(…continued…) These verses say that death is like birth. How can that be?
Well, think of it this way. Courtney was born four weeks ago this afternoon. Therefore, four weeks ago right now, at this moment, she was still in her first home– the womb. She was warm, she was comfortable, all her needs were met, there was nobody else in there to bother her. She was probably as happy and content as she will ever be on this earth. At the time, that was the only place she ever knew. If then, she could have been told that in a few hours she would be forced out of there, pushed and then dragged out of her warm and secure home, she would have been very afraid. I think that given the choice, she would have said “No, I don’t want to go. I like it here and I don’t know what’s out there. I want to stay.” And actually, it seemed that day like she did not want to come out, and she wasn’t cooperating with her mother or the doctor or anyone. It was almost like she was determined to stay. And why not? We were all anticipating her arrival and we knew that a great world was ready to receive her. But she could not have known any of that.
Well, you might not remember how it felt, but we’ve all been through that. We’ve all been rudely forced out of our first home, and we all cried about that at first. But since then, we’ve gotten used to this new place, and have grown comfortable here. Now, this place is all we’ve ever known– we’ve long ago forgotten that other warm and comfortable place. And now, it’s hard to think about leaving here, because we know what’s here, but we don’t really know what’s next. We know we are going to have to leave, but we dread it, and may even fight it. But we are going to one day be going. As we sing in the old hymn, the Bible tells us of “unseen things above,” and like Paul says, “what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” But to get there, to get into that eternal home, we will have to go through that other birth canal called death. Then on the other side, we will find a whole new world, with our Lord, and a whole bunch of people; some who we have not seen for a very long time. They will be waiting for us, eagerly anticipating our arrival, and ready to welcome us to our new home– all just like it was for Courtney four weeks ago today, as she was received and welcomed into this world, into her new place.
So back and forth we go. “Whether we live or whether we die, we belong to the Lord,” says the Bible. From birth to death we go– that much we can see. And then we are promised that from death we are born again into a new and eternal life. “I am the resurrection and the life,” said Jesus, “He who believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live.”
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Ezekiel 37:1-4 — The hand of the Lord was on me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” I said, “Sovereign Lord, you alone know.”
John 11:25 — Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die”
John 11:43b — …Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”
Psalm 139:13-16 — For you, Oh Lord, created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in that secret place. When I was woven together…., your eyes saw my unformed body.
Romans 14:8-9 — If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living.
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Forbid, O Lord God, that my thoughts today should be wholly occupied by the world’s passing show. Seeing that in Thy lovingkindness Thou hast given me the power to lift my mind to the contemplation of things unseen and eternal, forbid that I should remain content with the things of sense and time. Grant that each day may do something so to strengthen my hold upon the unseen world, so to increase my sense of its reality, and so to attach my heart to its holy interests that, as the end of my earthly life draws nearer, I may not grow to be a part of these fleeting earthly surroundings, but rather grow more and more conformed to the life of the world to come. Amen.
–John Baillie, A Diary of Private Prayer
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A song about the miracle of birth: Stevie Wonder “Isn’t She Lovely”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfHQOlHJczU
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ISN’T SHE LOVELY by Stevie Wonder
Isn’t she lovely
Isn’t she wonderful
Isn’t she precious
Less than one minute old
I never thought through love we’d be
Making one as lovely as she
But isn’t she lovely made from love
Isn’t she pretty
Truly the angel’s best
Boy, I’m so happy
We have been heaven blessed
I can’t believe what God has done
Through us he’s given life to one
But isn’t she lovely made from love
Isn’t she lovely
Life and love are the same
Life is Aisha
The meaning of her name
Londie, it could have not been done
Without you who conceived the one
That’s so very lovely made from love
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