The Mystery Of Immortality

In Paul’s resurrection chapter he brings us face to face with the shocking common denominator of all men, death. He speaks to those who have seen all earthly hope collapse and lie in shattered fragments at their feet. He encourages those who in one moment of time have had their world turned upside down to come crashing down around them.

He speaks to those who have realised that eyes that once smiled have closed, lips that once spoke have fallen into cold silence and the warm loving grasp of a vibrant hand has forever relaxed. He addresses all men who, no matter how lightly they may treat the matter or how desperately they may try to circumvent or delay the issue, must someday stand on common ground as their hearts ponder the same age-old question of the mystery of immortality.

The stark reality of man’s mortality is made evident in the life of even the most sceptical. He cannot avert his eyes from the spectre of death that overshadows his every step. He cannot silence the voice that shatters his self-imposed naivete.

The timeless question of Job of old breaks loudly into the false sanctity of his consciousness with all the force of a wailing siren:

"If a man dies,  shall he live again?"  Job 14:14

Paul and Job urge man to break out of the shell of self-deception and face the issue squarely. He implores man to come to grips with the implications of man’s mortal existence, no matter how painful the encounter with reality might be. He insists man admit the hopelessness of his dilemma, unless an answer comes from a higher source and authority.

Theirs is not a question flung as a scornful cry into the face of an unyielding fate. But rather, it is framed as an intelligent appeal, from the heart of a man of spiritual wisdom. A man who recognizes that the answer to life’s central question can only come from the one from whom life issued.

Are we, as Paul, justified in holding that in spite of death, we have a valid hope of immortality? Some scoff at such a proposition as a ridiculous paradox. Some shudder at it as a dreadful possibility. Some, not as wise as Paul, turn to history outside God’s Word and are led only to the grave and left there. Because secular history is merely mute about the matter. It neither confirms nor denies the prospect of an afterlife.

Some turn to science, but find no laboratory, apparatus or technique for analysing life or death or discovering the fate of a soul. Some rely upon philosophy and find themselves free to speculate, postulate, formulate and posit theories, but in the end find their hypotheses unreliable, for philosophy has no reliable means of testing its conclusions.

Some of us turn to the only true and reliable source, the Word of God, to find there the only authoritative and satisfying answer to man’s perpetual quest for immortality. We cherish this hope as the established answer. Our hearts vibrate within us as we contemplate Paul’s climatic cry, "O death where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be unto God which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!" 

Our Blessed Hope

There rests within the breast,

Of those who wait for Him,

A fervent, burning hope for rest,

From sin in every limb.

Longing ever to be free,

From the prison of the flesh,

Through faith’s eye the empty tomb we see,

And our hearts are filled with bliss.

And echoing as we pause and listen,

The angel’s cry - "He is risen!" - John White

A Farewell Message (From Principal John White in the 1988 Yearbook of Sherwood Hills Christian School)

I placed the following message in the 1988 Year Book of Sherwood Hills Christian School (Addressed to the faculty and students as Founder and Principal for ten years and after resigning my 18 year pastorate of SHBC in order to go to Queensland to plant Hinterland Baptist Church)  The  message still has application today.  -  John White

A Farewell Message

(From Principal John White in the 1988 Yearbook of Sherwood Hills Christian School)

I am sure most Pastors have thought about the subject and content of their "last message.' Since preachers rarely retire and most "die in the harness" anyway, those worth their salt always preach as "dying men to dying people." As far as my future plans are concerned this could well be my "last message" to the staff, students, and parents of Sherwood Hills Christian School.

As we look back over the last ten years and try to draw that fine line that defines and divides success from failure, progress from regression, and tragedy from triumph, we can but praise the Lord for the privilege of serving Him together in such a God blessed ministry as our Christian School. God can and has turned our apparent failures into successes and tragedies into triumphs. We can only say humbly from hearts of gladness and gratitude, "To God Be The Glory, Great Things He Has Done!"

