Christmas And Life After Death

In sharing some of God's Word to that little congregation near here this week, I helped them to meditate upon stone and caves. We recalled that Jesus' manger was in a little cave in Jerusalem, according to very ancient tradition. Check out this information about the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem.

I concluded my Advent mid-week sermon by inviting the congregation to meditate upon another cave, the one in which Abraham's body was laid (Gen. 25:7-11). He was buried in the cave of Machpelah near Mamre, in the field of Ephron son of Zohar the Hittite after living for 175 years.

It was the phrase "and he was gathered to his people" that caught my attention and to which I pointed the worshippers. What does that phrase mean? Does it suggest that, like all those before him, Abraham breathed his last and was buried like all those who had gone before him? Hardly. Listen to these words of the Lord Jesus when the Sadducees mocked him for believing and teaching the resurrection of the dead. His curt reply was from their own Scriptures, pointing out that when the dead rise they will neither marry nor be given in marriage. Instead they will be like the angels in heaven. Then he went on to say,

"Now about the dead rising—have you not read in the Book of Moses, in the account of the burning bush, how God said to him, 'I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'? He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. You are badly mistaken!" —Mark 12:24-27. 

We all die, whether young or old, but most of us will not be buried in a cave. Some of us will not be buried at all. Our bodies will be consumed by fire, dropped into the water, devoured by animals or buried in the earth. It does not matter. These earthly bodies will be replaced by heavenly bodies (1 Cor. 15:25-39). That is quite clear from the revealed Word of God. In the earthly time before that Great Day Abraham and all who share his faith are living and rejoicing together in the presence of God.

That wonder is made more certain now that Jesus was born, lived, died and rose again. The dead are not dead at all, but alive and worshipping him, as Jesus pointed out to Martha at the tomb of Lazarus, "I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die" (John 11:25-26).

I've often shared what Alice, a delightful elderly lady of our parish, told me. She said that she had died during an operation on her body. She recalled leaving her body and rising above it to look down at the doctors and nurses desperately trying to revive her. Then in a blinding flash she found herself amidst her people, her parents, husband, aunts and uncles who had all gone before her. They welcomed her with laughter and delight and she was filled with joy. But then she heard a Voice tell her she must return. In a moment, Alice said, she was back in that hospital operating room, looking down at her body. And in the next moment she was awake. After that experience, she said she looked forward to death (2 Corinthians 12:1-10).

Alice was quite reluctant to tell her story. She assumed that many would consider her a nut case for telling such a wild tale. I assured her I did not. Perhaps you will not either, because hundreds have told similar stories. There is even a Near Death Experience Foundation, although I would caution everyone not to base their hopes of life after death and the resurrection upon human science and human accounts (1 Corinthians 15:1-19).

Christmas is a time for family and family gatherings. It's a time to share gifts and love. Just imagine what it will be like when we are "gathered to our people". Christmas time will never end—never!