In addition to the 10 people killed and three wounded, the attacks drastically altered the routines of millions of area residents. School and community activities were canceled or postponed. People began thinking twice about engaging in activities as simple as going to the store, eating at a restaurant, filling up the car at a gas station, or mowing the lawn. More than one parent had to answer a child's question: "Daddy, Mommy, are you going to die?"
The fear of life's uncertainties has cranked up the anxiety levels in all of us. Not so long ago tragedy struck in ways that were unexpected, but not without cause. Now random attacks by terrorists and snipers join the list of reasons we may have to face the great and final question of our mortal existence: Are we going to die?
While we wait for the Lord's return what can we hold on to that gives us a fulfilling life now and an eternity of never- ending happiness?
Last October my own family had to endure the ordeal of awaiting the results of my dear dad's triple bypass heart surgery. Dad is my hero. Beloved friend to Adventists worldwide because of his giant bear hugs and loving charm as an evangelist, H.M.S. Richards used to call him "basso profundo in excelsis" when Dad sang bass in the King's Heralds Quartet.
When they wheeled Joe Melashenko in for surgery, his chances for survival were, of course, excellent-thanks to the miracle of modern medicine. Bypass surgery in this millennium is "about as routine as having your appendix removed," to quote one physician. But every major surgery holds a slight chance that something could go wrong. So my family too had to experience what it means to "walk through the valley of the shadow of death" (Ps. 23:4).*
The apostle Paul said that the Christian's life is "hidden with Christ in God" (Col. 3:3). What does that mean?
In Jan Paulsen's opening remarks to the Autumn Council last fall, our General Conference president announced an exciting new initiative for Adventist mission. He proposed that giving hope is at least as fundamental to our church's mission as is reformation and revival. The giving of hope involves preaching about the future, but it also involves here-and-now ministries: providing education, responding to disease and natural disasters, serving as the mouthpiece for the poor, the refugees, the disenfranchised. This is not a mere "social gospel," but a broadening of our ministry in response to the example and call of Jesus Christ.
If Elder Paulsen is correct (and I believe he is), then how does the Adventist understanding of what happens when we die contribute to that mission of hope? What do we offer people whose lives are fractured and undone by the threats of violent or untimely deaths?
Let me answer these questions with another question: What is the greatest event that has ever taken place on earth since its creation?
Was it the birth of Christ? The Crucifixion? Christ's resurrection? One could argue that they are all equally important.
But the resurrection of Christ was the key event that proved that Jesus is everything He claimed to be-the Son of God, the Messiah. His resurrection proved He had gained the victory over death (Rev. 1:18). The resurrection and Christ's victory over death became the driving power of the early Christian church.
What It Means
Before Christ's resurrection there was no real hope beyond the grave. The grave was a deep, dark pit out of which no one could hope to escape. Now that Christ is risen, Christians have a message of hope. The grave isn't the final end. There is life beyond the grave. Those who die "in Christ" will live again.
The catacombs beneath the city of Rome vividly illustrate the difference between the pagan outlook of life after death and that of the Christian. Today's tour guides can show you inscriptions of sorrow and despair: "Goodbye, my love, forever!" "Farewell, dear heart, for eternity."
But notice the inscriptions on Christian tombs: "Goodbye, precious, until we meet again." "Good night until morning." Without Jesus, no hope; with Jesus, we all can look forward to resurrection day. And more important, we can all face the uncertainties of random, accidental, and untimely deaths with the confidence that He in whom we've placed our trust has already conquered death.
"I am the Living One," said Jesus in His revelation to John on Patmos, "I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades" (Rev. 1:18). Despite the Niagara of fiction overflowing our planet about what happens when we die, the truth of the Bible is crystal clear: there is no real hope for the future unless Christ is our personal Savior.
Paul stated clearly that if there is no Resurrection, there's no future for the Christian. "For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost" (1 Cor. 15:16-18).
Why It Matters
To understand why Paul said this, we must understand what the Bible teaches about death. When God created man and woman, it was never His intention that they would die. When Adam and Eve were tempted to disobey God and eat of the forbidden tree, they forfeited God's gift of eternal life.
Unfortunately, humanity has been believing Satan's lie-"You shall not surely die"-ever since. Death-not life after death- came upon humankind because our first parents, and all who've lived since then, chose to separate themselves from God, the source of life. That's what sin is all about: death (Rom. 6:23). This, then, is the key to understanding death and what God intends to do to save us from eternal separation from Him.
The Bible says that at death a person returns to the dust from which he or she was taken; very simply, they become a corpse.
That's why the wise man said in Ecclesiastes 12:7, one of the clearest verses in all the Bible on this subject: "The dust returns to the ground it came from, and the spirit returns to God who gave it."
This is essentially the same thing that Job had to say about death: "As long as I have life within me, the breath of God in my nostrils, my lips will not speak wickedness" (Job 27:3, 4). The breath of God is the air we breathe.
