One of the ironies of today’s highly connected world is the personal isolation that many feel. Indeed, an extreme sense of personal isolation can lead to despair and even suicide.

And there are times when a sense of isolation can overwhelm God’s people: prayer is difficult, and any talk of joy and peace seems empty. God feels more like a distant relative than a heavenly Father.

Psalm 42 begins: As a deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul longs for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and behold the face of God?

My tears have been my food day and night, he continues, while people say to me continually, “Where is your God?” (42:3).

The writer of Psalms 42 and 43, removed from his home city of Jerusalem and the temple, asks three times, Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you so disquieted within me? (42:5,11; 43:5).

Alone. The psalmist felt he had no-one to confide in. Indeed, those around him taunted: ‘where is your God?’ It’s easy to trust God in the security of a good home and church. But now the song writer who seems to have led the Temple worship was alone, without personal encouragement and emotional support. Loneliness can make us feel distressed. We are social creatures made for personal relationships, and when we lose our support networks it can really impact us.

He also experienced physical isolation: These things I remember, as I pour out my soul: how I went with the throng, and led them in procession to the house of God, with glad shouts and songs of thanksgiving, a multitude keeping festival (42:4). We sense his grief for the time he was part of a joyful throng. Now he was alone.

It doesn’t take much imagination to see how separation might lead to loneliness. Even in the large cities of the world people can experience personal isolation.

Disturbed and downcast the psalm-writer lacked energy; he felt anxious and overwhelmed: Deep calls to deep at the thunder of your waterfalls; all your waves and your billows have gone over me, he writes (42:7).

He felt alone from God: I say to God, my rock, “Why have you forgotten me? Why must I walk about mournfully because the enemy oppresses me?” (42:9). Torn with a sense of loss, he was like a jilted lover or a widow grieving for her husband.

‘I believe’ he is saying, ‘What’s happened to me?’ As we dig into this psalm we realize that here is a man of spiritual integrity who is willing to ask questions.

Which leads to his significant question: Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you disquieted within me? (42:5,11 and 43:5).

Many who feel lonely, sad and depressed try to find escape by turning to alcohol or drugs, online gambling or pornography. It’s important to notice what this psalmist does: he admits his feelings. We need to do the same. And we need to encourage others to do so as well.

It takes courage. If we’re feeling lonely or depressed we need to acknowledge it. If we feel guilty about something, we need to own up to it before God. If we’ve lost someone we loved, we also need to articulate our loss. There’s nothing to be gained by running away.

Look at the way the psalm writer responds in v.9:  I say to God, my rock, “Why have you forgotten me? Why must I walk about mournfully because the enemy oppresses me?” ‘God, where are you? God, you have let me down. Why?’

It’s an important question to ask. Not because there’s always an answer, but because we need to express our frustration. We need to tell God what we feel.

There’s a very moving incident in Pieter de Vries’ novel, The Blood of the Lamb. The main character has a daughter who dies of leukaemia on her 12th birthday. Her father is devastated. Holding a birthday cake he was taking to her in the hospital he looked up at a crucifix on a church wall. Suddenly he exploded and hurled the cake at the face of Christ.

In one sense it was a blasphemous act. Yet in another sense it expressed the very reason why Christ was once on that cross. For there Christ is the representation of God’s just anger against all the injustices, sin and evil in the world. In one supreme act, Christ on the cross perfectly satisfied God’s just anger and, once and for all time, making it possible for him to be reconciled with a sinful world.

When we feel angry with God we need to remember this. God is no stranger to pain. He knows what it is like to feel alone in an unjust world. “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” the dying Jesus had said (Matthew 27:46).

With the psalm writer we need to question ourselves when we feel alone: Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you disquieted within me? (43:5) The greatest danger when we are feeling alone and ‘down’ is self-pity and to become self-preoccupied. ‘Speak to your soul, your inner self’ the psalm advises, ‘and ask questions’.