As I think of my last message to you, I am made to think of some of history's famous last words and am made to wonder just what I might add to such a store house of witty sayings? Do I have any particular pearls of wisdom that might give meaning and make more memorable my melancholy moment of departure? Would I be presumptuous to turn to the mighty men of moment recorded in the memoirs of God's men, the Bible, for example and guidance?

Could anyone improve upon the stirring yet comforting last words of Moses to Israel as they stood on the very banks of the Jordan when he said, "Be strong and of good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the Lord thy God He it is that doth go with thee, He will not fail thee nor forsake thee." Could anyone gainsay the mighty words of Joshua on the eve of his heavenly departure at the age of 110 when he said to a new generation of victorious Israelites, "Choose ye this day whom ye shall serve.. .but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." Or is there in history or literature any famous last words that would surpass the pathos and poignancy of those of Paul’s as he paused with his head upon the chopping block and poised beneath the awful executioner's axe and cried, "Preach the word, be instant in season, out of season.. .the time of my departure is at hand, I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.."

If I were seriously saying a final and fond farewell or penning last words, I could choose no better than these. But I'd rather focus on the fantastic future I am sure God has for His people in Sherwood Hills Baptist Church and Christian School, as well as for me and Mrs. White. A future that can only be diminished by the self-imposed limitations of little faith. A future that is in God's hands. A future that can be as great as our great God. I pray for such a future for you all as you serve Him according to the good pleasure of His will.

As for me, pray for me that my last years might be my best years in God's service. Did you know that Michelangelo painted his famous work on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel lying on his back on a scaffold at the age of 90? When he was 88 John Wesley was preaching every day? Titian painted his historic, "Battle of Lepanto", at 98? Booth Tarkington wrote sixteen novels after 60 and when he was totally blind? According to these and many more examples, my years of fruitful service may have just begun. So instead of saying, "Good bye," I will say, "God's Speed," with these words from two of my favourite poets:

Grow old with me! The best is yet to be, 

The last of life, for which the first is made:

Our times are in His hand who saith, "A whole I planned, 

Youth shows but half; trust God; see all; nor be afraid!"

-Browning

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,

But I have promises to keep,

And miles to go before I sleep,

And miles to go before I sleep.    

-Frost

"You'll Know Where to Find Me"

An elderly pastor lay critically ill. In the opinion of his doctor he could live only a few days more. His wife put through a tong-distance call to their son, who-was also a pastor and who served a congregation in a small town three hundred miles away.

Within a few hours the son was at the father's bedside, and the two men prayed together. Saturday came, and there was no change in they elderly man's condition. Calling his son to his bedside, he spoke in, a weak and faltering voice:

"Go back to your congregation, son, and preach tomorrow. if I should slip away while you are gone, you'll know where to find me." 

"You'll know where to find me!" What a wonderful thing, when a father can speak thus to his children!  What a wonderful thing at the sunset of life, to know just where. we will be at eternity's dawn—in our Father's house, in the company of our Saviour who has gone ahead to prepare a place for us. And what a wonderful thing for a father who is taking leave of his children to know that they, too, have learned the way to the place where he is going; and that they, too, by God's grace, will share a mansion in the Father's house above.

"You'll know where to find me!" Let those of us who are fathers and mothers ask ourselves: have we arrived at that spiritual certainty which will enable us, at the end of life, to say: "1 know where I am going"? And have we passed on this knowledge and this faith to our children so that we can say confidently to them: "You'll know where to find me"?

We can do both if, by God's grace, we root our faith—our own and that of our children—firmly in Him who died for us and who even now is awaiting our arrival in His Father's house above.

—Herman W. Gockel

A Prepared Place for a Prepared People

The hope of a home in heaven has always been central to the Christian message. But to the child of God, it is more than a hope, it is life's greatest certainty. But, after all, when all is said and done, it is as the apostle Paul said, "If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable."

