By Ada Brownell
Excerpt from Swallowed by Life:
Mysteries of Death, Resurrection and the Eternal
Josh McDowell, author of Evidence that Demands a Verdict, points out the lives of
the apostles were transformed after the Resurrection. According to scripture
and biblical historians, every one of the apostles, with the exception of John,
who died as a prisoner on Patmos, and Judas, who killed himself, gave their
lives because they preached that Jesus rose from the dead. McDowell adds people
often become martyrs because of their beliefs—but no one would give his life for
something he knew was a lie. If Jesus had not risen from the dead, the
disciples would have known it.
The
disciples knew the earthly body of Jesus was dead and His body was changed and
came out of the tomb alive forevermore. Despite being thrown in prison and
threats against their lives if they didn’t quit telling everyone about the
Jesus rising from the dead, the disciples kept on preaching the truth so others
could be saved from eternal death and live. They believed, spread the news, and
died for it.
Although I knew
all these things, no one was going to show me God, prove I will live forever,
or take me on an advance tour of heaven. The requirement for salvation is
faith, and if we could prove heaven exists, there would be no reason for faith.
Now, did I have
this faith?
I
knew any question about the hereafter is settled by faith. The atheist who
believes there is nothing after death has only his faith—no proof. Without
faith there is no answer to how we got here, why we are here, or where we are
going.
I
was already convinced the person who believes in reincarnation has only his
faith. My study led me to conclude that men devise reincarnation to give them
hope beyond the grave. People who reject Christianity often take to believing
in reincarnation, which is the belief in a chain of rebirths in which each
soul, through virtuous living, can rise to a higher state. People who subscribe
to this belief, based in Hinduism, believe they keep coming back until they
reach nirvana, the final stage, where there is emancipation for the soul. The
soul then is taken from the chain of rebirths into nothingness. I couldn’t
understand why anyone would want to believe that because when you reach the
highest plane you cease to exist. Why would I want to disappear for all eternity?
And why would it happen then?
I
discovered many people are attracted to belief in reincarnation because in
Hinduism there is no sin against a holy God. Even though Hindus are encouraged
to be peacemakers, there is no reason to repent of your sins. Reincarnation
doesn’t require you to change your sinful way of living if you don’t want to.
My
study of the Bible showed me that right after Adam and Eve sinned in the
garden, God promised a Redeemer. At the moment of Adam and Eve’s sin, the exact
opposite of resurrection took place. Before they ate of the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil, they were not mortals. One of the lies Satan told
Eve was she would not die as God warned.
Yet
after they sinned, suddenly the man and woman became naked, flesh-and-blood
creatures who suffered from heat and cold, fatigue, pain, sickness, and,
eventually, death.
In the pristine
environment of the newly created earth, Adam lived to be nine hundred thirty
years old. But it wasn’t long after their sin that the first couple understood
God’s warning about what sin would do. Their guts ripped with anguish when
death invaded their family and became an enemy of all humankind. Their son,
Cain, murdered his brother, Abel. No pastor read comforting scriptures. No
funeral director took care of arrangements. They had to dig the grave, lift
Abel’s body into the hole, throw dirt over him, and live with the hole in their
hearts.
But
Adam and Eve weren’t without hope. Way back in those times, in Genesis 3:15,
God promised to send someone who would redeem from sin. But it wasn’t until two
thousand years ago that He sent His Son for our redemption. The sins of Old
Testament prophets and saints were forgiven by the blood of goats and other
sacrifices only because those offerings on the altar and faith in God blotted
out the sins temporarily until the Redeemer came.
The scripture passage most children learn,
John 3:16, sums up what happened: “For
God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever
believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
Many
of these thoughts, lessons, and God’s Word comforted my grieving heart, but I
continued to search and delve into everything that had to do with eternal life.
The Bible says
Jesus was and is man’s only hope.
God requires
blood for redemption because sin is so serious. I know breaking any of the
commandments hurts me or someone else. All I need to do to realize the
seriousness of sin is to remember the bloody young lamb dying on an altar, or
look at the cross with the Son of God’s blood flowing down the wood and pooling
on the ground.
I
learned Jesus was God in the flesh, whom John said was there at creation (John
1:1), claimed Himself to be God, and said He existed before Abraham (John
8:58).
He
also claimed to be the Resurrection and the life (John 11:25), and He
demonstrated His power over death. In the city of Nain, Jesus interrupted a
youth’s funeral procession by touching the bier, the frame for carrying the
dead. The pallbearers stopped, and Jesus said, “Young man, arise!”
The
youth sat up, spoke to those around him, and went home with his widowed mother
(Luke 7:11–16).
Jesus
took Jarius’ twelve-year-old daughter by the hand after she died, and she rose
from the dead.
The
raising of Lazarus from the tomb was, perhaps, the most spectacular—Lazarus had
been buried four days (John 11:6–46). But all it took was Jesus’s shout,
“Lazarus, come forth!”
Lazarus
came forth, bound hand and foot with grave clothes, with a napkin over his
face.
I
noticed that those who witnessed the event had to unwrap Lazarus and let him
go. But when Jesus came forth from the tomb, He didn’t need help. He even had
power over the grave clothes!
Although
I put no faith in the Shroud of Turin and would not put any spiritual significance
on it if it were proved to be the burial garment of Christ, I imagine Christ’s
Resurrection to be such an energized event that it could leave an imprint on
cloth. I would imagine the molecules and energy changing a mortal body into
immortal would put off a fireworks show greater than any lightning event we’ve
ever witnessed. But that’s my imagination.
It
could happen with no more outward notice than when our lives begin as a human
egg, a tiny speck the human eye can barely see, but suddenly, when fertilized
with sperm, bursts to life, into a beautiful baby to be born, grow, walk on the
earth, die, and pass into eternity.
I
began to grasp that eternal life is no more perplexing than mortal life. Our
society has made sex so dirty and disgusting, we often forget the mystery and
miracle of life.
In
the Garden of Eden it was Adam and Eve formed at God’s fingertips from the dust
of the earth. Today, we know the process involves sperm and eggs, but if you
think of it, the process is the same. We are nothing but dust, or soil, with
the exception of the spark of life God gives.
-- Copyright Ada Brownell 2002
