The Resurrection and Life
The Resurrection is the return to life, meaning that death has ended and life has taken its place. What is life? And what is its importance in the Holy Bible?
The Resurrection and Life
The Importance of Life
It was said in the creation of our father Adam that God breathed into him the breath of life, and Adam became a living soul (Gen 2:7). And it was said about Eve that she was so called because she was the mother of all living (Gen 3:20).
That is, the human being from his beginning is connected with life… as a living being.
Thus it was said about God that He is not the God of the dead but the God of the living (Matt 22:32). And the importance of life reached such a point that it was said in Ecclesiastes: “A living dog is better than a dead lion” (Eccl 9:4).
And from the importance of life is that it is an attribute of God, and it is said: the living God…
“As I live, says the Lord” (Ezek 5:11). And they used to swear by the name of the living God. For the angel in the Book of Revelation “swore by Him who lives forever and ever” (Rev 10:6). And the twenty-four elders used to worship Him who lives forever and ever (Rev 4:10). And God—blessed be His name—reproaches His people saying: “They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, and hewn out for themselves cisterns—broken cisterns that can hold no water” (Jer 2:13). And the Lord Christ said: “He who believes in Me… out of his belly will flow rivers of living water. This He spoke concerning the Holy Spirit whom those believing in Him would receive” (John 7:38–39).
And the heavenly kingdom was said to be the land of the living…
Thus the Psalmist said: “I believe that I shall see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living” (Ps 27:13). And the greatest reward for a person is that his name be written in the “Book of Life” (Rev 20:12 – Rev 22:19). And God gives him the “crown of life,” and he eats from the “tree of life” (Rev 2:10, 7).
And since life is the most important thing, death became the most dangerous punishment.
God said to the first human: In the day you eat of the tree you shall surely die (Gen 2:17). Thus the human was exposed to many kinds of death: bodily death, which is the separation of the body from the spirit; spiritual death, which is the separation of the spirit from God; moral death, which is the loss of the divine image; and eternal death after the resurrection, which was called the second death, which is eternal destruction in the lake of fire (Rev 20:14).
Since this is the case, let us search for what true life is.
True Life
True life is not the few days we spend on earth, which many of the fathers hated and called “days of sojourn.”
The Psalmist said: “I am a stranger on the earth” (Ps 119:19). And he said: “Woe is me, for my sojourn has been prolonged; I have dwelt in the tents of Kedar” (Ps 120:5). And our father Jacob said to Pharaoh: “The days of the years of my sojourn are few and evil, and they have not attained to the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their sojourn” (Gen 47:9). And Jonah the prophet once said in his distress: “Now, O Lord, take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live” (Jonah 4:3). And our mother Rebekah, wife of our father Isaac, said: “I am weary of my life because of the daughters of Heth. If Jacob takes a wife from the daughters of Heth… what good will my life be to me?!” (Gen 27:46).
And this earthly life the Scripture says is “a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away” (James 4:14). It is only a short and limited period, or rather a temporary period we spend on earth, merely a time of testing. It is neither true life nor eternal life. So what then is true life?
The Apostle says: “For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Phil 1:21). And Saint John the Evangelist said about the Lord Christ: “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men” (John 1:4). And He Himself said to Martha: “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die” (John 11:25–26). From here we understand the meaning of life.
True life is abiding in the Lord… It is the life of the spirit with God… And whoever is separated from Him is not alive.
It is not the life of the body with matter and dust. It is not merely the breaths we inhale or the beating of the heart and the warmth of the body. Rather it is the life of the spirit in its union with God. Thus the father said of his prodigal son: “This my son was dead and is alive again” (Luke 15:24). He was dead when he was separated from his father, and he became alive again through repentance. In the same sense it was said of the indulgent widow that she is “dead while she lives” (1 Tim 5:6). And in the same sense it was said about the angel of the church of Sardis: “You have a name that you are alive, but you are dead” (Rev 3:1).