And there is something else: prayer. Vindicate me, O God, and defend my cause against an ungodly people… (43:1); and Send out your light and your truth; let them lead me… (43:3). The psalm writer is confident in God’s love and light. He is assured of the day when, again filled with joy, he will sing songs of praise to God.

Indeed, through the lens of the New Testament we can see this more fully. God, who exists in three persons, has been and is fully involved in serving us through his work of restoring men and women everywhere into relationship with him. “For the Son of Man came,” Jesus said, “to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10).

Furthermore, God is not only building us back into relationship with him, but also with one another as his offspring. Church is a special gift from God. When we are part of a community of God’s people we can find support and encouragement. God’s delight is that we find and enjoy relationship with him and with one another.

Whoever we are, whatever our situation in life, when we belong to Christ, we are never alone.

Prayer. Almighty God, who taught the hearts of your faithful people by sending them the light of your Holy Spirit: so enable us by the same Spirit to have a right judgment in all things and always to rejoice in his holy comfort; through the merits of Christ Jesus our Savior, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Almighty and everlasting God, you have given us your servants grace by the confession of a true faith to acknowledge the glory of the eternal Trinity, and by your divine power to worship you as One: we pray that you would keep us steadfast in this faith and evermore defend us from all adversities; through Christ our Lord.  Amen.

© John G. Mason

Is there anything that can shake us out of our apathy and fear and make us an intrepid people? That can inject enthusiasm and joy, confidence, and courage into our lives as God’s people?

Come with me to the events of Pentecost that we read about in Acts chapter 2. It was six-weeks after Jesus’ resurrection. Let me identify three questions that emerge.

What happened?  When the day of Pentecost came, the disciples were together in an upper room in Jerusalem. ‘Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came…  Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them… All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.’

Pentecost is the Jewish festival celebrating the giving of the Ten Commandments. In Exodus 19:18 we read that violent wind and tongues of fire had enveloped Mt Sinai at the time God gave Moses the law. However, as Israel’s prophets repeatedly observed, the law was not changing people’s lives: it failed as an instrument to change the world.

Now at Pentecost some twelve hundred years later, God was coming again with fire and wind, not to impart more law, but to impart his Spirit. The mighty wind symbolised the power of Jesus; the fire symbolised his purifying and cleansing work; and speech pointed to the good news of Jesus reaching every nation.

Luke, the author of Acts focuses on speech. He tells us: Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. … And everyone was bewildered because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each (2:5).

The crowd came from the Caspian Sea in the east to Rome in the west, from modern Turkey in the north to Africa in the south. ‘How is it?’ they were asking, ‘That we can understand them in our own native language?’

The cynics in the crowd mocked, saying the disciples were drunk. But Peter wasn’t silenced: ‘The bars aren’t open yet,’ he said. ‘It’s only nine o’clock in the morning’. This was the real Author of speech, reversing Babel.

The disciples, previously demoralised and defeated, now had a new enthusiasm, confidence, and joy. Peter, who had denied Jesus, was no longer a coward but a courageous preacher. What had brought about the change? The coming of the Spirit of God, ‘Another Helper’ as Jesus had promised (John 14:16, 26).

For many, Christianity is little more than a moral code they struggle to observe or a creed mindlessly to recite each week. But in John 14 Jesus had spoken of a Companion who would enable his people to experience a life-changing personal relationship with him.

What did it mean? The Holy Spirit was turning cowardly disciples into intrepid apostles. From verse 22 Luke records Peter’s speech: “Men of Israel, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know.  …And you, …put him to death …but God raised him from the dead, …”

People today mock the idea of Jesus’ miracles. Yet first-century historians such as Josephus, agreed that Jesus was ‘a miracle-worker’. In his speech Peter called the miracles signs. Just as a sign-post points to the road we might follow, so Jesus’ works pointed to the power and authority he wielded. “If I by the finger of God cast out demons,” Jesus had said, “then the kingdom of God is come upon you” (Luke 11:20).

The climax of Peter’s speech is in verse 36: “Therefore let all Israel be assured of this, God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.”

