John 11:25-27 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”  “Yes, Lord,” she replied, “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”

I don’t think I could count how many times I’ve preached on, or at least quoted, these verses, generally in relation to someone’s physical death. It is significant that this confession of Jesus as the Christ, right up there with Peter’s in Matthew 16:16, was uttered by a woman, when in that society a woman’s testimony was counted as only half as valuable as that of a man. Claiming the New Testament is misogynistic is way off the mark! The rest of the content is so monumental that who said it is practically irrelevant. You could not ask for a clearer promise of eternal life than what Jesus says here. This should make everyone in the world want to be a Christian! On the strictly material level, Jesus’ statement is absurd, but at this point there have been thousands of Near Death Experiences recorded that show that it is literally true. Whatever your opinion of NDEs might be, you can’t shake the conviction of someone who has had one! We spend the vast majority of our lives fixated on the here-and-now, not thinking about eternity. That can easily lead to hopelessness and even suicide, seeking to escape the here-and-now. That is the sad case of many with PTSD, including the recent case in the news of the man who shot himself as he was blowing up the truck he was in. When we have a correct grasp of who Jesus is and what He has done for us, then such actions become out of the question. It’s no longer about us, it’s about Him, and that is ultimately glorious, regardless of what we go through in the here-and-now. It is very significant that when Jesus said this about eternal life, Martha responded with her magnificent confession of faith that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God. She knew it wasn’t about her or her brother who had died, but all about Him. When we too come to that conviction, then nothing can shake us.

Thankfully, I have had this assurance since before my parents died, which made mourning their passing so much easier. I was indeed regretting that I would have no more conversations with them in this life, but I had, and have, total assurance that I will one day join them before the throne of our Lord. My father died at 64, and my honest, first reaction was that he wouldn’t have to retire. When my mother died at 72 with metastatic cancer, I rejoiced that she was set free from that disease. I have conducted a lot of funerals, and some of them have been joyous occasions indeed. That very idea is totally shocking to people who don’t know Jesus as Lord, so I do all I can to introduce them to Him. After all, as Jake Hess sang, for someone who knows Jesus as Lord, “Death ain’t no big deal.”

Father, thank You for the assurance I have in Christ. Help me be more and more effective in sharing that assurance with others, so that they too may let go of themselves and cling to Jesus, who in turn will hold onto them for eternity (Philippians 3:12), for their salvation and His glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!