Life After Death

Life After Death

For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.

John 6:40

This passage is a glorious promise to us. It’s repeated twice because we tend to think, “That doesn’t quite make sense. These words are difficult to believe.” No one could foresee that faith would be so important until Christ actually said, “Everyone who believes in me will have eternal life.” Now Jerome, Ambrose, and Cyprian all believed in Christ, yet they were executed. How do we fit this together with the promise of eternal life? When we see how people who believe in Christ are cursed, condemned, exiled, even beheaded and burned, it’s like having the rug pulled out from under us. Christians aren’t allowed to live in peace. This promise about eternal life seems like a lie to us. If this is what eternal life means—that one is pursued and killed—then let the devil have that type of life.

But faith must close its eyes and refuse to pass judgment on what it sees or feels in the world. You won’t become aware of eternal life until Christ raises you from the dead. Meanwhile, your eternal life is hidden in death. It’s covered up and out of sight. But remember that as long as you live, and even when you’re dying, you have forgiveness. If you feel the weight of sin crushing you, you can still say, “My sins are forgiven.” When your sins hunt you down, bite at you, and terrify you, you can look to Christ, put your feeble faith in him, and hold on tightly.