Life, then, is not life in name, nor life in sin. Rather it is life in God… with Him and by Him… as the Apostle said: “For in Him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28). And he also said: “I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him” (Phil 3:8–9). Truly, how amazing is this phrase: “and be found in Him”…!
True life with God on earth is the pledge of eternal life… a taste of the kingdom.
And eternal life is the hope of all people… True life begins here on earth and is completed in heaven… As for the one who did not practice the truth here, but on earth had a name that he is alive though he is dead, he will never enjoy eternal life with God and His angels and His saints in the land of the living.
The one who did not taste the kingdom here partially… will not taste it forever… for the kingdom is the life of communion with God…
That is, the one who did not live with God here and did not find delight in life with God here—how will he then find delight and bliss in life with God forever?! And the one who longs here for the world and the things in the world—how can he be separated from them and live with God a life of alienation from his heart that is attached to the world?!
And God has set the two ways before us to choose…
Thus He said at the end of Deuteronomy: “See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil… I call heaven and earth as witnesses… I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that you may live… by loving the Lord your God, obeying His voice, and holding fast to Him” (Deut 30:15,19,20).
Truly, this is the path leading to life, about which the Psalmist said: You have made known to me the ways of life (Ps 16).
You Have Made Known to Me the Ways of Life
1- The first path to life is faith: true living faith.
The faith of which the Lord said: “He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live” (John 11:25). “He who has the Son has life,” “He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him” (John 3:36). For the Son is “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6).
If you do not live a life of faith, you will not be alive… Your life is measured by your faith…
And faith has levels… reaching the faith that walks on water and does not fear nor doubt (Matt 14:31), and the faith that moves mountains (1 Cor 13:2)… If you do not have something of this, at least have “faith working through love” (Gal 5:6). Do you, my brothers, have this faith?… “Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves” (2 Cor 13:5). About “the life of faith” I have written for you a book with this title; would that you apply what is in it. And what else about the life of faith?
2- You love the Lord your God… and hear His voice… and cling to Him, for He is your life (Deut 30:20).
This is not merely a commandment in the New Testament, in the life of Christian perfection (Matt 22:37). Rather it is also an old commandment in the Law of Moses in the Old Testament (Deut 30:20). And before it: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might” (Deut 6:5). And if you fulfill it you will reach the second: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Matt 19:19) (Lev 19:18).
3- The third path to life is repentance.
If your love toward God has grown cold and you have drifted away from Him, and “left your first love” (Rev 2:4), you can return to life through repentance: “Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent” (Rev 2:5), and remember the Apostle’s saying…
“That God has also granted to the Gentiles repentance to life” (Acts 11:18).
If sin is the path to death, repentance is the path to life. You begin by leaving sin, then removing the love of sin from your heart, until you reach the perfection of repentance, which is hatred of sin. And by this the life of purity and the fruits of the Spirit become clear before you (Gal 5:22). And those who do not repent have fulfilled in them the Lord’s saying:
“Unless you repent you will all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3,5).
And you cannot repent unless you come to Christ, for He is the way (John 14:6). And He reproached the Jews saying: “You are not willing to come to Me that you may have life” (John 5:40). Thus it is necessary that you come to Christ, know Him, believe in Him, and love Him, that you may have life.
And the Lord Christ said about Himself: “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly” (John 10:10).
4- And life is also for you through keeping the commandments of the Lord.
A man came to the Lord saying: “What good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?” He answered him… “If you want to enter into life, keep the commandments” (Matt 19:16–17). And do not think that your love for God is merely feelings without keeping the commandments. For Saint John the Beloved said: “He who says, ‘I know Him,’ and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him” (1 John 2:4–5).
Meditate on the Psalm as it explains the path of life, saying:
“Who is the man who desires life and loves many days, that he may see good? Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit. Depart from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it…” (Ps 34). Not only in regard to external deeds, but the Scripture also says:
“Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life” (Prov 4:23).
Do you not see that the subject has grown long while we speak about life, and many thoughts still lie before us? Let us then complete it later.
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An article by His Holiness Pope Shenouda III, published in Watani Newspaper on 8-5-1988
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