John 14:1-7 (NIV) 1 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. 2 My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. 4 You know the way to the place where I am going.” 5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” 6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”
II Timothy 2:8-13 (NIV) 8 Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David. This is my gospel, 9 for which I am suffering even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But God’s word is not chained. 10 Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory. 11 Here is a trustworthy saying: If we died with him, we will also live with him; 12 if we endure, we will also reign with him. If we disown him, he will also disown us; 13 if we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot disown himself.
Is our faith in life after death a farce perpetrated by religion? Is it a fantasy to help people deal with the fear of death? Or is it an accurate and true understanding of what is real? Human beings have sought virtually every approach to prove or disprove the existence of life after death.
The evidence that has convinced Christians is that of a two-sided coin. On one side of the coin is the fact of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. This statement was an early creed of affirmation of what Christians held to be true. Their belief in life after death was based on a real event that happened to a real person in a real time and a real place. It was not based on philosophical speculation or popular opinion. Remember, Jesus Christ is risen, Paul reminds young Timothy. Remember, our faith in life and our faith in life after death is founded on fact, a fact that must be spoken, proclaimed, and held up against any and all challenges.
The other side of the coin is the belief that Jesus was utterly trustworthy. “I go to prepare a place for you,” he told his disciples. “If it were not so, would I have not told you?” The disciples did not always understand what Jesus said. They did not always agree with what he said, but three years in his presence had convinced them that he could be trusted. He would not deceive.
Our belief in life after death is based on a twofold fact. Christ is risen, and the risen Christ is totally and completely trustworthy. The sacrament of the Lord’s Supper was given to us as a pledge that Jesus Christ could be trusted. Christ gave his life through these elements as a promise and a pledge, and even though events that follow might make it appear that we have been deceived and deluded, we will in time discover that we have been told the truth.” “I go to prepare a place for you.”
From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope April 6, 1986
© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell
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