No one had to tell...
Illustration
No one had to tell me about the finality of death. When I looked at the coffin of my twenty-three-year-old brother-in-law, I knew all there was to know about death's finality. That coffin held more than Everett's body. It held every broken dream and every unfulfilled longing of a young man cut down in his prime, a victim of a senseless traffic accident.
The tragedy was painful to bear; but in the midst of the pain, there was Jesus, whose glory is like the sun at high noon. He is the Resurrected One, the One who beat Death at his own game. The prize was eternal life and freedom from sin's power and condemnation.
There is an awful finality about death. The realm of the unseen claims the spirit, and the body returns to dust. That's about as final as death can get! There is One, however, who is victorious over death, and his name is Jesus. He now has power over sin and death, and his victory became our victory. Somewhere in the process, finality became eternity, and folks can live with that fact much better!
Later, when I thought about Everett's death, I recalled the words of James Weldon Johnson from God's Trombones, and I could smile through my tears. He wrote these classic words of faith:
Weep not, weep not,
She is not dead;
She's resting in the bosom of Jesus ...
She's only just gone home.
The tragedy was painful to bear; but in the midst of the pain, there was Jesus, whose glory is like the sun at high noon. He is the Resurrected One, the One who beat Death at his own game. The prize was eternal life and freedom from sin's power and condemnation.
There is an awful finality about death. The realm of the unseen claims the spirit, and the body returns to dust. That's about as final as death can get! There is One, however, who is victorious over death, and his name is Jesus. He now has power over sin and death, and his victory became our victory. Somewhere in the process, finality became eternity, and folks can live with that fact much better!
Later, when I thought about Everett's death, I recalled the words of James Weldon Johnson from God's Trombones, and I could smile through my tears. He wrote these classic words of faith:
Weep not, weep not,
She is not dead;
She's resting in the bosom of Jesus ...
She's only just gone home.
