Life, death and hope

Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for.

Hebrews 11:1-2 NIV

Does it seem to you like our world is spinning out of control? Plague … pestilence … floods … famine … explosions … uprisings … corruption … loneliness … loss … death….. And I’m only talking about 2020.

That’s where faith makes ALL the difference.

Death is not the end

Hebrews 11 is a fascinating ‘Who’s Who’ of Old Testament times. The tales summarised here could fill a book. These characters must surely have often felt that life was spinning out of control. Some were murdered while others were mysteriously spirited away. Some gave up all they had for a promise from a God they couldn’t manipulate while others were given back loved ones they had lost.

Even as they faced death, many looked ahead to the fulfilment of promises that had not come to fruition. Joseph, for example, said as he lay dying, “God will surely come to your aid, and then you must carry my bones up from this place” (Genesis 50:25 NIV).

Hebrews 11 said of those people of faith:

And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth….

…. they were longing for a better country – a heavenly one.

…. for he (God) has prepared a city for them.

Hebrews 11:13, 16 NIV

Faith impacts our living

Because of their faith, these ‘heroes of the faith’ could live boldly.

Moses’ parents risked the ire of a powerful Pharaoh because they knew that their baby boy was special. Moses himself grew up to disdain the treasures of Egypt and chose instead to endure disgrace. He reluctantly accepted a mandate even less desirable and more taxing than that of a national leader in a pandemic.

Hebrews 11 describes these people as heroes. Because of their faith, some endured torture, jeers, flogging, chains, imprisonment, stoning, being sawn in two, killed by the sword, and many were destitute, persecuted and mistreated (Hebrews 11:36-37). Their lives make mine look positively boring.

I like boring. I like it very much.

We’re not all called to embrace horror and torture. God calls many of us to steady, faithful lives of service to him. Though our lives be blessedly boring, our hope is no different from those heroes of the faith who lived in such a way “… that they might gain a better resurrection” (Hebrews 11:35).

The point I want to make here is that faith impacts our living. Death is not the end.

Hope

The apostle Paul was another hero of the faith … a New Testament hero. He put up with an awful lot in order to preach the gospel. He could ‘suck it up’ only because of his faith … faith that there was so much more beyond this life. He stated that conviction in black and white terms when he stood before Roman governors and Jewish leaders on a couple of occasions in his colourful career.

… I have the same hope in God … that there will be a resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked….. ‘It is concerning the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial before you today.’

Acts 24:15, 21 NIV

‘Heaven’ is our destination. I’m not exactly sure what ‘heaven’ is like, let alone where it is. As a little girl, I pictured a city gate made of a ginormous pearl, inside which were golden streets. The city was build around a river which was lined by trees covered with tasty fruit. Perfect people bustled about doing meaningful tasks. There were no light posts in heaven. The whole city was illuminated by a very special light source at its centre.

In Old Testament times, those who died were said to be ‘gathered to their people’. Jesus comforted his frightened followers when he spoke of ‘my Father’s house’ (John 14:2). To that thief who hung beside him on Golgotha, Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43). Paul emphasised the certainty of our future imperishable, no-longer-weak, glorious, spiritual resurrection bodies (1 Corinthians 15:42-44). Revelation 9 paints a picture of people of God drawn from all tribes and nations standing in his very presence.

Now that I am grown up, I suspect that my childhood picture of heaven was too small. Even as a middle-aged woman, my mind is too limited to grasp the enormity of heaven. New heavens and a new earth … the coming judgement … evil defeated once and for all … the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God … so much is beyond my comprehension.

But of this, I am sure. Heaven is real.

People of faith

The writer to the Hebrews summed up that ‘Who’s Who’ list of Old Testament heroes of the faith with an astounding statement.

These [heroes of the faith] were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised. God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.

Hebrews 11:39 NIV

I don’t pretend to understand how it all works. I think in a fixed space-time continuum. What I can fathom is that Jesus makes us all perfect in himself. Through Jesus, those people of faith from of old have received what was promised, just as we do.

This planet is riddled with disease … decay … and death. As our world seemingly spins out of control, I am reminded that there is a much bigger reality than what I perceive with my five senses.

My hope is in God, through Jesus.

Death is not the end.