. Jesus spoke often of the resurrection of the dead, especially in moments like John 5: 24-29, “I tell you the truth, those who listen and believe in God who sent me have eternal life. They will never be condemned for their sins, but they have already passed from death into life. Indeed the time is coming when all the dead in their graves will hear the voice of God’s Son, and they will rise again. Those who have done good will rise to experience eternal life, and those who continued in evil will rise to experience judgment.” So Jesus wasn’t shy about discussing resurrection, whether of all people, or specific people, or even himself. He told His disciples on a number of occasions that He Himself was going to be resurrected: Matthew 16:21; Matthew 20:19; Matthew 26:32; Mark 9:90; Mark 10:32; and Luke 18:31. So the topic of a general resurrection or a particular resurrection was nothing new if you hung around Jesus. Maybe it was a passing thought in the Hebrew Bible, but not with Christ.
Heaven on Earth. The Jewish believers throughout the Hebrew Bible were for the most part not all that interested in the afterlife. They didn’t talk much about heaven or hell as a place to go after death. Their sense of God’s judgments were intended for life here on earth. People who were cursed in their life if they didn’t obey God were experiencing for the most part their hell on earth. They were judged here and now, and were suitably punished if that’s what God wanted to do. And the same for God’s blessings. People living on earth could be blessed during this life for obeying God. They didn’t need to think about the blessed life after they die, since they more or less have their heaven on earth. There were a few hints, though, that some old saints in the Hebrew Bible were thinking about an afterlife with God. Job made a beautiful statement of faith in Job 19:35, “As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and he will stand upon the earth at last. And after my body has decayed, yet in my body I will see God!” Or look at Daniel 12:2-3, “Many of those whose bodies lie dead and buried will rise up, some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting disgrace. Those who are wise will shine as bright as the sky, and those who lead many to righteousness will shine like the stars forever.” There are other passages that refer to the resurrection of the dead, including Isaiah 26:19, Hosea 13:14, and many times in Psalms (17:15, 49:15, 71:20). Most of what Jesus had to say about the resurrection seemed to have their foundation in those passages in the Hebrew Bible. Jesus switched things around by taking those infrequent mentions of the afterlife in the Hebrew Bible more of a focus.
“Because God’s children are human beings—made of flesh and blood—the Son also became flesh and blood. For only as a human being could he die, and only by dying could he break the power of the devil, who had the power of death. Only in this way could he set free all who have lived their lives as slaves to the fear of dying.” (Hebrews 2:14-15).
Fearless with Death. In paraphrasing this passage, the esteemed pastor in Detroit, Rev. Richard Bieber, said that Jesus was born into the human race in order to set us free from the fear of death. We are all in bondage to this fear, he once said, unless we allow “the power of God to flow into us from the Cross, driving the fear of death right out of us, filling us with eternal life.”
Ain’t No Grave (LIVE) – Bethel Music & Molly Skaggs | VICTORY – YouTube
Jesus conquered death by dying and coming back to life in His resurrection. He crossed that boundary of life and death and was victorious in erasing that barrier for all eternity. Perhaps a deep dive into the Hebrew background of separation of life and death before Jesus will help us realize how profound this victory of His was.
LIFE. Life is a miraculous gift of God, something we never asked for of course, and authored by God because He loves us. Creator God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, is the Author of life, and life itself is inherent in the very makeup of God. God is the sole source of life in the universe. If He for some horrific reason decided to depart the premises, to leave us, the world would cease to exist, nothing but inanimate objects, emptiness, a return to what constituted the world before creation. The presence of God explains the presence of life.
DEATH. Death was not intended by God to appear on His lovely earth. When creating the universe, His intention was to graciously broadcast the seeds of life everywhere. God says it is vital that we be able to distinguish life from death, to discern between what brings life and what brings death. God the Author of life does not want to be associated with death in our minds. He desired to give all of us a life wish, a fruitful life to the fullest. His permissive will allowed a death wish to creep in because of free will, but it is not His intention to offer death as a viable option. So God wants to reinforce His principle of separation when it comes to life and death. Life and death must be considered eternally separate, and those boundaries must never be blurred. Pagan religion embraced the mixing of life with death in their worship, which led to a warped, inhumane and cruel view of the world. God takes great pains to tell us that He rejects death as something positive or virtuous.
The Enemy of Life. Death is the ultimate indignity for those born in God’s image. Death is the supreme source of impurity and defilement because it is the final result of sin. Death defiles the world, is the true enemy of life, and thus of God. In a spiritual sense, death is unacceptable, a stark reminder of human mortality. So the boundaries must be kept, the divine order must be maintained that separates life from death. God must be seen as the author and maintainer of life. That is the truth of the matter, and God should never be associated with death in any way.
“Most assuredly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word he shall never see death.” (John 8:51).
The Second Death. Jesus here is not declaring that His followers will never have to die physically, as if they would be just transported without literally dying. He is revealing that His followers will never die spiritually. Jesus is referring here to what is later termed “the second death” in John’s Apocalypse (Rev. 2:11, 20:6, 21:8). He hinted at this earlier in John 5:24, Most assuredly I say to you, he who hears my word and believes in me who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.” And of course Jesus unpacked what he meant later in John 11:25, “I AM the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe it?”