Peter had a logically developed progression of ideas – not a frenzied set of phrases. He explained that Jesus’ cross and resurrection reveal God’s extraordinary love. The Son of God had put aside the glory of heaven and come amongst us, giving his life as the one perfect sacrifice for the sins of the world.

Human authorities had judged Jesus a threat and did what autocratic leadership so often does – stamped out the opposition by fair means or foul. They nailed Jesus to a cross. But from his position of chief justice in his supreme court, God overturned the judgement of the human court and raised Jesus to life. As we talked about last week, we live in a porous universe.

Does all this matter to us? It happened so long ago. Peter’s hearers that day were cut to the heart…, “Brothers, what should we do?” they asked (Acts 2:37f). When Jesus was dying on the cross, they had mocked him. Now they knew the truth they were utterly ashamed. God’s Spirit was at work.

Peter’s response is one that we all need to hear: “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven (Acts 2:38). Peter didn’t tell his hearers they needed to turn over a new leaf and start living moral lives. Rather, he focused on their relationship with Jesus. Repent. ‘Come to your senses about Jesus,’ he says. ‘Reckon on the reality that he is the Lord. Turn to him and ask him for his forgiveness.’

Three thousand responded to Peter’s call that day. God’s Spirit was taking up the work of Jesus the Messiah in the world, opening blind eyes and changing hearts.

Significantly Peter continued: And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you, for your children, and for all who are far away, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to him (Acts 2:38f). From now on God’s Spirit, the Spirit of Christ, would come into the lives of all God’s people (see also Romans 8:9). This is what Paul the Apostle means when he says that God’s people are in Christ (for example, Colossians 1:27). Christ, through his Spirit now lives in us.

What God did that day, and what he has been doing ever since, matters. God’s delight is to draw men and women from all over the world, from every race and nation – people like you and me – into a personal, living relationship with himself.

And we have a part to play. Let’s not be fearful. Rather, let’s pray for the Spirit’s strength and wisdom to be an intrepid people – taking up opportunities we have, to introduce family and friends, colleagues, and people in the wider community to Jesus. Why not invite a friend to join you in finding out who Jesus really is through ‘The Word 121’? It’s not a course or a program. Rather, it is a ministry that opens up the Gospel of John. Families are using it to grow in their understanding of Jesus, God’s Son who has come amongst us. The Word One-to-One is available online at: www.theword121.com.

A Prayer for Pentecost / WhitSunday. Almighty God, who taught the hearts of your faithful people by sending them the light of your Holy Spirit: so enable us by the same Spirit to have a right judgment in all things and always to rejoice in his holy comfort; through the merits of Christ Jesus our Savior, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.  Amen.

Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip us all with everything good that we may do his will, working in us what is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

You may like to listen to the Keith Getty and Stuart Townend song, Holy Spirit, Living Breath of God.

© John G. Mason

Almost everything around us contains pores – the timber floor under our feet, the paperback in our hand, and the cotton sheets on our bed. Our skin and our brain are porous. Pores are a necessary part of our health and well-being. For example, blood in our skin opens and closes the pores in our skin enabling us to cope with temperature changes.

Pores are a necessary part of the material world. On one occasion walking through the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix, AZ, I learned that in line with all flora, the saguaro cactus has pores in its skin that open and close to collect carbon dioxide. During photosynthesis, plants turn the collected carbon dioxide into food in the form of sugars. While most plants open their pores during the day, cacti and other nocturnal plants such as the aloes open their pores at night.

At another level, pores in the earth’s surface enable the movement of vital water that sustains life. In recent times scientists are exploring ways to store climate gases in the earth’s surface. Porosity is an important aspect of the world around us and to our own life and well-being.

That said, materials such as glass, plastics and metals and other human developments are typically non-porous.

Now, let me take this notion of porosity to a totally different level: the porosity of the universe. I’m referring to a non-material supernatural dimension of existence, beyond the space-time material world that is capable of movement within the material universe.

