When a Christian or group of Christians dies because they trust that Christ is the faithful revelation of God and of a new humanity, their death is not like Obi-Wan Kenobi’s last words to Darth Vader: “strike me down and I will become more powerful than you could possibly imagine.” Resurrection is not about returning to fight worldly means of power with the powers known by this world. No…as the body of Christ our death is like the death of Jesus, a great humility accepted voluntarily for the life of the world—with all kinds of conflicting human emotions. “There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends”…even friends that in the moment look a lot like enemies. Our hope (and our vindication) is not in a resurrection that makes us more powerful than our temporal enemies but a resurrection to eternal life…a great victory for *all* persons over the enemies of all whom God has made in his image, all whom God cherishes…every last human person. Those enemies are sin, famine, disease, pestilence, sword, decay, calamities, death, and the accuser. If we are in Christ, our enemies are no longer our human brothers and sisters. If you strike us down, what we become by grace is partakers of the essential essence of God: everlasting lovingkindness; we become indestructible love.
~ Kenneth Tanner
See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know Him. Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when He appears we shall be like Him, because we shall see him as He is. And everyone who thus hopes in Him purifies himself as He is pure.
~ John, The Beloved Disciple, in 1 John 3
Oh beloved, it is true. We are attached to our lives. And it is not wrong to want to live. We have been had the very seed of eternity planted within our souls. The problem comes from our misunderstanding of where life really exists.
Actually we misunderstand a large number of things.
Love
Finances
Politics
Relationships
G_d
And actually, just about everything that is important in life.
But we really don’t get one of the main axioms of the Kingdom: Death is the gateway to life. This is so foreign to us that it is actually impossible to get through our souls. Oh, our spirits begin to understand, but even in this space, it is hard for us to comprehend.
However, the issue is not really that confusing. It is all a matter of perspective. We see death from the perspective of this life, where death is the end – like some sort of a terminus to be fought. And again, to stay alive is a good thing if the living is to bring good to others. And, death apart from Christ is a horrible enemy. For, to die without being made one with Him, is to be separated from Life forever.
But, the death of which this fool of a writer speaks, is not a terminus – it is a beginning. It is a letting go, that we might become what we were ever Designed to become. We, each of us, has been created in the image of The Triune G_d. We were Designed to live in deep and abiding fellowship with each other and with our Creator.
The problem, is that we are afraid that if we let go, we will be swept away by some force(s) and become just part of the flotsam and jetsam of the universe. Yet, nothing could be further from the truth. What is actually happening, is that G_d is Love and will not force us into something that we do not want to do, and still is waiting for us to let go that we might be bound to Him with cords that cannot be broken.
In dying to our own life and taking on His Life:
We lose fear and gain freedom
We stop being orphans and become sons and daughters
We stop being impoverished and become rich beyond our wildest dreams
We lose our pride and become humbled by our new position in Him
We quit being lonely and are never alone again.
The fractured, fallen being we were, becomes whole and holy and real and free.
Can we see it? Love is the power at work in this dying. Fear is the thing that tries to keep us trying to stay ‘alive.’ But fear is a liar. The existence we had was not living. But, when we let go of the fear, when we let go of this squalid existence we had – and die – it is here that real Life begins.
However, once we do let go, we begin to see that all the risks we thought we were taking, are not really there. We have not just been improved. Our hearts of stone, have been replaced with fleshy, soft hearts that beat freely in His Grace and Life and Love and Hope and Freedom. Our ‘self’ has died, but now we are alive in a way we never thought possible. Our very life is the Very Life of The Triune One. We are joined to Him.
And so, in this kind of dying, we become totally alive and inseparable from the Very One Who Is Love.
We can never be destroyed
We will never be alone
We will never be beaten
We are united with G_d
We are alive forevermore
We are free.
So, are you afraid of dying? Yes, apart from Christ, this is a terrible thing to consider. But, in Him, death is nothing but a path to more Life than you could ever imagine. Tonight is your night beloved. Time to let go.