King David introduced something new: "Do not put your trust in princes, in mortal men, who cannot save. When their spirit departs, they return to the ground; on that very day their plans come to nothing" (Ps. 146:3). When our breath leaves our bodies, our bodies return to the earth and our thoughts perish.
This harmonizes with the clearest text in the Bible concerning this subject. Solomon said: "The living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing; they have no further reward, and even the memory of them is forgotten. Their love, their hate and their jealousy have long since vanished" (Eccl. 9:5).
Death is an unavoidable reality to anyone born on this planet. But the Bible uses an interesting image to describe the believer's hope beyond the grave.
Job said: "If a man dies, will he live again? All the days of my hard service I will wait for my renewal to come. You will call and I will answer you" (Job 14:14, 15).
The Bible writers repeatedly used the term sleep in describing death. "Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake," said Daniel, "some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt" (Dan. 12:2).
One of the most comforting truths in God's Word is that when a person dies, he or she rests quietly, undisturbed by the problems of life, until the call of the Life-giver. Is it any wonder that the Bible likens death to a sleep? In sleep, as in death, there's no awareness of the passing of time.
The prophet Nathan told King David what would happen to him when he died: "When your days are over . . . you [will] rest with your fathers" (2 Sam. 7:12). Jesus Himself called death a sleep. He used that descriptive term to describe the death of His friend Lazarus.
A Case Study
There was a home in Bethany that Jesus often visited, the home of Lazarus, Mary, and Martha.
One day when Jesus and His disciples were out by the Jordan River, He received an urgent message from His friends in Bethany that Lazarus was ill. But Jesus stayed two more days right where He was.
Lazarus died, and he was buried within 24 hours, as the custom was with Jews and is still carried on today. Jesus' disciples were amazed that Jesus dillydallied three days before going to visit His dear friend. Finally Jesus said, "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up."
"His disciples replied, 'Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better.'. . .
"So then [Jesus] told them plainly, 'Lazarus is dead, and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe'" (John 11:11-15).
They sadly made their way to Bethany, where the family lived. As they approached the city Martha came running to meet them, weeping. "'Lord,' Martha said to Jesus, 'if you had been here, my brother would not have died'" (verse 21).
But Jesus had a plan. "Jesus said to her, 'Your brother will rise again'" (verse 23).
Notice carefully Martha's response: "I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day" (verse 24).
Martha had it right chronologically when she assured Jesus that she expected to see Lazarus in the resurrection at the end of the world. However, Jesus was about to give a dramatic preview of that event. Jesus then said plainly: "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies" (verse 25).
John tells us that as Jesus came to Lazarus' tomb, He wept. He wasn't weeping for His friend Lazarus; He knew He was going to raise him to life. He was weeping for us. He wept for the grief the family and friends were experiencing and for all those who through the ages would sorrow and grieve when they lost loved ones.
Jesus asked that the stone sealing the entrance be taken away. The stone was rolled away, and Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!" (verse 43).
Someone has said it was good that Jesus specified that He was speaking only to Lazarus; otherwise, every grave on Planet Earth would have opened.
What a day for those three friends in Bethany! What rejoicing and joy. What exciting headlines for the 6:00 news. But it was only a small preview of the glory and excitement that will occur when Jesus comes again and all the graves of His other friends who have accepted Him as Savior are opened and they rise to meet Him.
It takes something more than Jesus' own resurrection to guarantee ours. Just as God did for Adam and for Lazarus, God needs to breathe again into our nostrils the breath of life, and men and women will once again become "living souls." That's the Bible's antidote to death, pure and simple.
Our Precious Hope
Many of the early Christians in Macedonia were distressed to see their loved ones die before Jesus' return. They had been led to believe that no believer would die before Jesus came, so they were puzzled and confused about the question "What happens when a person dies?"
The message of comfort that Paul, the intrepid apostle, shared with those early Christians was: "We do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope" (1 Thess. 4:13).
Paul continued, "For the Lord Himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first" (verse 16).
Then he described in detail the events that will occur when Jesus comes:
"Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed-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 we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. . . . Then the saying that is written will come true: 'Death has been swallowed up in victory'" (1 Cor. 15:51-54).
This wasn't something new. Jesus had told the disciples that all would be raised from the grave. "Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out-those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned" (John 5:28, 29). The resurrection of the righteous is our "blessed hope."
Hope Deferred
With the passing of time this "blessed hope" has dimmed within Christianity. You don't hear it preached much, except at funerals and evangelistic meetings.
As it did by the mid-second century, the vivid desire of the "blessed hope" has died away. The hope of our Lord's return had faded like a half-forgotten dream by the time of Emperor Constantine in the fourth century. By the Dark Ages it was an outdated dogma that failed to have any impact on the established church.
Historically, two thought systems of the time caused the problem: the conflict between Greek philosophy and Jewish expectations. Even now these differences have a profoundly important impact on what we see in today's religious world, even capturing the attention of evangelical Protestants like a storm in warehouse book departments and religious radio and television broadcasts.
