A Weekly Meditation of Pastor Chang (April 4, 2010)

〈The Power of Resurrection of Jesus Christ〉

“The Futurology, Soothsaying, Fortunetelling, and Biblical Prophecy” (15) will be postponed to next Sunday.

Several occasions when I met some cancer patients or someone who faced critical and fatal incident, they always asked, “Why me?” or “Do I commit any sin that God cannot forgive me?” or “Am I punished by God now?” or “Am I deserted by God?” Some who suffered deadly diseases might fearfully asked, “Where am I going after death?”  “Can I go to heaven? Or go to hell?” 

Death itself is a big puzzle, but when people face death, their reactions: perplex, doubtfulness, anxiety, worry, fear, anger, and frightfulness seem more damaging than the death itself. The tortures which come from both physical pains and spiritual uncertainty always make a sick person before going to hell tastes the horrible suffering of the hell already. What a horrible situation it is!  

There was a time I met a cancer patient, she asked me two questions: “What dose it cause me to have this disease? Does God punish me?”  “ If I need to die, why does God cause me suffer with pains? Why cannot I die instantly as those who had car accident or heart attack?”

My answered to her were: First of all, nobody, or even no medical doctors can tell you why you suffer this fatal disease? Probably there are many reasons! It seems too late for you to ask “why?” Although it is better for those who are still healthy to ask: How can I prevent from getting such diseases? Regarding the second question, I answered her, “Why not you change your position and see your question from another angle: Actually you are more fortunate than those who suddenly died without time to prepare. Since death can come to anyone anytime and it is really dreadful to all of us, and God allow you to have time to prepare for it, are you not more fortunate than those who died without any preparation?”

I kept saying, “Most of people think wrongly. They think that after death, people lost consciousness and feelings. That is a wrong understanding. The Bible tells us, actually after physical death, human beings are more aware of everything and the perceptivity is even keener than before his physical death. If that is the case, pain and suffering will follow that person forever, and it will be more terrified, isn’t it!” By God’s grace, the spiritual eyes of this woman seemed open suddenly. She said, “Thank you for answering me question. I feel much better.”

To those who believe in Jesus Christ, yes, when he/she has to face the threat of death, of course, anxiety and fear will occur, even St. Paul was the same; however, the peace which is beyond understanding will arrive when he/she remains in Christ. I believe that the love and comfort of Jesus Christ are powerful enough to defeat the suffering of human pains. Why? It is because Jesus Christ who has come to the world and died on the Cross. He has conquered sins and death, and He has resurrected. That is the reason we celebrate “the Resurrection Day” – in English it is called “Easter” – just like the Sun rises from the East again forever!

Human beings are given some certain capacity and ability to solve problems. However, there are two problems which are never solved by humans, and we try all kinds of ways, such as: religions, educations, medicines, scientific researches, and other kinds, no way anyone can get ride of them. They are: Sins and Death. The result (price) of sin is death. They are related and never be separated from one another. When sins work among people, human hearts turn to be dark. One can imagine: how ugly, vicious, and evil that human beings can be, actually it is exactly the manifestation of devil. Human beings are seized by the devil and do evil things. When one is suffering, one even thinks of suicide, because Satan tells so: to die is better than to live. That is a big lie from the Devil, because if we do not solve the problems of sins before finishing the life then we will bring the problems of sin into eternity after the physical death.

Praise the Lord! God has raised his Son Jesus Christ from the death. And because of that the problem of sin is solved and the shackle of death is broken. Anyone who is in Christ has no longer in the chains of sins and death, because Jesus Christ has put Himself on our place to replace us. Namely, the sinless (God) has replaced the sinful (human beings.)

After Christ has resurrected from the death, he spent about 40 days to be with His disciples. He taught them many things and opened their eyes to see the truth. Afterwards, before His Ascension, He gave “A Great Commission” to the disciples going to the world to spread this good news – the gospel, so that many people in the world will also be set free from the bondage of sins and death. Anyone who is in Christ will no longer in fear of death but has the eternal life – a new life. It is the greatest news for the world. That is the reason we need to believe in Jesus Christ and celebrate His Resurrection Day!