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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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And how could Christ\'s few friends have stolen his body from the tomb? The eleven apostles fled through fear when Christ was taken. The remaining few women and Joseph of Arimathea (who donated the tomb) could hardly have rolled away the massive grave stone and stolen Christ\'s body when the grave was so zealously guarded under Roman authority to prevent anyone from stealing the body.

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And had the enemies of Christ stolen the body, they would have been delighted to disprove Christ\'s resurrection for all time—by producing the dead body. This they never did.

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Thus, the empty tomb is further evidence of Christ\'s resurrection.³

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Additional evidence is seen in the dramatic change in the fearful apostles.

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\"Within fifty days of the death of Jesus Christ, and the apparent collapse of his cause,\" wrote Rev. G.H. Lunn, \"the city of Jerusalem rang with the clarion cries of men who, with all boldness, declared that God had raised Christ from the dead, and that they were his witnesses.\"

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Craven cowards were changed into courageous confessors, and rude unlettered fishermen from Galilee had become royal heralds of the King, so that all who saw and heard them were compelled to acknowledge that something had happened which had utterly transformed their lives.\"

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When questioned by their critics, the apostles had no hesitancy in making reply. They accounted for their own boldness by attributing everything to the risen Christ.\"

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In speaking about life after death, Dr. Von Braun, elected in 1975 president of the National Space Institute in Washington D.C., said, \"In our modern world many people seem to feel that science has somehow made such ‘religious ideas\' untimely or old-fashioned.

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Craven cowards were changed
into courageous confessors.

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\"But I think science has a real surprise for the skeptics. Science, for instance, tells us that nothing in nature, not even the tiniest particle, can disappear without a trace.\"

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Think about that for a moment. Once you do, your thoughts about life will never be the same. Science has found that nothing can disappear without a trace. Nature does not know extinction. All it knows is transformation!\"

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Now, if God applies this fundamental principle to the most minute and insignificant parts of his universe, doesn\'t it make sense to assume that he applies it also to the masterpiece of his creation—the human soul? I think it does. And everything science has taught me—and continues to teach me—strengthens my belief in the continuity of our spiritual existence after death. Nothing disappears without a trace.\"

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According to God\'s Word, \"we have this assurance: Those who belong to God shall live again. Their bodies shall rise again! Those who dwell in the dust shall awake and sing for joy! For God\'s light of life will fall like dew upon them!\"⁴

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And who are those who belong to God? They are not the self-righteous do-gooders. They are those who admit their failures, their sins, and their need of God. They are those who believe that Jesus died on the cross for their sins and who, in their heart, have committed their life to Jesus Christ and have become a true follower of him. And as Jesus said to his followers, \"Because I live, you will live also.\"⁵

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To make certain you have committed your life to Jesus Christ click on the \"How to Know God\" button below. (Note: If this article is on any website other than that of the main website of ACTS International, please click on the \"How to Know God\" link at the bottom of this page.)

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1. 1 Corinthians 15:20, 22, 23, Living Bible.
2. Mark 16:9; Luke 24:34; 24:13-21; John 20:19,24; 20:26; 21:1; 1 Corinthians 15:6; 15:7; Luke 24:50,51; and 1 Corinthians 15:8.
3. Wilbur M. Smith, Editor Great Sermons on the Resurrection of Christ, p. 21, W.A. Wilde Company, Massachusetts. Copyright 1964.
4. Isaiah 26:19 Living Bible.
5. John 14:19.

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