Shall Man Live Again?

From a devotional I read recently……

For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. - Philippians 1:21

The great questions of the ages has been, “If a man die, shall he live again?” We know that the first part of that sentence is fulfilled every day. There is no “if” about it. “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:” (Hebrews 9:27). The question is “shall he live again?”

There are those who say that all there is to man is just bone, flesh, and blood. They say that when you are dead, when you die, nothing happens; you don’t go anywhere. It is dust to dust and ashes to ashes.

Ask the scientist and he cannot give an answer. I have asked a number of scientists questions concerning life after death, and most of them say, “We just do not know.” Science deals in formulas and test tubes. There is a spiritual world that science knows nothing about.

Because many do not believe in life after death, their writings are filled with tragedy and pessimism. The writings of William Faulkner, James Joyce, Ernest Hemingway, Eugene O’Neill, and many others are filled with pessimism, darkness, and tragedy.

How different from Jesus Christ, who said, “…I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?” (John 11:25-26). Again he said, “Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also.” (John 14:19). Our hope in immortality is based on Christ alone—not on any desires, longings, arguments, or any instincts of immortality. Yet the hope of immortality that is revealed in Christ agrees with all those great desires and instincts.