"A Living God"

But very early on Sunday morning the women went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. They found that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance. So they went in, but they didn’t find the body of the Lord Jesus. As they stood there puzzled, two men suddenly appeared to them, clothed in dazzling robes. The women were terrified and bowed with their faces to the ground. Then the men asked, “Why are you looking among the dead for someone who is alive? He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead! (Luke 24:1-6 NLT).

I know it’s not Easter, but a very important thought occurred to me as I was driving to work earlier this week. It began with a statement I heard a theologian who observed: When God is dead anything is possible. That is a very powerful statement. Sadly it is true. When God is dead, the fences of morality are easily plowed over. Think for a moment about the Holocaust and the men who carried out its murderous plan. These were not monsters, but ordinary men; they were not crazed psychopaths, but mere men who had gone far astray of the plan and purpose of God. They were men to whom God was dead. And, when God is dead, anything is possible.

I read recently a man in his middle years once approached Ravi Zacharias after he had finished speaking and said, “If I told you all the horrible things I have done in my life you wouldn’t even want to be seen standing next to me. There is almost nothing I haven’t done. I am not sure even God can forgive me.” Zacharias said at the time he had to wonder what all was couched beneath those words. Still, the verse which came to mind were words spoken by the prophet Isaiah: Seek the Lord while He may be found; call on Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the Lord, and He will have mercy on him, and to our God, for He will freely pardon. (Isaiah 55:6-7).

When God is dead, the possibilities are unfathomable. But another question must be answered: If anything is possible when God is dead, what then is possible if God is alive? C.S. Lewis was a man who saw the beauty of the prodigal son worked out in his life. Describing his own quite reluctant conversion, he exclaims, “Who can duly adore that Love which will open the high gates to a prodigal who is brought in kicking, struggling, resentful, and darting his eyes in every direction for a chance to escape? The hardness of God is kinder than the softness of men, and His compulsion is our liberation.” 1 So, I can say with absolute confidence when God is alive, nothing is impossible! Absolutely nothing can separate you from God’s love, not even God’s seeming “death.” Don’t let anything convince you that God is dead! He is alive forever! And His love for you is unchanged. The Father is fully with you, waiting for you to come home. Come on back today!

1. C.S. Lewis, Surprised by Joy. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1955, p. 237