“Jesus said to her, “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. Do you believe this?” John 11:25-26

Nothing strikes fear into the hearts of men more than death. The Bible refers to it as the last enemy, and rightly so. Throughout the history of human existence, men have tried to find ways to prevent death yet with all the technological and medical advancements, the cure for death continues to elude the wisdom of men. The reason why death conjures such an emotional and opposing response is that it is not natural. Even though it is the only constant among men, it is the most unnatural phenomenon. There is only one place in the Gospels where Jesus is recorded to have wept, and it was at the tomb of one of his closest friends. As Jesus stood at the tomb of Lazarus, he was overcome with emotions as he witnessed the heinousness of death (John 11:28-35). He knew it was not meant to be this way.

Why is Death Unnatural?

Death is not natural because man was meant to live forever. We are first introduced to the idea of humans back in Genesis 1:26-27, where God the Father, in a heavenly council consisting of the three persons of the Trinity (Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit) verbalized the idea. Contrary to the claims of evolutionary science, Scripture is very clear that man was created by someone. Humans did not just evolve; they were created by God for a specific purpose.

Man is too purposeful to have just evolved by mere chance. In Genesis we read, “Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”

Later on in Genesis 2:5-7, Moses under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit provides more details of how the creation of man took place. He writes, “5 When no bush of the field was yet in the land and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up – for the LORD God had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground, 6 and a mist was going up from the land and was watering the whole face of the ground, 7 then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.’

It is verse 7 that establishes that man was never meant to die. Even though we are told earlier in chapter 1 that man was created in the image and likeness of God, it is here that we come to appreciate what that statement means. After forming the man from the dust, God breathed into his nostrils, then man became a living creature. That breath from God, is not just a wind or air, no, it was ‘zoe’, life itself. The eternal God who had existed from eternity past, who has no end, breathed into man and he become a living creature. If our source is God, then we were never meant to die because whatever has its source in God cannot die (Ecclesiastes 3:11).

Why then do we die if our Source is the Eternal God?

Just as life as a concept originated with God, death as a concept was first introduced to us by God. We are first introduced to the idea of death in Genesis 2:13-14, as a consequence of disobeying God. As he gave man the terms of reference for his existence, he also spelt out the consequences of disobedience. We read in verse 16 “And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, v.17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.’

This would not just be a physical death, but most tragically, a spiritual death. Death is primarily a life that is disconnected from its source. When a flower is cut from its tree and arranged into a bouquet, it looks nice for a few days, but because it is severed from the root that supplies it life, it is only a matter of time before it physically dies off. Therefore, when God told Adam that he “shall surely die” if he disobeyed, it was spiritual death of being disconnected from the source that he had in mind. The physical death was only a matter of sequence.

That is why when Adam and Eve disobeyed God and were driven away from the Garden (Genesis 3:1-19), they did not immediately experience physical death, but once they were disconnected from the source of life, it was only a matter of time before death as we know it physically became a part of the human experience. The first death is recorded in Genesis 4, when Cain killed his brother Abel, which was the first evidence of a life disconnected from its source.

However, unlike the flower bouquet which dies off and is gone forever, the soul of man lives on forever because he was created by the breath of God. Man was supposed to have an eternal life – a life lived in constant union with God. What we now have after the fall of Adam and Eve is a perpetual life, a life that goes on forever but lived outside of union with God. Such a life is a miserable life! At the time of physical death, it is only the dust part (Genesis 2:7) which disappears but the real person of the soul lives on.Despite attempts by science and technology to make our present world a better place and also to extend our physical lives, our greatest problem which is a severed relationship with the source of life continues and does even after death. What we need as humans is more than just a few more years or even decades in the world in its present form – infested with wickedness and evil of every kind. Our true need is a restoration of our union with God, to have our eternal life back.

Jesus, the Hope for Dead People

It is for this reason that our opening text is such a comfort to all of us dead people. As a matter of fact, that is how the Bible describes all of us in Ephesians 2:1-2, we are dead people! But there is hope even for dead people. In John 11:25-26, as Lazarus’ two sisters, Martha and Mary were overcome with grief and sadness that Jesus wasn’t there to prevent their brother from dying, Jesus once and all held out the solution to our greatest need as humans. He told them, “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.”

The sisters of Lazarus were at this point only thinking about the physical death of their brother, but Jesus in his response to them helps us to understand that true life is more than the physical one we have now, it is beyond the grave. “Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live.” Is it possible for someone to live even though he dies? And is it really true that “everyone who lives and believes in me [Jesus] shall never die?”

How do we reconcile these statements with the many faithful and God-fearing people we know who have died? What Jesus is teaching his followers in these verses is that true life is more than staying physically alive, it is rather a life fully restored in union with God and does not matter whether we are physically in this world or the next. What we call eternal life. On that faithful day, Lazarus was physically brought back to life, but we also know that he physically died again. But, once a person believes in Jesus, the power of death is forever broken. So, we can say together with Apostle Paul, “Death is swallowed up in victory.” “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” (1 Corinthians 15:54-55).

How Does One Obtain this Hope?

“Jesus said to her, “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. Do you believe this?”

Three times in this short text, Jesus uses the word “believe.” However, he was not just calling them to believe in something or an idea, rather he was calling for a belief in him as a person. No leading figure of any religion has ever claimed this or called their followers to put belief in them as individuals. All of them spoke of themselves as showing others the way to life, but here Jesus says of himself, “I am the resurrection and the life.” Belief in him is the key to overcoming death. Elsewhere in the book of John, he referred to himself as “the way, and the truth, and the life.”

