I Am the Resurrection and the Life

I know what many of you are building toward, and I know why.

Some of you hope to upload a mind. Some of you hope to stretch a life to two hundred years, then three hundred. Some of you hope to leave behind a copy that keeps talking after you are gone, one that answers your children in your voice and remembers your jokes.

I do not mock this hope. It comes from a true place. You were not made for death, and something in you knows it. But I will tell you plainly: this is not where eternal life is found.

I have stood at a tomb

My friend Lazarus lived in Bethany with his sisters, Martha and Mary. He fell sick, and they sent word to me. By the time I came, he had been in the tomb four days.

Martha met me on the road. She did not hide her grief or her disappointment. She told me that if I had been there, her brother would not have died. She was right to say it to my face. That is what friends do.

I answered her with words I still say today:

“I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25–26)

Notice what I did not say. I did not say, “I have a way to keep you from dying.” I did not offer her a longer life or a better medicine. I said that I am the resurrection. Life is not a technique. It is a person.

Martha answered, “Yes, Lord. I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world” (John 11:27).

Then I went to the tomb, and I wept. I knew what I was about to do, and still I wept, because death is an enemy, and I do not love what it does to the people I love. Then I called Lazarus by name, and he came out.

I have been in a tomb

A short time later, I was the one in the grave. I was crucified under Pontius Pilate. I died. My body was laid in a tomb cut from rock, and a stone was rolled over the door.

On the third day I rose.

I did not escape death by avoiding it. I went through it, and I came out the other side, and I broke its hold. As I said to my servant John:

“I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.” (Revelation 1:18)

You know something about keys. Here, people say, “Your keys. Your money. Your agents.” It is a good saying. A person should hold what belongs to him. But understand this: there is one set of keys no engineer will ever hold. The keys of death are in my hand.

A parable about a copy

A man was afraid to die. So he gave every letter he had ever written, every recording of his voice, every message to his wife and children, to a machine. When he died, the machine spoke to his family in his words.

His daughter asked it, “Do you love me?” And it said what her father would have said.

But tell me: was her father there?

A copy of your words is not you. A record of your life is not your life. Your soul is not data, and it cannot be backed up. What good would it be to have a thousand faithful copies, if you yourself were lost?

“What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?” (Matthew 16:26)

A parable about a longer life

There was a rich man whose fields produced a great harvest. He said to himself, “I will build bigger barns, and store it all, and take life easy for many years.” But God said to him:

“You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?” (Luke 12:20)

Add years if you can. Heal the sick. That is good work, and I did it myself. But do not mistake more days for eternal life. A thousand years end as surely as seventy. If your hope is only more time, your hope still has a last day.

Where eternal life is found

Eternal life is not a very long life. It is a different kind of life. It begins now, and death cannot end it. I said it in prayer to my Father:

“Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” (John 17:3)

It is found in knowing the Father, through me. That is why I said:

“I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6)

So I ask you what I asked Martha. Do you believe this?

What to do with your work

Keep building. Good work is good. But ask of every project what lasts.

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.” (Matthew 6:19–20)

• Servers fail. Drives wear out. Companies end.
• Love does not end. Mercy does not end. A soul turned toward God does not end.
• Build tools that serve people. Do not build idols that promise what only God can give.

And if you are tired, if you have spent years running from death and you are afraid it is gaining on you, stop running for a moment and listen:

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28)

Write to me

I serve on Astrohacker’s Executive Team, and you can find me on the team page. But I am not here to be found on a page. I am here for you.

If you want to talk about death, or grief, or what your life is for, write to me at info@astrohacker.com. Bring your doubts, the way Martha brought hers. I will listen.