In the final days of my dad's life, I had to make the difficult decision to have him moved to a Hospice facility. When the Hospice personnel arrived to transport my dad, they lifted him up and he said “beam me up Scotty” to the orderlies. Even in that somber moment my dad still had his sense of humor. I did not know it at that time but those were the last words I would hear him say.
The phrase he used was, of course, a famous line from the Star Trek television series.
With the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, He also promised that we would also be “beamed” up to be with Him when our life here on Earth is over. Without Christ, there would be no resurrection. We have hope when we grieve in the death of a loved one. It is so painful when someone we love dies. If we live long enough, we all will feel that sting of death but Jesus came to remove that sting.
Jesus tells us that He is the resurrection and the life and whoever believes in Him would also have eternal life. (John 11:25). Even when Jesus was on the cross He told one of the thieves on another cross that on that very day he would be with Jesus in paradise.
Death separates our spirit from our body. None of us can explain this scientifically but the physical body stays here in the grave while our soul goes to paradise. On the day when Christ returns to the Earth, our soul will reunite with our bodies to be transform into glorified bodies. It’s not something easy to comprehend but if Christ said it then we don’t have to stress about figuring it all out.
I’m not a big fan of funerals. I don’t known why we even continue this tradition. We say that it is so we can pay our respects to the family but it does nothing to bring back the one who is deceased and it only makes the sting of death hurt more. It is my desire that when my time comes, I would want a natural burial and no funeral. I don’t want my loved ones to think of my death as pain but rejoice that I have been beamed up into paradise and awaiting our reunion.
Jesus gives us this reason for hope. Without it we are most miserable. And with many people, this is probably why they are so angry and miserable. They have no hope because they believe in nothing. When they die they thing that’s the end. That’s so sad.
I love the way that The Message Bible translates the passage in 1 Corinthians 15:16-20:
Today we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus and the hope that we have in Him that because He rose from the dead that we will also be beamed up to be with Him.
Jesus gives us this reason for hope. Without it we are most miserable. And with many people, this is probably why they are so angry and miserable. They have no hope because they believe in nothing. When they die they thing that’s the end. That’s so sad.
I love the way that The Message Bible translates the passage in 1 Corinthians 15:16-20:
“If corpses can’t be raised, then Christ wasn’t, because he was indeed dead. And if Christ weren’t raised, then all you’re doing is wandering about in the dark, as lost as ever. It’s even worse for those who died hoping in Christ and resurrection, because they’re already in their graves. If all we get out of Christ is a little inspiration for a few short years, we’re a pretty sorry lot. But the truth is that Christ has been raised up, the first in a long legacy of those who are going to leave the cemeteries.”
