31 Seeing what was ahead, he spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to the grave, nor did his body see decay.
Just recently I was asked about heaven and its reality. I was struck by the sincerity of the question. Hundreds of years before Jesus’ life, the Psalmist, the song writer among the bunch, predicted that Jesus’ body would not stay in the grave. He said that the grave would be a temporary place for his body. His body would not even decay because he would be in the grave for such a short time. I am struck with the audacity of the writer to write these things. And I am struck with the boldness when Scripture writes of the certainty of heaven for those who believe. Just as Jesus’ body did not stay in the grave, so our bodies will not stay in the grave. We get a new body. We do not get abandoned in the grave. The Lord does not leave us. In fact, Scriptures say that for the believer, absence from the body means presences with the Lord. For the believer death is just the door from this life to the next. We enter that part of eternity through the door of death. For the believer death is not something to be feared. Death merely marks the transition point between this life and the next. We put down grave markers, but we know, for the believer, that the person is not there in the grave. The remains of their physical body might be there, but they are already in God’s presence waiting for the resurrection at the end of time. Even this statement falls short. For those in heaven, there is no waiting. Time does not hold sway over their lives because they live on God’s time: eternity. I look forward to that time. No pain or sorrow. No regrets or worries. Just peace and joy.
The Arnold Journey 