The big question that arises here is this: how do we know it’s true?

When we turn to the four records of the life of Jesus Christ, known as ‘Gospel’, we find that by the closing chapters it appeared that the Roman and Jewish authorities had won the day. They had felt threatened by an outsider, Jesus of Nazareth, who wielded extraordinary power and attracted vast crowds. But then there came the day when they put him to death by extreme torture, Roman crucifixion.

But the Jesus story didn’t end there. All four Gospel records reveal that the impossible had happened. Jesus was seen alive again. He not only met and spoke with his closest followers but also ate with them. He was not some ghostly apparition or a figment of the imagination.

Now you may have difficulty with the notion of Jesus’ resurrection, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. In his book, God and Stephen Hawking, Dr John Lennox, emeritus professor of mathematics at Oxford University, observes that many scientists today say ‘miracles arose in primitive, pre-scientific cultures, where people were ignorant of the laws of nature and so readily accepted miracle stories’ (p.82).

To this Professor Lennox responds, ‘In order to recognize an event as a miracle, there must be some perceived regularity to which that event is an apparent exception! In other words, we don’t need the benefit of modern science to define an extraordinary event’ (pp.84f).

Dr. Lennox further comments, ‘From a theistic perspective, the laws of nature predict what is bound to happen if God does not intervene… To argue that the laws of nature make it impossible for us to believe in the existence of God and the likelihood of his intervention in the universe is plainly false’ (pp.86f).

God’s people understand that ‘the laws of nature’ are the observable regularities that God the creator has built into the universe. However, such ‘laws’ don’t prevent him from intervening if he chooses. When he does, we are able to identify the irregularity and speak of it as ‘a miracle’. Jesus’ resurrection was not the result of a natural mechanism. Rather, it happened because God chose to intervene with super–natural power (Romans 6:4b).

One of the distinctives of the biblical record is the interaction and movement between the heavenly sphere and the world of our experience. A further example of this is found in the opening chapter of Dr. Luke’s second volume, The Acts of the Apostles.

In the opening lines of Acts chapter 1, we read that for some six weeks following his resurrection Jesus met with his close followers and others, teaching them about the kingdom of God (1:3).

Sensing that the age of God’s Messiah had dawned, the disciples asked: “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” Excited by the idea that Jesus was going to reveal his status as Israel’s true king, they were thinking in political and nationalistic categories.

And through the ages many have thought in similar terms. But it’s important that we focus on Jesus’ response: “It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority (1:7). ‘You’re not to worry about times and end-times,’ he is saying. ‘I’ve got something much more important for you to do with your time and energy: “You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8).

In commissioning his disciples as witnesses, Jesus wants us to know that what they passed on is nothing but the truth. This is so important. It assures us that we do live in a porous universe – that there is a supernatural dimension to our existence. That there is a creator God who chooses to intervene in our affairs, working out his larger, loving purposes for our good.

Significantly, the Bible reveals a faith that is not grounded in rules, rituals and regulations, but rather in a relationship – a relationship with Jesus Christ. And because meaningful and lasting relationships can only be built on truth, we need to know the truth. Relationships within a marriage and family are only meaningful where there is truth and honesty. Without truth there can be no trust.

Now, it’s important to note that Jesus is not saying that his followers down through the ages are witnesses as were the original disciples. We can’t be. We weren’t there. But we are called upon to testify to the good news he brings.

Which brings us to another facet of the porosity of the universe. In Acts chapter 1, verse 9 we read: And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men in white robes stood by them and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”

Clearly Christ moved from the space and time dimensions that we know into another beyond our comprehension. It was the dawn of the age of God’s Messiah.

For the present God’s kingdom, the rule of the Messiah, remains hidden. In his Letter to the Colossians Paul the Apostle tells us that the new age of God’s rule co-exists with the old. But currently a door is open, allowing people to pass from the old age to the new. While we see around us the movement of human kingdoms and powers, God, in his mercy is rescuing people from all nations and races from the dominion of darkness, transferring us into the kingdom of the Son he loves… (Colossians 1:13).

