The Question of Everlasting Life

Constantly there comes before us the question of death, the question of the loss of those we love, the question of the reality of the resurrection and of everlasting life⎯and many other problems that most men ponder upon. Since death is as universal as birth, since it applies to all people, it seems certain that we shall all sometime suffer some of the sorrow of parting. Perhaps we would postpone that parting forever if we could, but no matter how long we live, sooner or later either we leave those we love or they leave us. This we accept as one of the inevitable certainties. But in accepting it we are inexpressibly grateful for the assurance that death’s permanent power was ended on that first Easter. We are grateful for the fact that Jesus the Christ was born in Bethlehem and lived and talked and walked among men, and, being put to death, came forth from death and walked once more among men. We well know that there may be reservations in the minds of many concerning the reality of resurrection and the personal immortality of men, but unless this be fact, there would be futility before us. We may not understand it. But who are we to rule out of the realm of reality the things we do not understand? We live in a world of miracles. We live in a day of miracles. There are miracles all around us⎯in every spring and harvest, in every shower and sunset, in every newborn infant, in every breath we breathe, in every thought that we can recall from the remote recesses of memory. As one penetrating mind suggested, man must not allow “the clock and the calendar to blind him to the fact that each moment of his life is a miracle and a mystery.” Life itself is a miracle, and surely that we shall live always is no greater miracle than that we live at all; and surely that we shall come forth from the grave is no greater miracle than that we first came forth by birth. And so we accept, as witnessed and recorded, the reality of the resurrection of Jesus the Christ, through whom we are heirs to everlasting life⎯and the resurrection of all men, for that same Power who gave us life here has given us life hereafter.