Do you believe in ghosts? There are stories in the Bible that make you wonder—events science can’t explain—or as Hamlet put it after talking to his father’s ghost:
“There are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”
God brought Ezekiel to a valley filled with dry bones—millions of dry, white bones. God told the prophet to preach to the bones and as he did, there was a rattling noise, the sound as the ‘dry bones rattled.’ Soon the bones stood up and came to life, “a vast army” Ezekiel 37:1-10.
Another story: While Israelites were burying a man, they saw enemy raiders coming, so they quickly threw the dead man’s body into the tomb of Elisha. “As soon as his body touched the bones of Elisha, the man was revived and stood up on his feet” 2 Kings 13:21. What? This dead guy touched the dried-up bones of Elisha and he came back to life? But Elisha remained dead?
What is going on?
And Jesus raised people from the dead: the widow’s son, Jairus’s daughter, and Lazarus.
Finally, consider what happened at the death of Christ:
“At that moment … the earth quaked and the rocks were split. The tombs broke open, and THE BODIES OF MANY SAINTS WHO HAD FALLEN ASLEEP WERE RAISED. After Jesus’s resurrection, when they had come out of the tombs, they entered the holy city and appeared to many people” Matthew 27:51-53.
Dead people came out of their tombs and went into town? Did you know Jesus was only one of many resurrections that Sunday?[1]
(Now THAT is an exclusive club!)
GOD IS SOVEREIGN. He is in control of LIFE AND DEATH. Not us, not doctors, not science. God can do anything—and sometimes we will not be able to explain it with our books or philosophy.
God, help us to see YOUR HAND in life and death. Remind us YOU ARE STILL ON YOUR THRONE. You are in control.
ΑΩ
[1] Technically, only Jesus was resurrected. Lazarus and all others restored to life are believed to have experienced “resuscitations.”
Household Words: 