The plain and amazing fact is that Jesus has promised eternal life, and that the second death, the judgment of eternal separation from God, will not affect those who believe in Christ. Christians need not fear the second death after the first general resurrection. They will not have to experience the final fate of those who have categorically rejected God in their lives. Eternal union with God is promised to those who keep His word, who live in accordance with Christ’s message, who earnestly observe His teachings, and who trust in Him with their very lives. The second death, the spiritual death sentence, will not touch believers who are in Christ.
“And this is the promise that He has promised us – Eternal life.” (1 John 2:25).
The Father Promised Eternal Life. Scripture has made it clear that God desires that we have eternal life. In fact, St. Paul told Titus that God has promised eternal life “before the beginning of time.” (Titus 1:2). Creator God had desired eternal life for mankind when He made them in His image, but sin entered the world and derailed those plans. Sin brings death, and that was the end of eternal life for humanity. But God brought forth a Savior, His very own Son, who would bring eternal life to those who believed in Him. This Savior changed the destiny of mankind. And so now, “This is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” (John 17:3). God’s desire for mankind to have eternal life is so strong that out of love, He gave the world His Son, so that instead of perishing in sin, mankind would have the hope of eternal life (John 3:16). “For the wages which sin pay us is death, but the lavish gift of God is eternal life in union with Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23).
The Son Promised Eternal Life. Jesus came into the world to forgive sins and to offer eternal life to believers in Him. So promising eternal life was second nature to Him. He promised eternal life to all of those who are fully committed to Him (John 18:30). And eternal life was declared in His name from Peter (John 6:68), to John the Baptist (John 3:36), to John the Apostle (1 John 5:13). Even in a quiet setting with the woman at the well, He dramatically proclaimed that He was the fulfillment of all those prophecies about the fountain of life, “The water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (John 4:14). And as the Lord of the Harvest, Jesus said that those who spread the Word of Jesus will reap a spiritual harvest of souls for eternal life (John 4:37). Jesus summed things up to Nicodemus in their nighttime chat… “The Son of Man must be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in Him may have eternal life.” (John 3:15).
The Son IS Eternal Life. Jesus wasn’t just the Author of life. He wasn’t merely the Giver of life. He wasn’t just full of life, distributing life wherever He went. All of that is true. But the more basic fact about Jesus is that He embodied life, He was Life-in-the-flesh. He didn’t just offer eternal life… Jesus literally was and is Eternal Life. Christ’s middle name was Eternal Life. If the quality of eternal life became a person, that Person is Jesus. How many different ways can He put it? “I AM the Bread of Life.’ (John 6:35); “I AM the Resurrection and the Life.” (John 11:28); “I AM the Way, the Truth and the Life.” (John 14:6). Jesus doesn’t merely have life. He is life. “And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding so that we may know Him who is true, and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and He is eternal life.” (John 5:20).
Eternal Life Starts With Faith. We don’t have to wait for eternal life to start. Eternal life does not get delayed until we die. Eternal life begins the moment we believe in Jesus. Life everlasting has already begun in Him. Jesus is the only eternal Being. Eternal life starts with Him. Either we follow Jesus and live into eternal life with Him now, or we don’t get eternal life at all… a bountiful life, fulfilling life, satisfying life, expanding life, overflowing life, eternal life. When we contain Christ through His Spirit, we contain eternal life, right now.
“The Word, which gives life! He existed from the beginning.
We have heard Him, we have seen Him with our eyes,
We have contemplated Him, we have touched Him with our hands!
The Life appeared, and we have seen it.
We are testifying to it and announcing it to you – Eternal life!”
(1 John 1:1-2, CJB version).
God Was Dead! The death of the Son of God is nonsensical. Illogical. It doesn’t make sense. Life and death don’t mix. Death and Jesus don’t fit. It is somehow sacrilegious. Death is the ultimate indignity for the Giver of life. As the final result of sin, the death of Christ is the conclusion of sin’s victory over God. Death is an extreme impurity experienced by the only Pure One. Death defiles the world, making a dead person unclean and mortally defeated. Was Jesus unclean when He died? After all, death is this world’s vile pollutant. For the time being, the Son of God was defeated by sin’s final consequence.
But consider what the Orthodox Church says about Christ’s death:
(1) There is an Orthodox hymn in which Death is personified, and is at first puzzled by what it is experiencing during Christ’s crucifixion. The confusion turns to panic as Death realizes its own efforts to kill the Christ has resulted in its own destruction. “Christ’s torment, suffering and death is actually crucifying death. Christ’s own death turns out to be the annihilation of death.”
(2) “Sin which polluted God’s creation reached its frightful climax at the Cross. There, sin and evil, destruction and death, came into their own.”
(3) “Jesus Christ accepted death because He assumed the whole tragedy of our life. He chose to pour His life into death, in order to destroy it, and in order to break the hold of evil. His death is the final and ultimate revelation of His perfect obedience and love. He accepted the ultimate horror of death. His death is total fulfillment. The Author of life was at work transforming death into life.”
So What? What difference does this make? Does this really matter? Yes, it does matter. The prospect of eternal life means everything. To live in faith with eternal life as our destiny means our life now on earth is not the end, there is a purpose to our life that will last forever. Life isn’t hopeless when it gets difficult. Life isn’t full of despair when things don’t go the way we want. This is all temporary, an overnight stay. One of those things that give us joy now is when we have something to look forward to. Could anything give us greater joy than to look forward to spending eternity with the Lord of love and all those who love Him? All this, and heaven too? If death is the final end, what’s the point of life?
And now, let’s let the wondrous Johnny Cash conclude with his triumphant song of eternal life…