Not in Vain

Somethings are just hard to understand. I remember standing at the graveside of my thirty three year old brother in law. My nephew was only four and was desperately trying to make since of where his father was, I don't remember where his two younger brothers were. The transitory nature of life is summed up in Ecclesiastes with the Hebrew word hebel. Hebel can be translated as vapor, breath, meaningless, fleeting, futile, vanity of vanities. James 4:14 says, "For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes."  So does that mean that when the mist has vanished we are finished?

Somethings are just hard to understand. In my minds eye I see her there in agony watching her son die. My own son is almost thirty three, the thought of watching him die would be more than I could bear. The thought of watching him be nailed to a cross, humiliated and mocked in his suffering makes my heart ache. But Mary had believed when the angel told her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy--the Son of God." (Luke 1:35) Now she stood at the foot of the cross watching her son as he struggled for every breath. She who had heard his first cry now heard his last cry. "'It is finished,' and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit." (John 19:30) Did her heart shatter with her hopes when she heard the words, "It is finished?"

What did Jesus mean when he said, "It is finished?" In the beginning, "the Lord God formed man of the dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and he became a living creature." (Genesis 2:7) God called His creation "very good." The transitory nature of life that causes our time on earth to be described as meaningless and a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes is a result of sinful rebellion against a Holy God. Death is the curse that resulted from that rebellion. However, even as the curse was spoken a promise was given that one day a son of man would come who would put an end to the curse.

Both wisdom and hope can only be found when we see life with spiritual eyes. Jesus was the lamb of God who took away the sins of the world. When Jesus cried, "It is finished!" the veil that separated a Holy God from unholy people was ripped from top to bottom. The curse of death was a result of man's rebellion the breaking of the curse was finished because, "God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16)

Somethings are just hard to understand, in fact somethings are a mystery. The mystery is that Jesus not only died but rose from the dead. Because Jesus conquered death by his resurrection he has promised us that one day this mortal body will put on immortality. When that happens death will be swallowed up in victory. By faith we look beyond the temporal to the eternal knowing that in the Lord our lives are not lived in vain.