He Remains

If all else perished, and he remained, I should still continue to be; and if all else remained, and he were annihilated, the universe would turn to a mighty stranger.

Emily Jane Bronte // Wuthering Heights

When I encountered Emily Bronte’s words, I initially ascribed them to a mortal love but as the years progressed, the weight of his mortality oppressed my heart and I would feel utterly hopeless and helpless as to the purpose of continuing to allow my heart to grow larger and desperately attached to him. I would think how absolutely wrecked I should be if he indeed were annihilated, perishing at the Grim Reaper’s sickle. Nevertheless, I couldn’t help my heart’s meshing in him and his life, as day by day he would still be. Therefore my fear of losing him faded away as the bliss of life with him flourished. Until one day, without warning or premonition, the unthinkable happened and my universe turned into a black hole.

As we neatly put his body into the ground, I couldn’t help but hear the whisper in my spirit telling me that this too was my destiny. At the time, I would have gladly stepped down into the hole and been covered with him by a blanket of earth. But I was left with the misfortune of staggering in the dark, absent his life and light.

The idea, nay, the fact that one day I will vanish from existence plagued me for many years hereafter. Part of me welcomed the thought of an end to meaningless meandering, but another was gripped in death’s terror clasp and raged to remain in the land of the living, far from what I perceived as ruthless banishment to a cold solitary hell, confined to the torment of insects and worms heartily feeding on my body parts.

Having grown up in a Pastor’s home, I was aware of the concepts of heaven and hell. Many well-meaning sermons grasped to comfort grieving souls soothing that we would meet our loved ones one day. But how long should we live in the dark night of terror till that day? How many more must go before this one day comes? Where are our loved ones while we wait for this day? Would I go to the same waiting place when my time comes?

Death, the relentless thief of hope and joy in life, is certainly a horror that terrifies us all to the point of complete despair. So, we neatly stash the monster in the depths of our mind’s closet where we hope it should remain quiet as we flurry about our living. However as the sands steadily trickle through the hourglass that’ll eventually signal the reaper’s herald from the closet, we cannot help being disheartened by the inescapable pesky poking.

Consumed by the anxiety of death, I embarked on studying the various narratives humanity has embraced about what happens when we die. All of them, but one, left me hopelessly dispirited. This was not useful for the business of continuing to live that was my lot, so I denounced the many for the sake of devoting myself to knowing the one way that quickened my heart back to the light of life.

When I was younger, there was a chorus my father taught us during family worship. It claimed that Someone whose being alive and ownership of the future gave reason for the singer to face tomorrow, abolish all fear, and make life worth living. This notion was worth consideration for me, thereby beginning my radical pursuit of the Way, the Truth, and the Life

For more than two thousand years, multitudes of humanity have held to the claim of life after death because of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, The Christ. Some also attempt to debate, refute, or present substitutes. Many of the latter seek to convince us absolutely, even though their arguments are unfounded and really vain, if the hearer would apply their mind to consider simply concerning the basics of the history of the world, humanity, and their own conscience.

I give thanks to God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ through whose grace I have been brought into the knowledge and freedom of the Good News! As I continue to watch and grasp the simple truth of the Gospel of God’s grace and love, my life flows with peace and exuberant joy for what is to come in the life hereafter.

According to the Holy Scripture, God has foretold His epic plan to correct the mess humanity has made with and in His good world. In the fullness of time, history was split at the arrival of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Jesus Christ was the only One with the will and nobility to effect God’s plan to do away with sin (humanity’s inherited evil nature) and death (the wage for humanity’s evil nature) once and for all through His sacrificial love culminating in His death on that rugged shameful cross.

When Jesus Christ rose from the dead, he emphatically proclaimed and called to anyone who wants: “Believe, and have eternal life!”

Moreover, when he rose from the dead, over five hundred previously dead people who’d died while in the faith of God, I AM, were also raised to life as proof, encouragement, and comfort to His future followers that the resurrection promised in the Holy written Word of God is certain; not as disembodied spirits but as a transformed physical new humanity.

I am also coming to understand that leaving this current life through death is in fact transitioning to be with Christ Jesus.

In Luke chapter twenty-three verse forty-two, one of the thieves crucified next to Jesus asks Jesus to remember him when He comes into His kingdom and Jesus answers him: “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

Paul in Philippians chapter one verse twenty-three expresses his feeling of being torn in two, where on the one hand he “desires to depart and be with Christ, which is much better.” This understanding continues to cement my faith in the promise that death is not the end but rather the beginning of the fullness of living physically in the kingdom of perfect righteousness, peace, and joy!

What great hope! How gloriously happy I now feel for the loved ones who have gone and are now living with Christ. And indeed they are alive because God is the God of the living and Jesus Christ is alive in accordance with verified historical records, and witnesses.

No longer do I have to be in doubt of the state of my present and future because, though all else may perish – including my existence in this realm – He remains! Therefore I should continue to be, as should all who choose to wholeheartedly receive, recognize, and appropriate the invitation by Christ Jesus to eternal life in the kingdom of God.

With this knowledge, why wouldn’t we all stampede to grab this scandalous invitation? Well, I consider that perhaps the value we place on life is not as high as we think.

Would we really want life to continue forever? Understandably, as it is in the realm of humanity’s seized autonomy, it is unthinkable to live forever with pain, broken relationships, and all the suffering we know. But what if we could finally believe God, that unlike us, He is the only Ruler whose reign is void of harm and suffering but instead is perfect justice, mercy, righteousness, peace, love, and joy? Would life then be worth living for eternity?

Few things in life are absolutely awful, namely: pain, suffering, evil, and death. Many things in life are wonderful: love, beauty, order, goodness, and meaningful contribution and participation in fruitful work. God’s promise in Christ Jesus is the redemption of life in conformity to His good and perfect will. Consequently, the former things we know of life will pass away in the dawn of the new creation and establishment of God’s autonomy.

I am fully persuaded I should very much love to continue enjoying the wonderful things of life under the rule of the perfectly good autonomy of God the Father of my Lord Jesus Christ.

When all else ultimately perishes, would you like to continue living? Would you consider being part of the Kingdom of God?

xoxo

Nimi