Back from the Dead

The death of Sir Terry Pratchett, author of many best-selling fantasy novels, was one of the most-reported stories of recent weeks. Whether or not you had read any of his books – I must admit I hadn’t – you are probably familiar with his face and seen him on television. That was because as well as being a novelist, he had, in his last years, become a well-known campaigner about the Alzheimer’s Disease which eventually took his life. After being diagnosed with the early onset of the disease, he also filmed a television programme about his experiences of suffering with it, and gave and raised a lot of money towards research relating to it.
 I was interested to read how different people responded to the event. Quoting from one of his books, after Pratchett's death, his assistant wrote from the official Terry Pratchett Twitter account: “At last, Sir Terry, we must walk together. Terry took Death’s arm and followed him through the doors and on to the black desert under endless night. The End.” 
Perhaps you read too, about the fact that several of his fans began a petition which urged death to ‘bring back Terry Pratchett’. According to some press reports, over 5000 of his fans signed the online petition. The petition needless to say has been unsuccessful.
Death doesn’t ‘give people back’. That is why we rightly respect it and do so much to fight against it. There was a time, of course, when it had to give people back. When the Lord Jesus walked on earth we read of three cases where dead people did come back to life. A widow’s son in Nain (Luke 7), Jairus’s daughter in Capernaum (Matthew 9) and a man called Lazarus from a village called Bethany (John 11) all came back from the dead. This was not because death willingly gave them up, but because Someone more powerful than death overpowered it! He went on to prove that in His own life.
It’s Easter time again, and on Easter Day we will be remembering the Lord Jesus Christ, Victor over death and the grave. We will examine the overwhelming evidence for the truth of the resurrection and find it convincing! We will also rejoice in the great significance and meaning that the resurrection of the Saviour carries with it. The sacrifice for sin that He had made on the cross has been accepted by a holy God. We can know forgiveness, peace with God, and, what is more, eternal life as a result, because the resurrection of Christ means that the locked door of death has been opened from the inside. Heaven, shut to us because of our sin, can be ours through Him.
Look again at those final words on Sir Terry Pratchett’s twitter account. “Black desert … endless night … the End”. He never wrote anything more powerful or profound. But when the Risen Lord Jesus is real to us, dwelling in our hearts by faith, they could not be further from the truth. If we know Christ, death to us will be gain! We won’t go to endless night, but to eternal day! Death won’t be the end, but a new beginning that will never end! Do you have the hope of Easter Day?