From Death to Life

From Death to Life

“The resurrection of the body”

Q. 37. What benefits do believers receive from Christ at death?

A. The souls of believers are at their death made perfect in holiness, and do immediately pass into glory; and their bodies, being still united to Christ, do rest in their graves till the resurrection.

John 11:21–27, 32–35, 43–44

21 Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.”

23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”

24 Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.”

25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, 26 and everyone who 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 coming into the world.”

…

32 Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, saying, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled.

35 Jesus wept.

…

43 When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.”

44 The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.

You can get to my house by car or by walking

Q: Since Christians believe in the hope of life after death, how does that change the way we live, say, compared to someone who believes we just cease to exist after we die?

Hope for the future

Your life now matters

Your body matters

Unbelievers think

Nothing matters

No hope for the future

This conversation introduces what I want to discuss today: our mortality. The walk of a Christian is very different than the walk of the unbeliever. But why? After all, we look just alike. We share a lot of things. How do we walk differently and why do we walk differently? Well, a core reason we walk differently is because of the hope we have in and after death. I’m going to address this in three points.

(1) We receive hope now from Christ in preparation for death.

(2) We receive life at death.

(3) We receive new bodies after death.

We receive hope now from Christ in preparation for death.

Let’s read the text.

“Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.”

Q: Is Martha's response here one of faith or doubt?

This is a statement of faith not doubt. Martha saying “If you had been here, my brother would not have died” is Martha acknowledging the confidence she has in God’s ability to save her brother. And how does she act in this knowledge? She acts in faith.

Let’s read a little more:

“23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”

24 Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.”

25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, 26 and everyone who 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 coming into the world.”

Martha responds in grief by acknowledging who Christ is as the Son of God and as the resurrection and the life. Yes, death causes grief, but we should seek to act like Martha in our grief. Rest in Christ. He brings eternal life. He grieves with you.

“Jesus wept” John 11:35

In your grief remember that Christ is right there grieving with you. This gives us hope right now. We are uplifted by the truth that Christ grieves with us and ultimately will conquer death because it gives us hope in our future, and in our brothers and sisters in Christ. It gives us comfort and rest from anxiety about death. If you’re worried about dying, know that in and only in Christ do you have hope in your death. You don’t need to worry. But all of this begs the question: What about those who are not Christ? I’ll just say two quick direct answers to this.

1: We do not know who is God’s child and who is not. Ultimately, we cannot cast judgment on someone’s faith. They could have accepted Christ in their last breath.

2: Everything that God does is just. As Christians, we trust that everything that God does is just and good. While it is a hard truth, God chooses some to take into his kingdom and does not choose others. Trust in his goodness.

So, we know that we receive hope right now in preparation for death through Christ, but what about when we die? This leads me to my second point that is:

We receive life at death.

Let’s look at the text:

“I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”

Q: What does Jesus mean when he says “Though he die, yet shall he live”?

This text is saying that in the walk of a Christian, in death you receive life. In a way, we never face death even when we do. It's a bit of a paradox here. Though we may face death, it does not have its victory over us. Now some of you may hear that and wonder “if death does not have its victory over us, then why do we even have to die in the first place”

Q: Why must you die? Any scripture you think can answer this?

(See Romans 6:23 and Gen 3:19)

(If explanation is needed) Romans 6:23 “23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Ro 6:23.) This verse teaches that death is the just penalty for sin that we deserve as sinners.

Genesis 3:19 “For you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” (Gen 3:19) So, death Death is the curse of the fall . Because of Adam and Eve’s disobedience in the garden, God pronounced a curse, which included physical death. As Christians, we recognize that we must die because sin has corrupted our bodies and the world.

Why do Christians believe that physical death is not the end of existence?

So, we know why we must die, but what benefits are we given in death as Christians? We are given life. Death does not have its hold on us. Why? Because Jesus paid for our wages. For Christians, your eternity with Christ does not begin when you die. It begins when you become a Christian. If you are a child of God, your eternity in his presence has already begun. That should be a great comfort to you. If we are in Christ, in that sense we will never die, yet when we do we will be given new and greater bodies.

This leads me to my last point that is:

We receive new bodies after death.

Some of you may know you receive new bodies after death, but what do they look like? Let’s look at the text:

43 When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” 44 The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.” Jn 11:38–44.

Q: Is our resurrection going to be like Lazarus’s?

Lazarus’s body was raised from the dead. Like Lazarus, our bodies will be raised from the dead. But different. He was raised back to mortal life, while we will be raised to eternal life. We will not have spiritual floating bodies in heaven, but real bodies that look like us but are made new and perfect in Christ.

It's like if you think of an acorn. This acorn has everything it needs to be to be able to grow into an oak tree. What does it need to do that first? It must be buried. It must be buried in the ground, and then it will grow into a glorious oak tree. In a sense, it's the same thing but made greater. The acorn held all the DNA and science stuff it needed to become an oak tree. What it needed was to be buried, washed with water, and nurtured to grow into the great oak tree.

That's what will happen to your body. You will be buried into the ground, and Christ will grow you into a new person, so much more glorious than you are not, but still the same person. Have you ever felt like you were meant for more? That you had potential that you just were never able to meet? Have you ever felt that you can't be what you were meant to be, that you can't love people fully?

Through Christ, you will be brought to your fullest potential and made perfect in holiness. You will be made perfect and new and finally, be able to fully love God and love people. Not because of anything that you did, but because of Christ's work in you.

Now I’d like to give a little call to action. If you are a Christian, you have hope. You will enter into eternal life. If you are not a Christian, you are hopeless and will enter into eternal damnation. You could die tonight. You could get in a car wreck on the drive home. If you have not given your life to Christ. Now is the time. Pray for Christ to enter into your heart. Pray for the holy spirit to fill your heart. Put your trust in Christ. Give your allegiance to him. Know that he is good, that he died for your sins, and that he loves you. Give your life to Christ. Let’s pray.