Terminal!

"Terminal!"  It's not the word you want to hear from your doctor.  It evokes fear, dread 
and a sense of hopelessness in the hearts of those who hear it.  And, yet, thousands hear it 
everyday in offices and hospitals across the country.  Whether it's from cancer, heart 
disease, aids or a host of other ailments, the end results are all the same—TERMINAL.

If one pauses for a moment, however, and considers the reality of life, all of us face this 
terrible truth.  We are all terminal.  The only difference between the healthy and the sick 
is the healthy do not yet know "how" or "when." But these questions do not change that 
fact that we are all TERMINAL.

This reality caused Job to ask the question several thousand years ago, "If a man dies, 
will he live again?" (Job 14:14).  The story of the Bible is the answer to that question.

Perhaps the greatest miracle Jesus ever performed was the resurrection of Lazarus from 
the dead.  It is recorded in John 11 and is explained by Jesus with these words, "for your 
sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe" (Jn. 11:15).  While other 
miracles demonstrated Jesus' power over sickness, nature and, even, demons, this miracle 
demonstrated Jesus' power over the greatest enemy of man—death itself.

As Jesus arrived in Bethany, he was met by Lazarus' sister, Martha.  "'Lord,' Martha said 
to Jesus, 'if you had been here, my brother would not have died'" (Jn. 11:21).  Jesus 
responded to Martha's veiled criticism and anguish with these familiar words, "I am the 
resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and 
whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?" (Jn. 11:25-26).

I suspect Jesus' question—"Do you believe this?"—is just as valid as it was two thousand 
years ago.  Jesus makes this incredible promise that whoever believes in him will live, 
even though he dies.  To demonstrate this truth, Jesus raised Lazarus from the grave.  To 
secure this reality, Jesus himself was raised from the dead to die no more.  The world will 
pause this Sunday—Easter—to acknowledge that reality.

Terminal?  Hardly.  For the Christian, there's no such thing because Jesus has conquered 
death and through him we conquer it as well.


Because We're His People
Leslie Chapman