We live in an uncertain and troubled world. We need to pray for the leaders of the nations and play our part in contributing to the welfare of people in need around us. Above all, let’s pray that God in his mercy will use the good examples of our lives and the testimony of our lips to draw many to the risen and ascended Lord Jesus Christ. His physical resurrection and the angels’ words at his ascension, assure us that his return in supreme power and dazzling glory is certain.

A Prayer for Ascension Day. God our Father, make us joyful in the ascension of your Son Jesus Christ. May we follow him into the new creation, for his ascension is our glory and our hope. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Benediction. Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip us all with everything good that we may do his will, working in us what is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

© John G. Mason

Writing in The Australian (April 23, 2024), Dr Greg Sheridan observed, ‘Politics, as they say is downstream of culture, and culture is downstream of faith. Having lost faith in any transcendental truth, the West now is in a permanent crisis of meaning, which leads to political entropy, a kind of political vertigo, forever on the edge of a nervous breakdown’.

In this Easter Season we’ve touched on the Gospel record of Jesus’ physical resurrection as well as some of the implications of this momentous event. We’ve noted that the events of the crucifixion and resurrection are inextricably tied together – through his death Jesus perfectly satisfied the just requirements of a holy God in his interface with a sinful humanity; through his resurrection he assures all who turn to him of God’s full and free forgiveness and new life in all its glory.

In First Corinthians, chapter 15, Paul lifts a corner of the curtain on what this new life means – a physical resurrection with Jesus where there will be a continuity with our present experience (15:21-38). But we will also experience a significant discontinuity between our present and future bodies, as we read in chapter 15, verses 39-57.

In verses 40b and 41 we read: There are both heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly bodies is one kind and the glory of the earthly bodies is another. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; indeed, star differs from star in glory.

All around us there’s evidence of God’s awesome ability to create a vast variety of different physical bodies. Just look up, Paul is saying, at the sky during the day and also at night. The lights of the sun, the moon and the stars are different: they all reveal a different kind of glory, reflecting the glory of their maker in various ways.

When we think about this, we shouldn’t dismiss the possibility of there being more than one type of human body, having a different kind of glory or splendor from its old form. A new, resurrection body is not only possible, but there’s every reason it will have an appearance more glorious than the first.

The following verses develop the point: So it is with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body (15:42-44).

Paul distinguishes between the physical body and spiritual body. The life we experience now is marked by perish-ability and decay. Someone once sent me a birthday card. On the front was a caricature of Benjamin Franklin with the caption: “We all age from the top downwards – first the hair, then the eyes, mouth, neck, the chins.”  On the inside were the words, “What exquisite ankles you have”.

The new resurrection body will be marked by imperish-ability and immortality. It will no longer suffer from disease, disability or death. It will be raised up in glory – in vitality and power. It will no longer be weak and powerless. It will be all the things we cry out for: healthy, vital, bodies that will live for ever. Views of reincarnation pale into a shadow compared with this robust, glorious picture of Paul’s.

Currently we have a physical body suitable for our existence on earth. However, God will provide a spiritual body appropriate for our existence in heaven.

Notice how all this will occur: If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being” the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. The first man was of the dust of the earth, the second man from heaven.  As was the earthly man, so are those who are on the earth; and as is the man from heaven, so also are those who are of heaven.  And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so we shall bear the likeness of the man from heaven (15:45-49).

Paul identifies two proto-types – Adam and Christ. One is formed from the dust of the earth. The other is the life-giving spirit from heaven. We need to experience bodily transformation and acquire a spiritual body if we are to live in the new heaven and the new earth.

As frail mortals we can’t exist with Christ in heaven. We need a body appropriate for God’s promised new order – a body that has the form and shape of our present body, but one in which our perfected spirit will exist. It will be perfectly adapted to the new heaven and the new earth. Just as the disciples recognised the risen Jesus, so we will recognise each other.

