November 22

“Extra! Extra! Read all about it!” shouts the newspaper salesman, trying to tempt people to purchase a newspaper because it contains juicy information they will want to know. And yet, all the news related to life in the here and now is only temporary. The apostle Paul has got what he calls, “Good News”. It’s about a life beyond the grave and it’s better than just “Good News.” It’s really GREAT NEWS!”
Jesus Christ died, was buried, and three days later arose from the grave with a new and transformed body. We celebrate his resurrection from the grave every year at Easter. Selfishly speaking, the joy of Easter is not just that Jesus Christ bodily rose from the grave, but that his bodily resurrection guarantees we can have the same experience when we die. Paul links the two events together. “Since we preach that Christ rose from the dead, why are some of you saying there will be no resurrection of the dead (for the rest of us)? For if there is no resurrection of the dead (for us), then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ was not raised, then all our preaching is useless, and your trust in God is useless” (I Corinthians 15:12-14).
The fact is, we are living in perishable bodies. “Outwardly we are wasting away,” Paul says elsewhere (II Cor.4:6) and we all know that to be true. “These perishable bodies of ours are not able to live forever” (I Cor.15:50). The fact is, when we breathe for the last time and our soul separates from our physical body, we will be physically dead. All of us will physically die (Hebrews 9:27). But, because of Jesus Christ, we can live forever. He said, “Those who believe in me, even though they die like everyone else, will live again. They are given eternal life for believing in me and will never perish” (John 11:25&26). “I assure you, those who listen to my message and believe in God who sent me have eternal life. They will never be condemned for their sins, but they have already passed from death into life” (John 5:24). How is it that we must all die once, and yet, Jesus says we will never die?
The Bible speaks of two kinds of death (Revelation 2:11; 20:6,14; 21:8). The first is a physical death and occurs when our soul separates from our body. That is the death none of us can escape. The second is a spiritual death and occurs when our soul is eternally separated from God. When a Christian dies physically, their soul immediately goes to be with the Lord (II Cor.5:8; Philippians 1:21), while the non-christian discovers they are eternally separated from God when they die physically. The Good News is that when Jesus Christ returns to planet earth, he will bring with him the souls of those who have already died in him and reunite them with a new and transformed resurrected body (I Thessalonians 4:13-18; Philippians 3:21; I John 3:2; I Cor.15:42-57). That isn’t just Good News. That is GREAT NEWS! And that is why Paul could encourage us to, “be strong and steady, always enthusiastic about the Lord’s work, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless” (I Cor.15:58).