Jesus said to her, ”I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
As a human being, it is hard for me to get my head around what Jesus is saying here. When he says, “I am the resurrection and the life,” I think he is being quite literal. Coming from a guy who speaks mostly in metaphors, this change of gears is hard enough to keep up with. Looking at the content of what he says makes it even harder.
My tendency, as an engineering type guy, is to think of salvation as a sort of mechanism. I think in terms of process and process means that there are moving parts and things I need to do, levers to pull and ’cause and effect’ stuff going on.
Only there isn’t.
It is just Jesus.
Jesus is the resurrection. Jesus is life. It is not something I do or something I make happen in any way. All I have to do is believe, trust in, rely on, hope in … Jesus.
Yes, there are things that happen to a person when they look to Jesus and believe. Change happens because the real life that is Jesus has an effect on those who believe.
Let’s Discuss: What do you think it means to believe in Jesus?
If you believe in something, it will impact how you live your life. If I believe a stock price low in value, my belief would prompt me into action and I would buy some of the stock. If I believe Jesus, it changes how I live my life. My ways become his ways, I want to take on his identity.
I agree with Rob, real belief affects how we act. If I truly believe there is a tiger in my bathroom, I’ll skip brushing my teeth that morning.
I agree with Robster and Nathan – and I like the tiger metaphor. I sat down in my chair without thinking about it to respond to this blog. I believed the chair would hold me up when I sat down. If we believe Jesus, that means we trust His promises by actions. We trust in His ability to raise the dead. we trust that we are saved by faith in Him. We live like that is the case.
This is the first time I’ve been to this site. Good job Jeff !
Yes I do believe this and I Think Jesus did not want to talk in Parables about this. This was God’s way through Jesus to redeem his people
Hi John! Thanks for coming by and joining in. I agree, Jesus wanted to be very direct on this point; he wants us to know that he himself is the means of resurrection. Blessings!
The Tiger analogy was fun–skip brushing your teeth or end up as plaque on his. I think I have a mind akin to Jeff’s though perhaps I am more conceptual than metaphorical, though I appreciate both. I relate to the engineering mindset of looking for precise mechanisms behind a process or related dynamic and because Christ subsumes all here, his entire divine being, it is on a level that my puny mind simply cannot fully grasp. I do think that there are mechanisms though, or perhaps means may be more apt. As Jeff mentions faith and belief (essentially and in practice), I think this does qualify even if it is not a tangible device, at least in principle, but even this – I believe Christ grants the believer.
Such a reality sinking deeper into my heart and fully comprehending all it entails is beyond me, but I do believe it is something that can be known, both in the person of Christ and in who we are in him (it is not beyond reason or experience; God being the author of these things and in relationship with us). I don’t know what Christ will hand us on the other side of the grave when we are with him in glory, but I would like to think it will still be a continued process of growth, even though we are in perfection, or before it, a part of it, but I cannot say.
I guess I enjoy learning and discovery so much, that I would hate to just be handed everything instantaneously. I think the process itself is a part of the joy and a part of what it means to be in a relationship (but what do I know; I see only in part). I do believe that there will always be a separation between the Creator and the creation, though I will be joined intimately to him, I will never become God. I will always be in awe of him and his infinitude over my finiteness. As Jeff stated, it is hard to put these kinds of things in our way of thinking in terms of mechanisms if you will. We can only grasp so much.
I am left in awe and have to put my own understanding aside and humbly accept his person and sacrifice (though not reject the faculty God has given me – for it is a great part of what engenders my capacity to even be in awe over him in the first place). And as Nathan has stated in one of the other threads here, it matters not what one’s intellectual capacity is to appreciate and worship God. This is something we all have access to in our own comprehension and relationship.
However, accepting this reality doesn’t mean I cannot think about it and desire to learn about it and better understand it, even on a conceptual/mechanistic level. I actually get a lot of joy in this and it helps me marriage two paradigms; that of feeling/emotion/relating, to the world of cognitive understanding/rationale/logic. I find God perfectly embodies these both, and I get a joy out of discovery here in both realms though I do not even think they are ultimately separate; think more of left brain vs. right brain; both are a part of the same whole.
There is an infinite joy in knowing Christ and growing in knowledge of him. In this, I do grow in an understanding of his processes and mechanisms if you will, but that is my language, God’s ways are his and I do find they often marriage things we would in our finite state tend to compartmentalize in order to better deal with. I do at times, however, see some in the faith cast off introspection that they in good conscience are free to explore. I see this a lot, people abdicate further examination because they think it is working against their relationship with Christ. I do not believe this is the case, and I’ not saying it’s happening here or that we can arrogantly assume we ever fully understand that which we do not. God is not my science experiment, but he has done such marvelous things that we are free to explore the inner workings of. Thus I believe it is his honor to hide them, and ours to discover them as the Proverbs state.
Often times, reality is more integrated and requires an understanding with both the heart and the head fully engaged, things us humans are scientifically proven to be poor at working in conjunction. So I really appreciate drawing this duality out (that of thinking mechanistically if you will, and understanding, knowing, and placing faith in the person of Christ in our subjective experience). I do not think these things are at odds spare the context of our limited understanding. Perhaps this is not a point even worth making. Perhaps this much is already assumed by those listening. It probably is. I am more responding out of my own discovery and exploring within the given context.
I’m more wrestling with this in an externalized fashion than thinking I have something to say. It’s how I better hone my own thoughts and I think that this is important rather than leave my own interpretation in a void that is safe from scrutiny, admonition, or edification. For myself, I find that my higher cogitations are a gateway to my own heart of understanding. Perhaps other are not wired this way, but the more I understand Christ and his ways (even the beauty of his mechanisms [or means] if you will), the more I fall in love with him and the less control I realize I have. I wish I had more blind faith, or blind love, but when God is light, I’m not sure that’s the road we are always asked to walk. There is simply nothing in darkness or beyond understanding within him (spare without his help), he illuminates all and cast out all confusion. He is understanding, he is Truth, and we are joined to him in this, even set free via or knowledge of it. These are a part of the means he as set forth.
I don’t know what justice I am doing to share my thoughts here; I simply love the process of always finding a deeper understanding and relationship with something so wholly different, set apart from us, and altogether holy. That we get to know of this objectively, and know him subjectively, and grow in this as a part of that process and the means he has chosen is truly amazing. Anyhow, this was my addled rant; I’m glad to be here as a part of the process and not a finished product. I didn’t quite mean to say this much, so thanks for listening.
NMOP3PISdn
Thank you for stopping by and sharing your thoughts. Your analysis is quite fascinating! Come back and share more please. 🙂
To me, believing is the easier part – it’s trust Jesus or nothing. And if it is nothing, I’ll never know the difference in the next life that didn’t happen.
Waiting seems to be the harder part…And all the smaller parts of life that aren’t as big as resurrection and eternity.
Brent,
I agree that waiting can seem to be the harder part, but I think it is kind of like an Oreo cookie: Without the harder parts, it wouldn’t be the same. (In some circles this is called cookieology.) 🙂
Brent, I agree and often feel the same. Waiting is hard.
Enjoyed reading all comments.
“There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12)