“We’re sorry to report that there were no deaths in Watauga County during the last 24 hours.” That was what the announcer reported in “Obituary Column of the Air” on WATA in Boone, North Carolina.
How ironic! “We’re sorry to report that there were no deaths . . .” One would think that this would be a reason for celebration. Death had been cheated for at least one day for all the people in one county of our country.
That announcement leads one to wonder: What if there were some secret to cheating death — in every country of the world?
What if death could be made to be temporary?
What if life after death was not just a myth, not just a notion, but reality?
The truth is, death can be cheated. It has already happened. Here’s how a man named Peter described this death-defying event: “God . . . has glorified his servant Jesus. You handed him over to be killed . . . but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this” (Acts 3:13,15).
Jesus had died a cruel death on a cross. That was no myth. But what Peter described was also no myth. Jesus rose from the dead.
Jesus defied death. He defeated it. He destroyed the power that death had briefly held over him.
Jesus also tells us how we can defy death: “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die” (John 11:25,26).
Notice how Jesus allows for the reality (“even though he dies”). He also tells us how to live after death (“whoever believes in me will never die”).
Death is defeated and destroyed. This is not myth. This is the central message of the Easter season.
Life after death is no myth. The resurrection is a reality through Jesus.
Pastor R.
