Life After Death is Real
Pastor’s Column
Easter Sunday, 2017
This week my yard has had regular visits from some uninvited (though cute) guests, just in time for Easter: two mallard ducks and two white bunnies. They come and go as if they own the place. All I need now are a few chicks, colored eggs and Easter lilies and I will have all the symbols most people associate with Easter. Of course, the real meaning of Easter has little to do with these things!
The truth is more incredible than anything we could ever imagine. There exists another world, very close to our own, but invisible to our eyes at present. How do we know it exists? We know it because Jesus, who came from that world into our own, told us about it. The record of his words are in the Bible. All sorts of beings live in heaven: among them angels, who are pure spirits, and they always do the will of God. Heaven is the home of the Holy Trinity: Father, Son and Spirit. The Son of God, Jesus, through whom everything was made, both that which is visible to us and the invisible world, entered our world and became visible: and perhaps countless others, unknown to us now. Why did Jesus do this? Why did he become human for our sake? To save us from death and to help us to understand how the world really is.
Many modern people live as if this world is the only reality that there is, but they are very much mistaken. The moment that a person realizes that there is life after death, everything changes. Even some scientists are beginning to realize that the evidence for life after death is simply overwhelming. For example, I recommend to you a new book out called Evidence of the Afterlife: The Science of Near-Death Experiences by Jeffrey Long, M.D. When we learn more about the world to come (the one that is one heartbeat away: yours!), we come to appreciate in a deeper way what this life is all about and how we are to live our lives. In order to understand these things, we must listen to someone who has been there and back: Jesus Christ, the only Son of God who both created us and saved us by dying on a cross. He did this to open a way to heaven for those who believe in him.
Our earthly lives, even the longest of them, are very short indeed. As Christians we are called to have an eternal perspective. How will my actions today look in the light of eternity, my final destination? How am I living my life? What have I done with the precious gift of life that God has given me? Jesus waits for us to have faith in him. He gives us time to choose him before he reveals everything to us on the last day of our lives. If I believe in Jesus and the world he has opened up for me, my life will never be the same again, starting right now.
Father Gary