A computer with its hardware and software may assist with these complex ideas. We could liken the inner self, the conscious self, to computer software, and the body to the hardware. In God’s purposes, when we turn to Christ and take hold of God’s promises, our ‘software’ – our inner self – is subject to a major re-programming: all our imperfections are removed. Our resurrected body – our new ‘hardware’ – will reflect the glory of this perfection.

Paul continues by lifting the curtain on the future scene a little more: I declare to you, brothers and sisters that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Listen I tell you a mystery: we cannot all die, but we will be changed— as in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and the mortal will put on immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: ‘Death has been swallowed up in victory’ (15:50-54).

This amazing chapter moves to a magnificent climax: we will be changed, as will also those who are alive when that day comes. We will no longer have bodies liable to death and decay.

Paul wants each one of us to rejoice with him in the triumph that has been won over death itself. And what a triumph: “Where, O death is your victory? Where, O death is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ (15:55-57).

The success of life over death is not in our hands. The victory is God’s. He’s done it all. And we mustn’t dismiss Paul’s note about those who benefit: the victory is for those who know Christ Jesus.

Let me come back to words of Malcolm Muggeridge: ‘Confronted with the reality of death,’ he wrote, ‘we may rage or despair, induce forgetfulness, solace ourselves with fantasies that science will in due course discover how we came to be here and to what end, and how we may project our existence, individually or collectively, into some Brave New World spanning the universe in which Man reigns supreme. God’s alternative proposition is the Resurrection – a man dying who rises from the dead… I close with, ‘Done’…: Christ is risen!’

Paul wants us to know the reality of Jesus’ resurrection and to understand the continuity / discontinuity between our present and future existence. But he also wants us to understand something else. He wants us to appreciate how the resurrection impacts our life now. He writes: Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, be steadfast, immovable, abounding in the work of the Lord, because you know that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

Live now in the light of the reality of the resurrection glory that is to come, he says.

In a world that has lost its awareness of transcendental truth, continue steadfast and immovable in your walk through life with Christ Jesus. Continue steadfast in prayer. Pray for wisdom to discern and take up opportunities to introduce family and friends, colleagues and people in the wider world to the Lord Jesus Christ. Continue steadfast and true in your faith in Christ and in the hope of the resurrection, knowing that no matter the cost, your work in his service will not be in vain. Others may not know what we do or they may forget, but Jesus won’t. The day will come when he will shout it from the roof-tops.

A prayer. Heavenly Father, the giver of all good things, fill our hearts with thankfulness, and grant that by your holy inspiration we may think those things that are good, and by your grace and guidance do them; through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

© John G. Mason

It is said that there are two certainties in life – death and taxes. Ironically both subjects have traditionally been off limits at dinner parties. Our death is something we don’t want to talk about, let alone think about. Woody Allen once quipped: ‘It’s not that we’re afraid to die. We just don’t want to be there when it happens’. And Malcolm Muggeridge, a former editor of the English Punch magazine, observed, ‘In earthly terms death is the only certainty’.

He continued, ‘All my mortal mind can know for sure is that this hand, writing these words, will falter and become inert, and the intelligence choosing and arranging them become inoperative. Flesh and intelligence equally doomed shortly to distinction after so brief and fleeting an existence – no more than a dragonfly’s, with its bright wings and exquisitely precise movements darting about in the sun…’

Yet, in our orthodox Christian creeds, we state that we believe in ‘the resurrection of the body and life everlasting’.

What do we really mean when we say this? What happens when our body is destroyed – rotting in a grave or cremated? If we’re one day to be raised, what kind of body will we have?

These are just some of the questions we have. The subject is complex, and our answers can easily become no more than confused ramblings.

Consider what Paul the Apostle writes in the clearest biblical statement on the resurrection. In First Corinthians, chapter 15, verse 21 we read: For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be made alive.

When by faith we turn to Christ Jesus and attach ourselves to him, we are assured that even though our bodies may decay in a grave or incinerated, the day will come when we too will be raised from the dead. On the day when Christ returns, his majestic power and glory will transcend the universe. That will be the time when he will give all his people from throughout time a new body.

