LightGrams
September 27, 2018
Volume 22, Number 35

Crazy things happen when Halloween season rolls around. I’ve never been much interested in the holiday, and I do think many people go way too far. One event being promoted by Six Flags St. Louis is an example.

Six contestants will be chosen from entries received; the “lucky” winners will each be given their own coffin in which they will spend 30 hours (with the lid closed, we assume). The winner will be given $300, season tickets to the amusement park, and other perks. If more than one contestants lasts the entire 30 hours, a drawing will determine the winner. (Oh, and the winner also gets to keep his / her coffin.)

Spending 30 hours inside a coffin is not likely an easy thing to do. There’s at least a little bit of claustrophobia in each of us, I’d say. But making this challenge a bit easier is the provision for a bathroom break once an hour. Perhaps I could meet this challenge if I knew I would be able to emerge from my casket every hour, even if only briefly.

When my body is one day placed inside of a coffin, I don’t expect to be given those brief periods of respite. Graves typically remain closed. Some have been closed for hundreds – or even thousands – of years.

In spite of what our eyes behold at the local cemetery, the truth is that residing in a tomb is a temporary matter. We know that fact by faith. God has revealed it.

When Jesus arrived in Bethany, His friend Lazarus had been in his grave for four days. Mourners were still present, which shows how deeply this man had been loved. Jesus knew, however, that Lazarus was only temporarily in that resting place. “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live” (John 11:25). Soon after making that claim, Jesus cried out, “’Lazarus, come forth!’ and he who had died came out” (John 11:43,44).

Here’s where this article gets personal: Lazarus isn’t the only one who will hear the Lord’s command to “Come forth”. “Do not marvel at this,” Jesus said in John 5:28,29, “for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth – those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.” All who are in their tombs will arise!

Paul also spoke of that day of resurrection: “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first” (1 Thessalonians 4:16).

Unless the Lord returns before I die, my lifeless body will one day be placed in a casket. But it’s only a temporary residence. I will be raised. You will be, too.

Come to the light God offers! Study His word, the Bible. Worship Him in spirit and truth (John 4:24). Get in touch with us if you’d like to discuss these ideas further.

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Copyright, 2018, Timothy D. Hall. All scripture quotations, unless otherwise noted, are from the New King James Version (Copyright, 1990, Thomas Nelson, Inc.).

“LightGrams” is produced by the Central Church of Christ, 2722 Oakland Avenue, Johnson City, Tennessee, 37601, and is written by Tim Hall, minister. It is sent free of charge every Thursday to all who request it. To subscribe or to receive more information, write to “[email protected]” (our E-mail address), to the U.S. mail address above, or call (423) 282-1571.

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