· Acts 10:34-43
· Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24 (24)
· 1 Corinthians 15:1-11
· Mark 16:1-8
There is something I don't understand about the Resurrection. Well, I suppose there are many things I don't understand about the Resurrection, but the one that troubles me is: why?
Why would God promise us eternal life?
More specifically, why would God promise us eternal life after he booted us from Eden to keep us from getting eternal life? It is written in Genesis 3:22-24:
Then the Lord God said, "See, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever" – therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from which he was taken. He drove out the man; and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim, and a sword flaming and turning to guard the way to the tree of life.
What changed? What makes it acceptable to God that we should have eternal life now, when it wasn't acceptable in the beginning?
Is it because we've grown? Because we've learned? Because of the way our relationship with God has evolved? Does God trust us now more than he did then? Do we deserve that trust?
One difference that stands out, between then and now, is the way in which we can acquire this eternal life. In the garden, we could have gained eternal life willfully, by disobeying God. In the Covenant of Christ, we can gain eternal life not by disobedience, but by obedience – Christ's obedience on the cross, and our obedience in following him. We hear this in Mark 8:34-38:
He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels."
We can consider also, what kind of eternal life is being promised. In Genesis, there are no details of what God is concerned about, but it seems that by eating from the fruit of the tree of life, man would simply live on forever as the same creature he is now. What good could that possibly do? Who would even want such a thing? Many people in our society cling desperately to lives devoid of meaning, joy or usefulness. Why? I cannot fathom. But I think that is the eternal life we would gain by eating from the fruit of the tree of life: as Qoheleth said, "vanity and chasing after wind." (Ecclesiastes 1:14). We would continue to get up in the morning, chase after money all day, and go back to bed just as poor, materially and spiritually, as when we got up.
Instead I love to read Revelation 4:1-11:
After this I looked, and there in heaven a door stood open! And the first voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, "Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this." At once I was in the spirit, and there in heaven stood a throne, with one seated on the throne! And the one seated there looks like jasper and carnelian, and around the throne is a rainbow that looks like an emerald. Around the throne are twenty-four thrones, and seated on the thrones are twenty-four elders, dressed in white robes, with golden crowns on their heads. Coming from the throne are flashes of lightning, and rumblings and peals of thunder, and in front of the throne burn seven flaming torches, which are the seven spirits of God; and in front of the throne there is something like a sea of glass, like crystal.
Around the throne, and on each side of the throne, are four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind: the first living creature like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature with a face like a human face, and the fourth living creature like a flying eagle. And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and inside. Day and night without ceasing they sing,
"Holy, holy, holy,
The Lord God and the Almighty,
Who was and is and is to come."
And whenever the living creatures give glory and honour and thanks to the one who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall before the one who is seated on the throne and worship the one who lives forever and ever; they cast their crowns before the throne, singing,
"You are worthy, our Lord and God,
To receive glory and honour and power,
For you created all things,
And by your will they existed and were created."
This, indeed, is a worthy and comfortable way to spend eternity. And this, I believe, is the eternal life that the Lord our God is offering to us through Jesus Christ. Not vanity and a chasing after wind, but to praise his name eternally. Not what we can gain for ourselves through wilfulness, pride and disobedience, but what Jesus Christ has gained for us through suffering, humility and obedience. By the grace that Christ gained for us, we are saved, not from physical death, but from an empty life of vanity and chasing after wind. We are resurrected to a glorious life of praising the Lord forever. And it is not at the time of our physical death that we are saved and resurrected to this glorious life, but at the time that we choose, like Yeshua and in obedience to him and to Our Father, to die to sin and be reborn truly as children of the Lord, obedient, good, loving, merciful, and always singing his praise. Indeed we are resurrected, not after our physical death, but from the moment that we truly leave sin behind and willingly take up our cross and follow Jesus Christ.
And so, as we celebrate our resurrection in Our Lord, let us sing the hymn of the living creatures who stand around God's throne praising him forever, night and day without ceasing:
Hymn of the day - #413 Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty
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