Jesus’ own resurrection from the dead – which happened on a certain day outside the city of ancient Jerusalem – foreshadows the resurrection of all his people from all races and nations.

This is the theme that Paul develops in chapter 15, verses 35 following. He writes: Someone may ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?” How foolish, what you sow does not come to life unless it dies. When you sow you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else.

Decades ago, when I was in kindergarten, my family were living in the country. I recall carrying out my first formal scientific experiment. We were given a saucer, cotton wool and some wheat. We put the wheat on the cotton wool, wet it and took it home. Over the next few days I was amazed at what I observed. Out of the rotting, smelly grain grew new life.

Paul is telling us that in the present order of things death needs to take place before new life occurs. The death of the first is the means of effecting change. When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed…

Furthermore, he continues: God gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body. All flesh is not the same:  men and women have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds another and fish another (15:38, 39).

‘Have no doubt,’ Paul is saying, ‘the resurrection of our bodies will be a reality’. It makes sense. It’s consistent with what we can observe of the various elements of the present natural order. It means there is continuity between our present and future existence.

God is used to creating bodies appropriate for different kinds of environments: different bodies for men and women and animals who live on the land; different bodies for birds which fly; and different bodies again for fish that swim and live in water. Each is perfectly fitted for its environment.

It is God’s prerogative to bring about change and give the sown seed its appropriate plant body as he wills.

This is so important for us to know. It means for one thing that God treats every aspect of his creating work seriously – nothing is lost, for everything has a meaning. There’s not some massive disjunction between the material and the spiritual world. Rather, there is continuity.

Paul is saying that while our earthly bodies are suited for our earthly existence, they would be useless in the perfection of the age to come. Rather, it will be out of the raw material of our present earthly body that God will produce a new, spiritual body perfectly suited for the new age.

Christianity doesn’t drive a wedge between the spirit and the material. This suggests that keeping as fit as we can now is an important part of worship of God. Now, I’m not suggesting that we all go out and join ‘Fit for Him’ exercise class, but certainly the continuity between the present and the future order should encourage us not to abuse our bodies. Who we are now as God’s people and what we do now matters to God.

Furthermore, the continuity of our physical bodies in the future with who we now are, means that while we’ll all have a glorious appearance such will be the nature of our resurrected body that we will all recognise one another.

Jesus’ own resurrection from the dead laid the foundation for this glorious hope.

An insight by Samwise Gamgee in JRR Tolkein’s The Lord of Rings is pertinent. Sam and Frodo are undertaking their seemingly hopeless task of ascending Mount Doom. We read: ‘There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty forever beyond its reach’.

In a world where there is so much darkness, Jesus’ resurrection from the dead is the bedrock and bright star of our hope.

A Prayer. Almighty God, you have conquered death through your dearly beloved Son Jesus Christ and have opened to us the gate of everlasting life: grant us by your grace to set our mind on things above, so that by your continual help our whole life may be transformed; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit in everlasting glory. Amen.

© John G. Mason

The people of Bondi Junction and Sydney as a whole, are appalled at the horrific knife-attacks that took the lives of six unsuspecting people in a shopping mall last Saturday afternoon. Others, including a nine month-old baby, remain in a critical condition. The shock and the grief are palpable as loved ones lament their loss.

How do we face a broken world where, any day – and I don’t want to be morbid – we might unexpectedly die?

In First Corinthians, chapter 15, verses 3 through 6, we read: For I passed on to you as of first importance that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. After that he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living…

Christianity didn’t start because a group of philosophers had come to the same conclusions about life. Nor was it the result of a group of mystics having visions of God. It began with a group of eyewitnesses. A company of very ordinary men and women who saw something very extra-ordinary happen. In a word it began with history.

It’s important for us to consider this. The four Gospel records reveal that on a number of occasions and in different ways, Jesus prepared his disciples for his death.