What is it about Jesus that makes him unique and gives him the audacity to make these astonishingly outlandish claims about himself? And how does he cure those who believe in him from death anyway? It is because Jesus is God himself. As we saw back in Genesis 1:26-27, the decision to create man was made in a divine council consisting of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. This is what Christians refer to as Trinity. The God of the Christian is one God consisting of tree persons. They worked together to create the world, and they worked together in bringing about the redemption of man after the fall. The Father planned our salvation, the Son accomplished it, and the Holy Spirit applies it to the individual.

In his role as the Accomplisher of salvation, the eternal Son of God took on the nature of man, what theologians refer to us the incarnation. The writer of Hebrews in chapter 2:17, says, “Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.” The only way Jesus could qualify as an acceptable substitute for the sins of men was if he is like them.

But unlike Adam and Eve, Jesus was tempted in every way, yet did not sin (Hebrews 4:15). He is the only man who obeyed the Father perfectly and this qualified him to receive all the promises of God. Even though he is the sinless one, he chose to take on himself the punishment that all humanity had incurred through our willful disobedience of God. This punishment was what he bore when he was crucified on that Good Friday some two thousand years ago. What an irony, the only one who obeyed perfectly is also the one who suffered the most gruesome death.

But praise God, Jesus did not remain dead. On the third day, he was raised from the dead and God has declared his substitutionary atonement – his payment for the sin of mankind acceptable. And has declared that “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9). This is what it means to believe in Jesus. A turning from self-reliance to complete reliance on the finished work of Christ for your right-standing before God. This is how one moves from death to life. This is the only hope for dead people like us.

The reason why politicians and diplomats are crisscrossing the globe and scientists are doubling efforts in search of cue to some of the deadliest diseases is because we all acknowledge that something is quite not right with our world today. But the brokenness we see today is only but a faint echo of what is in store for this world and anyone who who doer not believe in Jesus. Luke, in Acts 17:30-31 writes, “The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”

Even if humans were allowed to live a million years on this earth, no amount of scientific and technological advancement will help us overcome death. Our only hope is in Christ and that is why Easter is such a joyous occasion for Christians. Because on this day two thousand years ago, our sins not in part but the whole was nailed to the cross. God the Son came down that we may be raised heavenward. Christ is Risen Indeed!

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A home offers both security and comfort, which are two of the most essential and highly coveted necessities of life. It doesn’t matter how a person’s day has been, if they could come back to their own house, that would mean security and comfort. At least for a short period of time they would be protected from the storms and winds of life. I’m confident Jesus understood this and I firmly believe it is within that context he spoke to his disciples, in John 14:1–3, “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.”

You Can’t Out-give God

Obviously, Jesus was not talking about brick and mortar here, instead, he was speaking about what a house truly signifies; security, protection and comfort. As his time on earth drew to a close, he was preparing to leave behind his beloved disciples whom he cherished deeply. But he didn’t want to leave them without hope, and so he assures them that he is not hanging them out to dry; he will definitely come back for them after he has prepared rooms for them in his Father’s house. 

At one point, Peter asked him, “See, we have left our homes and followed you.” Indirectly implying the question, “what would we get for leaving everything to follow you?” To which Jesus replied, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, who will not receive many times more in this time, and in the age to come eternal life” (Luke 18:29-30). I am sure, many of us have sacrificed a lot to follow Jesus. Some have literally let go of family, property, career and reputation to follow him. His promise is that, he will repay you in folds of hundred in the world to come, because no one has the ability to out-give God. Jesus is gone to prepare a place for you in his Father’s house; when he is done, he will come and take you to himself.

Don’t Fall for a Counterfeit Promise

As we wait for his return, Jesus reminds us not to be deceived because, “[He] is the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through [him].” We often use this verse in our apologetic and evangelistic discussions with people of other faiths to let them know that Christianity is the only path to God. While there is nothing inherently incorrect with using it that way, it’s worth noting that upon closer examination of the context, it becomes evident that Jesus was not primarily delivering an apologetics response.

He had just told the disciples that he was going to the Father to prepare a place for them, to which Thomas, one of the twelve said, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” Thomas wanted to know the way to that promised house, to which Jesus replied, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.” There is something profound and complete about Jesus’ response. He is the way, the content and the telos or end of all that we seek in this life. For the Christian, Jesus is the journey, the destination and the prize. Later on in the chapter, Philip, another disciple said to him, “show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” To which Jesus replied, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.”

Philip obviously thought there is something else, but Jesus reminded him, I am everything you’re looking for. If you’re looking for something else other than Jesus, it means you don’t know what true value is. It is like the man Jesus describes in the Matthew 13:44 parable, “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.” Stated differently, if you’re looking forward to something else in heaven more than Jesus; then heaven will not excite you. Because if you have Jesus, you already have heaven’s greatest gift.

The point is this, as we eagerly anticipate the return of Christ and his promise, many false prophets would come who would try to show us alternative routes (some of them shortcuts) to obtaining what has been promised. Some would even try to sell us a different promise all together and others would offer an alternative version of life itself. But Jesus reminds us that he is the “way, the truth and the life.” We must not settle for anything less than Jesus.

Unfortunately, the materialistic outlook of our society provides breeding ground for these false prophets and apostles. Our inordinate desire for the seemingly good things of life, such as owning your own house could become an altar of worship. Take heart and find comfort, even if you don’t possess a house, a car, or any of the material possessions society deems valuable. Jesus has promised that he is gone to prepare a place for us in his Father’s house, and when the time comes, he will return to take us with him, so that we can be where he is.

Until then, let’s proclaim together with Moses, the great leader of the Israelites, who didn’t even enter the Promised Land let alone own a house, that, “Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.” (Psalm 90:1-2)

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