If in all our toil & hard work there only produces more toil & hard work or suffering & pain, then our efforts can only be viewed as meaningless & futile. Such meaninglessness & futility can only produce despair & hopelessness to the point where life & all its meaning will be defined as the end in itself. In other words, one can only expect in this human life with all the toil producing more toil & pain as the very point of life. If we reach such a conclusion, what is the point in living?
If, however, there is more to human life than toil & hard work producing more toil & hard work even pain & suffering, then life & all its meaning will be magnified that much greater because the pursuit was overcome & finally reaches its climax — there exists a certain satisfaction that the finality of all the hardship & suffering reaches a nexus point where the very definition of human life is found.
What if, this is true? In all our hardship, work, toil, pain & suffering in human life that there is a defining characteristic. But a characteristic of human life not defined by the work & pain itself, rather in what they represent apart from & in opposition to our true form of being. In this present body of human existence there is a finality of of the end that is death. A finality that is as inescapable as it is inevitable. Nothing we can do about changing that end; the result of all our work whether we lived it in comfort or pain all our lives. Therefore, if we are right — that this current life only represents an opposing form of life from our true form of life, then what is that life?
Hear & listen to the words of Christ through the Revelation of John —
Revelation 2:8-11
8 “And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write: ‘The words of the first and the last, who died and came to life.
9 “‘I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich) and the slander of those who say that they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.
10 Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.
11 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death.’
I highlighted three key phrases in this passage — two of the three passages concerns ‘life,’ whereas the third & final highlighted passage speaks about ‘death.’ Are these significant? If you only read the highlighted portion of this text, what is the idea that is being presented? First, that this unnamed being is altogether coterminous or connected with eternity — eternally everlasting (first, means not the first object created in existence but the only object in existence. Last, means not the last object to ever be in existence but the consummation of all things; all things reaching their climax) & eternally present.
Second, this unnamed being who is both eteranlly everlasting & eternally present, died in physical form & was raised to life again in physical form. Third, this unnamed being because he, himself was raised to life from the dead, he now retains the power over death in order to give it to others — empowering them to also conquer death. Finally, that he, himself will enable the power to conquer death & that the very clutches of death will have no power over them.
Who is this unnamed being? Jesus Christ. He is speaking about Himself, concerning the victory over life & death & thus assuming all the power that that entails — being thus the power itself to raise from the dead, He now can propitiate or give & ennoble & bestow upon the others this very same power. And who are these that are ennobled, bestowed upon, & are powerful? The Church. Are they everyone IN the church? Only to those — The one who conquers. And how do we know as the church that we are “the one who conquers” — Be faithful unto death. — if we are faithful. Faithfulness is an attribute of a the one who conquers but that individual can only be faithful if the faith is believing the Lord Jesus Christ as God & Man, Incarnate Son of God, died on the cross for sins, & finally redeemed us through His resurrection. Believing & having faith in this Gospel of the Christ, consumes the individual by faith by the power of the Holy Spirit.
It is not an effort thing, as in, a human effort thing. Nor is it a working thing, as in, working regardless of the fruitfulness or fruitlessness of life. Rather, it is a Spiritual thing — what, in fact do we as human beings actually do? We acknowledge everyday on our knees, how much we are in need of Christ — that we are poor & bankrupt without Christ; all of our striving is meaningless without Christ; that such hard work & toil & suffering cannot find its ultimate meaning, final consummation, & climax in us through Faith, without Christ. Christ must be in us through all the joys & sufferings of human life; that we must very much continue in this present life & into eternity, seek to know Him more, love Him more, & enjoy Him more!
What this means is both powerful & rich! It exposes suffering for it is — the powerlessness of life & of human life in particular. Rather than to assume & fixate upon this present existence as the meaning of life itself & attempt to prolong human existence in this present state. Christ pleads that we relinquish that quest for meaning & find an even more satisfying meaning. In Christ Jesus, we will find the ultimate satisfaction of all life both present & eternal is In Him. All other life will find itself in the grave & in destruction. That He is both our Joy in Life & our finality In Life — He IS our Life!