First, Greek philosophy engendered the belief in an immortal soul. Generated by Plato and Aristotle, the idea was that a resurrection was impossible, because the body was considered evil. When Christianity compromised and began linking pagan ideas to Christian thought, this Greek paradigm produced the idea of the soul flying off to heaven at death. Perhaps this comforted the martyrs and even made the eternal kingdom seem closer, but the biblical teaching of Christ's glorious return became the heresy of the soul's flight to heaven.
Second, today's ideas about the rapture harken back to the Roman Catholic Counter-Reformation and two Jesuit priests, Ribera and Alcazar. These scholars took the time prophecies of Revelation and tried to turn people's attention away from the church by stating that these prophecies were either future or fulfilled in the past. Today we call those schools of thought futurism and preterism.
A man named Scofield placed these ideas into the notes of his reference Bible, and they have crept into the church. Today Protestantism generally touts the gap theory and the rapture as gospel. Evangelicals have no idea where their theology comes from. This has profound implications for today's rapture dogmatics. All of a sudden Jewish political and military events play a major role in the demise of the Advent hope. The hope of Messiah's earthly reign and Israel's supremacy rather than the saints ascending to heaven at Christ's return is connected with evangelical Christians and their hope to form today what is known as millennialism-the thousand-year reign of Christ on earth when the faithful will have all their desires fulfilled.
This belief, just like the Greek one, is widely repeated in the rapture-theory novels selling by the millions.
Focus: Hope
So what are we to believe? How shall we proceed to live unafraid and declare confidently God's end-time truths?
The Bible provides the answer. Jesus is coming again to claim His redeemed from the darkness of this world and rescue all who died believing in Him from the millions of graves that dot our planet. When He comes back the second time, He declares: "My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done" (Rev. 22:12).
When people die, they sleep in the grave and rest from their labors and troubles until Jesus comes. He comes to resurrect and reunite all who have accepted His sacrifice on their behalf. This is good news: "We who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever" (1 Thess. 4:17).
Tongue cannot tell it, pen cannot portray it, when all the saved, all at the same time, receive immortality-just like Jesus-a glorified body and eternal life! Sinless. Deathless. Glorified forever!
When my dad went under the surgeon's knife, the sleep induced by the anesthesiologist was only temporary. Even in death, Jesus, Dad's Great Physician, paid the price for his redemption and restoration. Regardless of the outcome of that surgery, my dad is going to live forever!
Jesus is in control! This is why the greatest gift that God can give to humankind is eternal life, victory over death! It's yours and mine for the taking.
And the cost? Only a surrendered heart. A heart cleansed and changed. A proud, selfish heart made new by God's grace. Because Jesus lives, we have a glorious hope-a hope beyond the grave!
My predecessor as speaker at the Voice of Prophecy, Harold Richards, Jr., died a painful death back in April 2000, at the young age of 70. Before he was ravaged by disease he had a passion for preaching about Jesus' soon coming and the blessed hope of the Christian.
As I stood at his hospital bedside just before he died, he reached out and grasped my arm, drawing me closer to him so I could hear him between labored breaths. His hoarse whispers came in short spurts. "He's on His way, Lonnie!" he urged. "Far out in space, light-years behind the Great Nebula and the Pleiades, there's a great stirring and rush of excitement beyond human description. Chariots rumble. Thunders roll like kettle-drums. Lightning shakes its fiery white lances. The trumpets sound. He's on His way! Past unnumbered universe systems. Down through the corridor of Orion. Down, down, down toward a blue planet hanging out there in space. See it? That lonely one, the one that spat on Him and crucified Him, the one He couldn't forget. He's on His way!"
A meaningful symbol of Christ's power over the grave has been sculpted on an old English tombstone. Chiseled on marble is the representation of a door. In the door hangs a lock; in the lock, a key. Holding the key is the hand of an angel. The angel's other hand is held up to shade his eyes as he gazes steadily upward. Beneath this engraving are the simple and yet profound words "'Til He Come." The message of the epitaph is clear: When Jesus comes, the angel will turn the key and throw wide open the door of the tomb.
As we turn our eyes toward Calvary, we discover answers to the dangers that threaten all around us. Our only hope for eternal safety is to stand in the shadow of the cross. Thank God we can put our trust in our Savior. He came to this world to solve the problem of death. And only He holds the keys to the grave.
Come soon, Lord, to turn the key in the lock and open heaven to all those who turn their lives over to You.
*Bible texts in this article are quoted from the New International Version.
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Lonnie Melashenko is speaker/director of the Voice of Prophecy radio ministry.
AST OCTOBER 22, CONRAD E. JOHNSON, 35, stood on the top step of his parked Ride On Bus in Aspen Hill, Montgomery County, Maryland. At 5:56 a.m., just moments before the veteran bus driver was scheduled to begin his route, a shot rang out in the darkness, and Johnson fell to the ground, mortally wounded. The husband and father of two died shortly after being care-flighted to a nearby trauma center. The snipers who had terrorized metropolitan Washington, D.C., had struck again.
