Man Comes Back to Life From Death

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everal years ago a submarine sank off the coast of Provincetown. When divers descended, they searched for any possible signs of life within. Listening closely, they detected a slight tapping sound. Somebody was sending a message in Morse code asking: "Is there hope?"

Facing death can be a terrifying experience—especially if there is no hope of life after death.

For example, Voltaire, the famous infidel who spent most of his life fighting Christianity, cried out with his dying breath, "I am abandoned by God and man, I shall go to hell."

Sir Thomas Scott, Chancellor of England, said as he was dying, "Until this moment I thought there was neither God nor hell; now I know and feel that there are both, and I am doomed to perdition by the just judgment of the Almighty."

How different are the words of followers of Christ who, when facing death, have the hope of life after death. John Wesley, father of the world-wide Methodist movement, said on his deathbed, "Best of all, God is with us."

Sir David Brewster, inventor of the kaleidoscope, said as he was dying, "I will see Jesus. I shall see him as he is. I have had the light for many years. Oh, how bright it is. I feel so safe and satisfied."

Nobody ever repented of being
a Christian on their deathbed.

It has been well said that nobody ever repented of being a Christian on their deathbed. However, the hope of life after death is not based on what others have said when they were dying, but on Christ's own resurrection from death.

As the Scriptures explain, "But the fact is that Christ did actually rise from the dead, and has become the first of millions who will come back to life again someday ... Everyone must die because all of us are related to Adam, being members of his sinful race, and wherever there is sin, death results. But all who are related to Christ will rise again ... When Christ comes back, all his people will become alive again."¹

"But I've never seen anyone rise from the dead," somebody says, "so I don't believe such a thing is possible." That's understandable.

However, a hundred years ago very few people would have believed that radio, television, and nuclear bombs were possible simply because they hadn't seen these either. Obviously, this didn't prove they couldn't happen. And because we haven't seen anyone rise from the dead doesn't prove that it can't happen.

But with Christ's resurrection there were many who saw what happened. On at least ten occasions Christ appeared to his followers after his death and burial.

He appeared to Mary Magdalene in the garden on Easter Sunday. He appeared to the other Mary, to Peter, to the two disciples on the Emmaus Road, to all the apostles except Thomas, to the eleven disciples with Thomas included, to the disciples at the Sea of Galilee, to the five hundred followers to whom he gave the Great Commission, to James, to the eleven disciples at Bethany just before his ascension to heaven, and to Paul.²

Charles McIllvaine, former chaplain of the United States Senate, suggests that if Christ did not rise from the dead, his body must have been removed either by friends or by enemies.

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