Who Wants To Live Forever?

Unlike the Greek idea we are not at our best when our soul separates from our body. We are not a pre-existence eternal soul that had to put up with a body for a while. We were created as a complete person with a body and that is how we are meant to be. As we say when we looked at Genesis, death is the aberration, the thing that was not meant to be there. We were always meant to live for ever, but sin came in and messed it up. If God is to truly deal with sin and set things back to the way they are supposed to be then he is going to have to deal with this death thing as well. Simply existing disembodied as a spirit in heaven is not dealing with the issue. To be resorted we need to be re-embodied. We need resurrection and that is what is on offer. Life after, life after death.

The picture of our souls going to be with God when we die if we have faith in Christ, is true. The Bible confirms it, but its only the first half of the story. We have resurrection to look forward to afterwards, life after, life after death. Daniel is the first book of the Old Testament to unequivocally hold out this hope in an unambiguous manner. But to understand this hope properly we need to see it in the context of what has gone before. If you remember from when we looked at the book of Daniel, it’s all about giving hope to those who are being oppressed because of their faith and trust in God. We have the stories at the start of the book, which hold out the hope of God rewarding and protecting in this life, with the rider that God’s people are trust even when God does not protect in this life. Then we move on to the second half of the book where the hope is not so much for the individual but for the nation of Israel, your descendants and the purpose of God. You might suffer and even die for your faith but God will restore the fortune and land of the people and your descendants will enjoy prosperity. But then comes this extraordinary claim for resurrection. Not only will the vindication and the reward be for the nation and your descendants but it will also be for you, even if you die. Resurrection is the ultimate hope. At the time when God will restore and nation and put the world under his rule, Daniel holds out the hope that you will be resurrected to enjoy it. Thus, resurrection is not an end to the hope for the nation or your descendants but it is an extension of it. The nation will be restored, God will rule but you will be resurrected to be part of it.

You will be made whole. God has conquered death. You will be resurrected. We often have this idea about the ultimate goal of Christianity being that of our soul spending eternity with God in heaven. However, this isn’t the picture that the Bible paints. Revelation ends not in heaven but on the new earth. The closing scenes and of the new Jerusalem coming down from heaven to earth. Finally, the dwelling place of God is with man on earth. We do get to spend eternity in the presence of God, but it is not in heaven. It is on a renewed earth. Remember, God’s creation was good and his purpose in redemption was to restore it to what it should be, that of God coming to dwell with his creation. The Kingdom of God on earth. The fulfilment of the promise to Israel, of a nation ruled by God, centred in Jerusalem and God dwelling with man. But the promise has been widened, the Kingdom of God is not limited to ethic Israel but to all who have become the true Israel through faith in Christ. And it is not in the old Jerusalem but the new Jerusalem descended from heaven. Heaven on earth become a reality and all made possible through resurrection and because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ who was the forerunner and first fruits of those who are risen from the dead.