LIVING IN ETERNITY WITH GOD

Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. 26 And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?" 27 She said to Him, "Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is to come into the world." (John 11:25-27 NKJV)                       

This crowning miracle of our Lord's life is generally described as the raising of Lazarus. I am not sure that it might not with equal truth be called the awakening of Martha, for it is certain that the Lord lifted this soul, whom we have seemed to count commonplace and matter-of-fact, to a most remarkable elevation of faith and hope, as they stood together in the shadow of a great sorrow.

In common with the majority of religious people, Martha believed in a general resurrection at some still future date, but she had not realized that God lives in the present tense, that the eternal is here and now, and that faith must learn to reckon on God's I AM. We are always putting the manifestation of the divine in the far past, or the far future. The heaven is high above the earth on which we stand; only at the horizon, behind us and before us, do heaven and earth touch. We all need to learn the lesson that here, in the commonplaces of life, Jesus Christ is the present and immediate answer to every need.

Christ's teaching about the resurrection differs widely from immortality. Plato believed in the immortality of the soul, but had no conception of the resurrection. Resurrection is the reunion of the soul with the body, when it shall be raised in a form identical with, though different from, the body laid in the grave, as the sheaf of corn is identical with, though different from, the seed-corn cast into the dirt amid the rains of autumn.

Martha could hardly understand all these marvelous disclosures, but she answered yes to them, on the ground of what she knew Christ to be. He at least was the Messiah, and whatsoever He said, it must be so. So it is that we may still accept much that we cannot understand, on the truthful words of Jesus.

Christ always needed faith in some one, as the fulcrum on which to rest the lever of His mighty power, and He found it in Martha. What can He not do, even here and now, in the hearts of those who are slow to believe, and those who are dead in trespasses and sins? Don’t you believe this?  Then act on that belief.

PRAYER

O God of life and love, You have filled our hearts with joy unspeakable. We thank You that Jesus is the resurrection and the life, and that those who believe in Him shall never die. He lives, and they live, and we live! We thank You, we praise You and pray that we bless You with our thoughts, our words, and our deeds.  In Jesus name we pray, AMEN.

 God’s Daily Promise

Promise #12:
I am at work in your life through the desires of your heart.

Philippians 2:13 (WEB)
For it is God who works in you both to will and to work,
for his good pleasure.