²⁵ Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; ²⁶ and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?’ John 11:25-26

Hope is such an important ingredient in one’s life. Without hope, people despair, even of life itself. Where there is no hope, there is no reason to carry on. Hope gives us something to look forward to, it gives us a sense of expectation that there are good things to come and that everything will be ok. After Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead he made this declaration to Lazarus’s sister Martha which was to be an eternal declaration bringing hope even to us today. When Jesus declared “I am the resurrection and the life”, the implications to us are that when we believe in him, we will live, even though we die.

Jesus gives us eyes to see beyond death and the grave. This gives us hope, a sense of anticipation even as we look forward to life after death. We live lives of hope because we know that every good thing here on earth is merely a foretaste of things to come, things more glorious as we enjoy God’s presence forever, and forever is a VERY long time! We have hope when things don’t go as we expect or as we would like because we know that one day, all will be made perfect and He will wipe every tear from their our eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things will have passed away and a new order will have come. See Rev 21:4.

So do not despair. Do not lose heart. The One who is the resurrection and the life is holding you in his hands and he is assuring you that what he has in store for you is bigger than life as you know it. He has conquered death and has given us a hope that goes beyond the grave. C.S. Lewis’s description of death captures this: “School is out; the holidays have begun!”

Comments

comments