In chapter 14, John the Gospel-writer records that on the night of his arrest, Jesus told his disciples the was going to prepare a place for them. “You know the place to where I’m going,” he said. At this one of the disciples, Thomas, expressed his frustration: “Lord, we don’t know where you’re going. How can we know the way?” (John 14:4-5) ‘Where is this Father’s house you’re talking about? How can we know the way to it?’

And when the story of Jesus’ resurrection broke, John tells us that Thomas, who was not with the other disciples on the third day after the crucifixion, said that he didn’t believe it. “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my hand in his side, I will not believe” John 20:25b). A week later he saw him, risen from the dead. “Put your finger here and see my hands,” Thomas, Jesus said. “Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.” At which Thomas responded, “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:27-28)

Were these people deluding themselves, trying to make the best of the shock and horror of the crucifixion?

You are doubtless aware that the first Christian sermon was preached in Jerusalem some six weeks later, around three miles from Jesus’ tomb. Nobody was in a better position to test the truth of the story of the resurrection than those who were there that day (Acts 2:24). Significantly, when Peter insisted that Jesus was alive, risen from the dead, we don’t find 3,000 sceptics or cynics at Pentecost following these events. Rather there were 3,000 converts.

The first Christian preachers were insistent. Jesus Christ physically rose from the dead. His tomb was empty on the third day, not because the body had been stolen, or because the disciples had removed it, or because Jesus had come out of a coma in the cool of the tomb, but because of divine intervention.

And, to return to First Corinthians chapter 15, Paul assures us that there were reliable witnesses to Jesus’ resurrection: he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. After that he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living…

Furthermore, Paul continues: …if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith (15:14).

Suppose someone had turned up with the body of Jesus and had proved without a shadow of a doubt that the body was his; or, suppose someone turned up tomorrow with water-tight evidence that Jesus had not risen from the dead, would you still be a Christian? I wouldn’t. Nor would the apostle Paul.

Jesus’ resurrection was not a mythical story. It was the real God, breaking into real history at a particular place and at a particular time. This, says Paul, is what makes Christian faith credible. It is true because it is supported by eyewitness evidence.

God’s ‘Yes’ to all who believe. In verses 16 and 17, Paul writes: ….If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those who also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men and women. But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the first-fruits of those who have fallen asleep.

Paul assures us that because Jesus had risen from the dead all who truly turn to him will not only benefit from the cleansing of sin through Christ’s crucifixion but will also rise from the dead with him.

In chapter 15, verse 21 he continues: For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man.  For as in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be made alive.

The problem. Because we’re related to Adam, we’re susceptible to death. We’re participants with Adam in turning away from God, and in a very real sense we all share Adam’s curse.

The bad news is that by one man death has come to us all. But there’s good news: by a divine masterstroke, by another man there is now resurrection for all who have turned to the Lord.

When we attach ourselves by faith to Jesus, we can be assured that even though our bodies may rot and decay in a grave, the day will come when we too will be raised from the dead. But each in his own turn, Paul writes: Christ the first-fruits; then when he comes those who belong to him (15:21).

On that great and awesome day when Christ returns, he will give a new resurrected body to all men and women who believe – people from all races and nations. For God’s people death is not Goodbye, but Goodnight!

And so we pray for all who grieve – that they may know the comfort and hope found in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Prayers. Almighty God, Father of all mercies and giver of all comfort; deal graciously, we pray, with those who mourn, that, casting all their care on you, they may know the consolation of your love; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

God of the nations, whose kingdom rules over all, have mercy on our broken and divided world. Shed abroad your peace in the hearts of all men and women and banish from them the spirit that makes for war; so that all races and people may learn to live as members of one family and in obedience to your laws; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Almighty God, you show to those who are in error the light of your truth so that they may return into the way of righteousness: grant to all who are admitted into the fellowship of Christ’s service that we may renounce those things that are contrary to our profession and follow all such things as are agreeable to it; through our Lord Jesus Christ.  Amen.

© John G. Mason