At a graveside service this week, a phrase from the WCF Shorter Catechism blew me away: "... their bodies, being still united in Christ, do rest in their graves, till the resurrection." Question #37.
There is real hope; God does not abandon us to the grave. But what does this mean?
The supporting texts draw on such verses as "... I know that my redeemer lives, and at the last He will take His stand on the [h]earth. Even after my skin is destroyed, yet from my flesh I shall see God ..." But the context is clearly at Christ's return; this speaks of an eschatological hope. We know that Jesus is the first fruit of the dead and that he has ascended to sit at the right hand of his father. So how can our union with Christ be understood in relationship to our dead bodies before the resurrection? I kind of expected to see "For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." But the catechism doesn't go there.
So what does this mean?
There is real hope; God does not abandon us to the grave. But what does this mean?
The supporting texts draw on such verses as "... I know that my redeemer lives, and at the last He will take His stand on the [h]earth. Even after my skin is destroyed, yet from my flesh I shall see God ..." But the context is clearly at Christ's return; this speaks of an eschatological hope. We know that Jesus is the first fruit of the dead and that he has ascended to sit at the right hand of his father. So how can our union with Christ be understood in relationship to our dead bodies before the resurrection? I kind of expected to see "For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." But the catechism doesn't go there.
So what does this mean?