A businessman wanted to send a floral arrangement to a colleague who was opening a branch office. The colleague called later in the day to thank him for the considerate gesture, but he expressed his confusion about the attached card that read, “Rest in Peace.” The businessman apologized for the mix up and quickly called to chastise the florist. The florist tried to console the executive. “It could be worse,” he said. “Somewhere in the cemetery there's a bouquet with a note reading, “Good luck in your new location.”
Have you thought much about your new location beyond this life? The famous atheist Bertrand Russell wasn’t expecting much. Here’s what he wrote:
No fire, no heroism, no intensity of thought and feeling, can preserve an individual life beyond the grave…; all the labours of the ages, all the devotion, all the inspiration, all the noonday brightness of human genius, are destined to extinction in the vast death of the solar system, and the whole temple of man's achievement must inevitably be buried beneath the debris of a universe in ruins.
How cheery. The Bible teaches something entirely different. Those who are impacted by the saving action of Christ will find personal, conscious experiences beyond this life that will be rich and joyful.
This Sunday we’ll examine this good news. We paused our study through the Gospel of John last Fall, but we return to it this week with a look at how Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead in John 11.
Unless Jesus returns first, every person reading this newsletter will one day surrender to what the Bible calls our last enemy: Death. But though Death may disturb us, it’s good to know that Jesus disturbs Death! Read John 11 and join us at Hillcrest this week, on campus or online!
--Tom
Tom serves as pastor at Hillcrest Church in Austin, Texas. His sermons are available on YouTube and the HillcrestToGo Podcast and you can find him on Facebook and Twitter. If someone forwarded this email newsletter to you, sign up here to receive Tom’s weekly devotional in your email inbox.