He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. 1 John 5:12
A dear old friend lay dying in his hospital bed. His laboured breath was hard to listen to, but the smile on his face was a comfort as we watched him in his final hours. He had no fears of what lay beyond the departing of his soul from his worn-out body. In fact, he had called in the head nurse to make a special request: when he died, the nursing staff of the unit was to gather around his bed, and shout ‘Hallelujah!’ And they honoured his request in one of the most unusual little ceremonies that hospital had ever seen. If his departure from earth was so marked by a shout of victory, how much more glorious must have been his reception into Glory? And all because he had the Son.
Not everybody departs this life and enters the next with such assurance and rejoicing. In fact, most people die with little hope beyond a belief in their own goodness or their religion or their affiliation with some organization, if they have any hope at all. All too many would echo the pathetic words of a rock musician ‘I know there aint no Heaven, and I pray there aint no hell’. But for the child of God, the person whose faith is in the Son of God, the words are much different, more like those of the old German hymn writer Paul Gerhardt of the 1600s: ‘There is no condemnation; There is no hell for me; The torment and the fire mine eyes shall never see’. But what you and I have and are because we have the Son is so much more than what we have been delivered from; it also includes what we have been brought into: life!
While we pray for our loved ones, our friends, neighbours, and those around us who don’t have the Son, we rejoice with those around us who do have the Son. This makes all the difference for eternity, but it also makes all the difference now. Unlike those around us who merely have an existence, we have life. What the lost souls around us see as enduring their existence is to the Christian a few bumps along the highway that leads to eternal glory. Even as the unsaved must rely on their own efforts to cope with the trials and sorrows of their existence, the Christian can rise above the circumstances, and cast our cares on our Lord, because He cares for us (1 Peter 5:7). We don’t have to bear our burdens alone, because He will never leave nor forsake us (Deuteronomy 31:6, Hebrews 13:5). While the lost souls about us must rely on the guidance and advice of other lost souls, you and I have the Word of God for our unfailing and inexhaustible Guide, and the presence of the Holy Spirit to teach and encourage us.
We have life. We have the Son. We have everything! -Jim MacIntosh