April 8

Daniel sees Resurrection

        “At that time Michael, the great prince, the protector of your people, shall arise. There shall be a time of anguish, such as has never occurred since nations first came into existence. But at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone who is found written in the book. Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever.  But you, Daniel, keep the words secret and the book sealed until the time of the end. Many shall be running back and forth, and evil shall increase.”

Daniel 12:1-4

           

             My daughter was talking to a school friend a couple of years ago about Easter; she was trying to explain to her non-church-going friend exactly what we celebrate and her friend had doubts.  “So you are telling me that a god we can’t see made everything with a word, became a person thousands of years ago, was killed then not dead then floated into the clouds and will come again to get his followers who will die but not be dead and live forever in the clouds?  That does not sound real…at all.”

            Yup.  You are right.  That sounds a little bit crazy.  We tend to forget, especially those of us who have been in the Faith for a long time, how outside-of-normal this hope of ours is.  I’ve been celebrating Jesus’ death and resurrection for over 40 years at least 13 times per year: once for Easter and then through communion services at church once per month.  That is over 500 reminders and celebrations throughout my lifetime of Jesus’ love for me, His sacrifice, and the promise that one day we will join Him in eternity.  That is not even counting the books that I’ve read, the bible studies that I’ve attended and the sermons that I have heard.  The truth of the Resurrection is inseparable from God’s power and love for us.  But for someone who is hearing about it for the first time, it sounds like craziness.

            Daniel was in that place.  He was having visions about the end of the world, the evil that would sweep over humanity and how God would defeat it.  And then God showed Daniel a picture of the aftermath.  The end of the story is not just mankind trying to rebuild our world after war and suffering and loss.  God will put a period on the final sentence of this book and close it.  Then He will open a new book and begin fresh.  Those who belonged to Him on Earth will be called home to everlasting life, shining like the stars.  Those who refused Him on Earth will be forever sent away.  Death, which we always thought was the end of humanity’s story, turns out to just be the transition from one book to another.  What we do and who we are in this life matters because it informs how the next story will play out.  It is not, and never has been, about who ends up with the most money or the most power or the most fame.  Instead it is about who lives with integrity and love with a deep relationship with God the Father.  That could look like a life of influence and world-wide fame.  That could look like a life of being known by only a handful of people that you daily interact with.  That could look like a life of disability and weakness and humility as you struggle through the activities of daily living each and every day.

            There is no option C, not category for people who don’t want to play or who don’t want to hang around for eternity.  There is everlasting glory or eternal suffering.  Those are the two options that Daniel is shown.  What we can control is our personal choice.  Who do we trust and who do we choose?  That’s it.  We cannot control what other people decide.  We cannot make our parents or our friends or our heroes or our children follow the path to eternal life.  We can hope.  We can pray.  We can inform and educate, but we cannot control and the more that we try controlling, even out of the best motivations, the more we will push people away from the path that we want them to take.

            We hate being out of control.  I get that.  But God has given everyone free will, even those that could make the wrong choice.  We have the power to make up our own mind; beyond that we trust in God’s goodness.

A moment to reflect:

How could you invite those that you love the most into eternity with you?