https://odb.org/2026/09/16/eternity-with-god
John 11:17–27 (NIV): 17 On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. 18 Now Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem, 19 and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. 20 When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home.
21 “Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.”
23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”
24 Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”
25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; 26 and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
27 “Yes, Lord,” she replied, “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”
Death may be “normal” because it will happen to everyone. But those who love and serve Jesus can prepare for their death without fear, as we see in Jesus’ conversation with His beloved friend Martha after her brother had died. Jesus promised her that Lazarus would “rise again” (John 11:23). He told her that He is “the resurrection and the life” and that “the one who believes in [Him] will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in [Him] will never die” (vv. 25-26). Martha responded by making one of the few professions in the New Testament that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God (v. 27). She believed. (Amy Boucher Pye, Our Daily Bread 16th September 2026)
One of the fundamental truth we could derive from Jesus’s encounter with Lazarus is that as much as Jesus had proven that He was God by raising Lazarus from the dead (after 4 days when the body had already entered active decay with discolouration and bloating), there is a greater resurrection awaiting us, one that is greater than Lazarus’s.
Jesus in raising Lazarus had reversed the effects of decomposition and restored life, Lazarus will nevertheless still grow old and die naturally like everyone else. Like the feeding of the 5,000 – Lazarus’s resurrection was a miracle defying nature that only a creator God could manage. Yet salvation promises an even greater miracle of reuniting our soul/spirit with a new glorified body one day (it matters not how we died) when Jesus returns again. This was demonstrated by Jesus’s own glorified body witnessed by His disciples and other followers for 40 days after His death and resurrection. That’s the miracle and hope of our salvation, that one day we will live with God dwelling amongst His people in the new heaven and new earth and the new holy city of Jerusalem as revealed in Revelation 21.
Salvation is encapsulated in the phrase of “one death but two births” – that is, if you are born twice, you will only die once but if you are only born once, you will die twice. The former speaks of believers in Jesus Christ who experienced their second birth by being born-again in the spirit, while the latter speaks of those who rejected Jesus and thus will die again in the spirit after their physical death on earth (condemned to the place of fire and gnashing of teeth). It is only those who responded to God’s gift of salvation will experience eternal life and will only die once in the natural.
Eternal life means we will live forever like God originally intended for Adam (mankind) in the Garden of Eden in Eden Recreated (Revelation 21). Eternal life is made possible by the death of Jesus on the cross having defeated sin and death. With the availability once again the Tree of Life and Jesus being the bread of life and the river of everlasting waters, mankind who had accepted Jesus as their Lord and Saviour, will never die again. Death is “normal” in the present world – in the world to come, life will be the new norm!
Salvation and eternal life is freely given by the grace of God. Accept it if you haven’t done so and protect it with all you have if you have already believed!
John 3 16 KJV – For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
P/s Blessed Malaysia Day 2026!
Ronnie's Thoughts 