2nd Sunday of Advent: Longing for Eternal Life

"Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who overcomes will not be hurt at all by the second death" (Revelation 2:11).

But we don’t want to be hurt by the first death! We want our promised eternal life without having to go through what Jesus himself had to endure. We want Jesus to suck us up in his cosmic Dyson and whisk us away to heaven before we even get near our grave. We want to live forever. We just don’t want to die to do it.

Eric Black

The proof is everywhere, starting with our pantries and medicine cabinets, which are full of food, vitamin supplements and expensive prescriptions—luxuries millions never enjoy. Out of our hard-wired bent toward self-preservation, we fork over large amounts of hard-earned money on what we consider basic necessities.

But our desire to live forever stretches far beyond the basics of health and nutrition. No, if we’re going to be immortal, we want to be immortally 30—or whatever age we were at our physical peak. Yes, we want to be immortal in a young body.

And so we buy the fountain of youth by the tube- and bottle-full. We buy anti-aging creams and hair dyes and enhancements. We buy Botox treatments and laser hair removal and plastic surgery. We buy skinny jeans and gym memberships.

I joined a gym just this last week. Even at 37, I’m not as young as I once was and have gotten out of shape. The Dang Gym—that’s the name, not a description—was offering such a good deal I took them up on it. Let me tell you, it hurts to feel young again. The funny thing is, I can get in better shape, but it won’t make me younger or live forever.

On a more serious note, we are so averse to death and dying, we will go to extreme measures to stay alive. We will subject ourselves to endless radioactive tests to determine the cause of what ails us. We will seek whatever medical treatment promises a survival rate, even if slender. We will undergo “heroic measures” to be resuscitated in the event our breathing or heart stops. In short, we’ll do anything for a little more time.

Not only individuals but churches, too, want to live forever. Churches queasy about death will build buildings, start programs, hire ministers—anything to stay alive. Anything.

Entire industries thrive on our aversion to death—marketing, pharmaceuticals, health, beauty and insurance to name a few. One could argue our economy is built on our aversion to death.

The irony is the One who gives eternal life didn’t escape death himself—not the first death, though he did escape it at least two times. The first was when Jesus was a toddler, about the time Mary didn’t have to carry him around on her hip anymore. A bunch of wise guys showed up from some far off place and brought really unwanted attention to Mary’s house.

King Herod got wind from those wise guys about a future king of Israel born right under his nose. Herod couldn’t stand competition, and so he ordered all the Jewish boys 2 years old and younger to be slaughtered. Joseph resorted to heroic measures and swooped up Mary and Jesus in the nick of time, and they ran for their lives.

After Herod died, Joseph took his family to Nazareth, a little out-of-the-way town near the Sea of Galilee, and he raised Jesus there. As an adult, Jesus left Nazareth to embark on his ministry, later making a return visit.

On that visit, Jesus went to the synagogue and read from Isaiah (Luke 4:18-19, 29-30): “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

Jesus claimed to be the embodied fulfillment of those words, and his old friends and neighbors were so incensed by his audacity:

" They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him off the cliff. But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way."

You see, Jesus had to live long enough to die. He couldn’t even risk taking his own life to satisfy his tempter by jumping off the Temple. No, he had to live long enough to die. But in the end, not even Jesus could escape death. In the end, Jesus did exactly what he taught us to do when he taught us that if we want to save our lives, we must lose them and that to follow him we must deny ourselves and take up our cross (Luke 9:23-24). In the end, Jesus denied himself and took up his cross, and he gave up his life. And then he escaped death! Hallelujah, Christ arose!

Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

And the Spirit says, These are the words of him who is the First and the Last, who died and came to life again.

• These words of promise are spoken by the One raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

• These words of promise are spoken by the One who knows what he’s talking about, for he is the One “who died and came to life again.”

• These words of promise are spoken by the One who came that we might have eternal life and who died to ensure it.

This Advent season, as you long for eternal life in a world going to its grave, be strong and courageous, looking to the One who knows the way to eternal life—though it goes through death—for he charted the course himself.

Eric Black is pastor of First Baptist Church of Covington, Texas.