Not long ago, a dear friend of mine and fellow church member was diagnosed with a terminal illness.

Yesterday I preached his funeral service, mourned with his family, and joyfully reflected on his long life, rich legacy, and bold witness for Christ.

In the days leading up to my friend’s death, I thought much about 2 Corinthians 5—a passage in which the Apostle Paul reflects on the transience of this present life in contrast to a future life with God. In this life, our bodies age and decay. Wrinkles and spots appear. Strange pains creep into our bones. The uninvited guests of disease and weakness settle in and stay. Friends die, and we weep. Sooner than we realize, it will be our turn to be wept over.

Is this what it means to be human? Is it to develop a thirst for life only long enough to realize that the thirst can never be quenched? Or, as Bertrand Russel puts it, “to lose his dearest today, and tomorrow himself pass through the gate of darkness”? 

If physical death really is the end, every assertion of truth or morality becomes meaningless—not to mention that life becomes hopeless. Far better—not to mention, more plausible—is the truth the Bible teaches: we were meant for eternal life with God. The Bible speaks of our current bodies as a temporary dwelling place, like a tent. They are adequate for a few decades, but for those who “have the Spirit as a guarantee,” our mortality will be “swallowed up by life.”

Can you imagine what it will be like to be “swallowed up by life”—to be surrounded by and saturated with life? The meal we could only faintly taste in moments of praying or laughing or marveling at a sunrise will be a feast set before us. “Then we will know fully, even as we have been fully known.” Then we will see the face of the one we have prayed to, trusted in, at times questioned and doubted, but ultimately longed for. As Jesus said, “And this is life eternal, that they might know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent” (John 17:3).

My friend’s diagnosis was terminal. But, come to think of it, so is mine. 

And so is yours.

Everything in this life is terminal—it will all come to an end. And then what? “It is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment” (Hebrews 9:27). The only way to be ready for that day of judgment is to trust in the Author of Life, the Lord Jesus Christ, the one who laid down his life for us.

Then, and only then, can you know what it means to be “swallowed up by life.”