Immortality: Gift of God – April 23, 2000
One of the oldest epics in literature dates back to the ancient kingdom of Sumeria more than 4,000 years ago. Written on clay tablets and preserved in an ancient Assyrian library, it chronicles the adventures of Gilgamesh the King, who determines to learn the secret of immortality. His odyssey takes him over mountains and into the depths of the sea. But his brave attempts to gain eternal life are in vain. The king learns at the end of his journey that no mortal can escape death, that life is bounded by the cradle and the grave.1
From the ancient world down to the modern world, millions of men and women have cried out to know if there can be victory over death. They echo Job’s plea to the Creator, “If a man die, shall he live again?”2 But unlike the Sumerian king, Job’s question is answered and he testifies, “For I know that my redeemer liveth, . . . and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God.”3
This is the promise of the Resurrection, the glorious message of Easter.
On that first Easter morning, faithful women clutching spices and precious ointments came to a garden sepulchre to anoint the lifeless body of their Lord. They were greeted by an empty tomb and angels proclaiming: “Why seek ye the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen.”4
Here is the miracle that opens the way for hope. Here is the miracle, the gift to all mankind: life is not bounded by the grave, but life bridges into immortality through the sublime love of the Creator. He said, “I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.”5
Armed with that belief, men and women of faith may face death trusting that the grave is not the end of life. Life is eternal, as promised by an empty tomb on that first Easter morning. Immortality is a gift from God.
Program #3688
1. See The Epic of Gilgamesh: An English Version with an Introduction, N. K. Sanders, ed. (New York: Penguin Books, 1972).
2. Job 14:14.
3. Job 19:25,26.
4. Luke 24:5,6.