When people think of heaven, a number of questions naturally arise. Is it a real place? Or is it, as some assert, merely a figment of a fertile imagination. Has man, in facing his obvious fragile existence and mortality, merely conjured the concept up to fulfil his wistful longing for immortality? Or could it be, as some insist, just pie in the sky by and by, used as a tool of manipulation by religionists in order to deceive the gullible masses? Is such a longing and seeking just another expression of Lenin's discredited thesis that "religion is the opiate of the people"? Is it, as some sceptics say, that if God and heaven did not exist, man of necessity would invent them? Even sincere seekers for truth may understandably ask, how can we ever know for sure there is a heaven for believers and a hell for Christ rejectors?

If it is all just pie in the sky, please don't tell me! I am as convinced of the reality of heaven as I am of the reality of a Creator God! Paul said that those who seek Him by faith can come to Him and He will reward those who diligently seek Him. I have sought and found God by faith in Jesus Christ and thus have become a child of the King; a joint-heir with Christ of all the glories of heaven and eternity! I can say with John, by faith, now I am a son of God. I do not know what I shall be, but I know when He shall appear, I shall be like Him for I shall see Him as He is!

We who know Him by faith know that heaven is a prepared place for a prepared people. Enoch is an example of such a person. He walked with God and was no more. Someone has proposed a beautiful scenario. Enoch and God walked together daily. As the quantity and quality of their walk increased, God said at the end of one of their daily walks, "It's closer to my house than yours, just come on home with me today!"

Our walk with Christ on earth is designed to mature us and prepare us for an eternity with Him in heaven. After all, those who love the world and the things of the world would probably be unhappy in heaven in any case. But just where is heaven? Astronomically some speak of a great empty place in the North. The Bible speaks of a third heaven - beyond the bonds of earth and over and above any astronomical heavens. Personally, I like the response of a little girl, who, when asked by a sceptic where heaven was, simply said, "It's where Jesus is." When the sceptic pressed the point and asked, "But where is Jesus?" The little girl replied, "Well, I don't know exactly, but where Jesus is - is heaven enough for me!"

Great Is Thy Faithfulness

Have you ever met anyone who seemed to have been born in the negative case and kickative mood? Who, if their bed had a right side, always seemed to manage to stumble out on the opposite one? Who, when you asked them how they were doing, would really feel it necessary to tell you by reciting a list of all the things that had gone wrong in their life; all the way back to the day of their birth? Perhaps the same person acted as if they felt God had given them a divine appointment to judge and criticise all the inferior beings with which they were surrounded. In addition, they seemed to feel commissioned to make sure everyone measured up to the standard they imagined they met. The sort of person you wanted to ask, "Who appointed you God, anyway?"

Before we judge too harshly, let's consider the story of the griping and complaining Israelites. They came as a mixed multitude through the very jaws of death. Then one day they stood on the brink of destruction on the shore of the Red Sea. There was no way back. They could see the flash of sunlight on their enemies’ weapons and hear the harsh cries of the cruel, battle-hardened warriors in the Pharaoh's terrible war chariots. Their slaughter was more than imminently certain. It was at this pivotal point of their journey that God had Moses to cry out these immortal and awe inspiring words, "Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord..."

What a tremendous lesson and experience God gave them that day! But it didn't seem to last. Israel's constant problem seemed to be their inability to stand still long enough to truly remember the salvation of the Lord. They couldn't stand still enough, in all their whining and griping, to catch the cry of the still small voice of God as He spoke peace to their hearts. In spite of the continuing great victories He gave them, they continued to wander aimlessly and faithlessly to their self-destruction, murmuring and complaining all the way. This murmuring demonstrated a complete lack of faith and trust. This is especially true when considered against the background of the many times God had proven His faithfulness by miraculously providing all their needs in every situation. In the end their murmuring and faithlessness precipitated the judgement and severe chastisement of a loving Father.

It is against this background in the Hebrew letter that God urges a faith-rest life upon His people. The sort of life He wishes all His people in every age to live. He wishes us to know we can rest in Him no matter what the circumstance. That we can have utter faith and confidence in His provision, no matter what the conditions. That even though all others may desert us in our time of trial and trouble, He will never leave us or forsake us. That even though our fair-weather friends may fail us in our frailty and fall by the wayside, He will uphold us with His strong right hand. "Great is Thy faithfulness.."