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MARCH/APRIL 2009
VOLUME 10, ISSUE 2

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D E P A R T M E N T S

Editor's COMMENTS

Resurrection life in mortal flesh
Colleen Tinker

 

On Sunday, March 15, 2009, I sat with my mom in the emergency room at Loma Linda University Medical Center. Her admitting diagnosis: pulmonary edema and atrial fibrillations. Her cardiologist had told her this condition eventually would be the likely development of the class four mitral valve leak she had in her heart.

As she awaited admission while the emergency team intervened with oxygen and intravenous heart medications and diuretics, mom—a former life-long Adventist who left that church about ten years ago to embrace Jesus alone for her salvation—looked at me and said, "I told God that I'd really like to get well, but my life is His, and whatever happens is O.K."

"Doesn't it make all the difference just knowing you won't cease to be when you die?" I asked her.

"It surely does," she responded with a little smile.

During the next few days as Mom was stabilized in the cardiac ICU and her medical team determined that mitral valve replacement surgery was her best option for treatment, her peace with God was clear. While the immediate future looked uncertain and even foreboding, the eternal life of God sustained her spirit as she faced the mortality of her body. She knew absolutely that, should she die, she would be with the Lord (2 Cor. 5:8).

During this past week I have reflected that the miracle of God giving us eternal life by the resurrection life of Jesus—even while we are in these mortal bodies—is the event that changes reality for us. It is Jesus' resurrection that gives us hope and security. Our bodies are dead in sin, but our spirits are alive because of righteousness (Rom. 8:10). The same Spirit who raised Jesus from death gives life to us in these mortal bodies (Romans 8:11).

To be sure, Jesus' blood reconciles us with God, but the resurrection life of Jesus is what saves us and secures us for eternity (Romans 5:10, 1 Cor 15:17-18). As Mom has been fond of pointing out to her friends who argued for the doctrine of soul sleep, Jesus Himself said that when we believe in Him, we pass from death to life and will not come into condemnation or judgment (John 5:24). We will never die (John 11:26).

We can know for sure we are saved, and we can live with the deep peace of certainty that not even death will separate us from the love of God (Romans 8:38). We can rejoice with Paul that when we die, we will not just be a memory in the mind of God. Rather, as born again believers, we will "be with Christ," and our position in Him even in death "is very much better" than is our life in these mortal bodies (Phil. 1:23).

On Friday, March 20, Richard and I stood beside Mom's bed, watching and listening as the surgery resident answered our questions and the nurses tethered Mom to an unbelievable assortment of IV drugs and monitors while the ventilator gurgled rhythmically. It seemed impossible that her frail 83-year-old body could have withstood the trauma of seven hours of open-heart surgery. I knew, though, that even though her body was deeply sedated to help control her heart rate and pressure, her spirit was alive at that moment to God.

Amazingly, less than a week later, Mom is ambulatory—albeit weak—and she will be discharged in a day or two. Her body is still frail, but the resurrection life of Jesus is the power and the hope that sustains her in re-learning to live with a mended heart.

This Easter edition features four different looks at the resurrection by four different authors: Chris Badenhorst, Thomas Francis, Dale Ratzlaff, and Linda Arnett. In addition we share a report of the fourth annual Former Adventist Fellowship weekend, and Carolyn Ratzlaff tells her faith story.

Our prayer is that you will meet Jesus in a new and compelling way as you read this issue of Proclamation! This Easter, we pray you will experience the resurrection life of Jesus transforming you and giving new purpose and power as you live for His glory. †

 

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Colleen with her mom, Margaret Moore, the day before she was released from the hospital.