2012.04.01 Life After Life After Death

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Life, Death & Resurrection2012.04.01Caloy Dio

I read in a medical journal recently that myopia, or nearsightedness has become prevalent

problem all over the world. It now affects 30 - 40% of the population in the US and in

Europe, and reaches 7090% of the population in Asian countries.

I am nearsighted myself, and I have difficulty seeing things just a few feet away. To read a

book unaided, I need to bring it close to my face to make out the letters. If I want to read a

book comfortably, I need to wear glasses. Without them, my vision gets blurry.

We can be nearsighted in matters of faith as well. We read the Bible and then apply them

directly to our personal circumstances right now. Rarely do we read the Bible to view whats

up ahead, to see a vision of the future.

And this is true in the case of Easter. The Gospel writers testify that Jesus was crucified, died

and was buried. They did not stop there. They testified further that on the third day, Jesus

was raised from the dead. Now, often, when we think of the resurrection of Jesus, we

associate it with us being saved today, being a child of God right now, and being secure in

going to heaven when we die.

These are all true of course. But they are a nearsighted view of Easter. Beyond it our visions

begin to blur. If you really think about it, our ideas of heaven are a bit cloudy. We imagine

life there to be floating in the clouds, relaxing, strumming harps, playing lyres and singing

worship songs to God forever.


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But Easter is much more that that. The resurrection of Jesus Christ has a much richer

meaning than the blurry images in our heads. We need to look much further. But we need to

wear a different set of spectacles to see it.

Renowned New Testament scholar and theologian NT Wright puts it this way: If heaven is

life after death, the resurrection of Jesus points us to life after life after death. Thats because

beyond heaven, theres something much, much more awaiting those who believe in Jesus.

We need to see the Bible not as a set of unrelated stories bound together in one book, but one

grand story of Gods mission to save the world.

We know how it all began. God created the world in six days, created man and woman in his

image, and gave them dominion over all creation. But sin came, the first man and woman

fell, and they were banished from Gods presence. The earth is cursed. It appears at that point

that Gods creation project is in jeopardy.

In spite of this, God revealed himself in Scriptures as the God who saves, the God whos at

work to restore the world to Himself. We see glimpses of it in the story of Noah, who was

saved from the flood. We see it as well in the story of Abraham and the founding of Israel, a

nation blessed to be a blessing to the nations. We read about Moses and how God rescued the

people of Israel from Egypt, and led them to the Promised Land. We also read of David, the

King of Israel who built Jerusalem, We read of how the glory of the kingdom shone brightest

during the reign of Solomon.

But because of sin, the kingdom was divided. Because of sin, the kingdoms of Israel and

Judah were conquered by foreign kingdoms and the people of God sent into exile.


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rewarded for what we do in this life for His sake, then we can be confident that as we give

our lives in the service of the Lord, our labor will not be in vain.

I encourage you to brothers and sisters, as we celebrate Easter, look beyond this life. Set your

sights on Jesus, the one who promised us life after life after death.

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2012.04.01 Life After Life After Death