God’s changes our view of death!
Luke 20:38-“He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for all are alive to him.” (EHV)
Is there any other image you see that is burned into your memory than the first person you see lying dead in a casket? For me, it was my great-grandmother, who I saw once a day for six years. I will never forget the cold, stiff, and unmoving body that was lying there, with no expression of life. It looked so permanent. Then the casket was closed and lowered into the ground, never to see the light of day.
How do you see death? Maybe you too have an image of death burned into your memory much like mine. It is difficult to see past the coldness and finality that death presents. But then one cannot help to look ahead to what is waiting for all of us. One day, we too will lie motionless, cold, and stiff with no expression of life. One day we too will have the casket closed and lowered into the ground to never see the light of day. The hardest part about all of this is the reason why each of us faces death, “The wages of sin is death.” There is no sugar coating it! We die because we sin. This is the cold hard truth that we see in our memories, in our daily lives, and in our future. We cannot escape this!
This is our view of death, but how does God view death? Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob have been dead for thousands of years. They all have turned to dust long ago. Yet those forefathers of faith are alive! That is how God sees them. They remain alive to God because he is the God of the living. How can this be? How can God see them as alive when clearly, they are dead? They remain alive because Jesus is alive. They held onto the promise of victory that their descendant would earn for them through his death and resurrection. They are alive with the Lord in heaven, but they are going to come back to physical life when Jesus returns.
God does not look at death in time like we do. He sees everything from eternity. This is the way he wants us to view death. Those who believe in his Son who died and rose from the dead are forgiven and will remain alive with him, even if they die here on earth. Death is now under his feet. We will not die but continue to live just like Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And we too can look forward to the day when our bodies will rise again. This is how God changes our view of death!
Dear God of the living. Continue to change our view of death by viewing Jesus’ victory over sin and death. In your Son’s name we pray. Amen.