Marvel not at this, for the hour is coming, in which all that are in the graves shall hear His voice. John 5:28
According to the experts, more than 60 million babies have been born so far this year in the world. That’s a lot of kids to grow up, although we know in many places, their survival rate is not good. But if we think of all of those babies, with all of their potential for living and doing and everything that comes with occupying their places on the planet, it’s rather frightening to think that, before another 100 years roll by, all of those babies will be in graves. In fact, official statistics tell us that one person dies every second, on average. And as the population grows, that rate will only increase as more people get old and die. Accidents, disease, crime, wars, carry off a great toll in addition to those who just age into eternity. That’s a vast number of graves. And it doesn’t take into account the graves from past centuries all the way back to Adam. Every person whose bodies have been placed in graves, and even those whose bodies were not buried, will wake up some day to the irresistible sound of a powerful Voice. Including us.
We all have loved ones who have died in Christ. The Voice that will wake them is the Voice of their Saviour. What a glorious hope! We also have loved ones who have died without Christ. The Voice that wakes them is the Voice of their Judge. What a frightful dread! This great difference in the response to the Voice reminds us today of the tremendous need to live and preach the Gospel. If those around us do not hear and heed the Gospel now, there is no hope for them them.
Like me, you have probably looked over a large cemetery and marvelled at the vast array of stones, wondering who all of those people were, and what lives they led. We ought to also wonder what Voice they will hear when they awake. If our Lord has not come before our race is run, we will occupy one of those graves. As fearful and uncomfortable as the thought of death is, and as much as we shudder to consider the coming tomb, we do so with a different perspective than those who have no hope, or those whose hope is false. We rest in the comfort of knowing that the Voice that wakes us will not be that of a stranger, but of our own dear Shepherd. We will be called, not to account, but to rest, not to condemnation, but to comfort, not to doom, but to everlasting delight. We have hope.
If we should be called to occupy one of earth’s graves, we are assured that it will be a temporary occupancy. We can also be assured that the Voice that calls us forth is the Same as the One Whose voice we are eagerly listening for today. -Jim MacIntosh