proclaimed Nietzsche in the 1880’s, riding on the coattails of other philosophers enthusing over the Enlightenment. The phrase was ballyhooed in the USA in the 1950’s and ‘60’s, dying out in the ‘70’s, according to Wikipedia, third only to marketing gurus and Hollywood in forming American popular opinion.
I would tell you that I was going to tell you “the real truth,” but that might support the popular opinion today that there is more than one truth. There isn’t.
I think I remember this slogan plastered on billboards sometime during those years of the heyday of the Viet Nam War. If I could mount a billboard campaign today, it would show a picture of the “God Is Dead” billboard with a few additions.
The “God Is Dead” would be written in black, with a red stroke of paint through the “Is” and a “Was” printed above it. Under that it would say, “But He’s not anymore, and He’s coming back.”
God was dead
He’s not anymore
He’s coming back
Do you feel outraged or confused by the comment, “God was dead?” Let me share with you what some have told me. A Muslim man walked away shouting over his shoulder, ”God does not die!” I understand that most Muslims believe that Allah does not, cannot have a son, and consequently that Jesus, whom they acknowledge to be a sinless prophet, seated at their God’s right hand, and coming back as Messiah, is not their God’s son. But my question to you, and to him, is, “Who tells his God what He cannot do?”
Similarly a Jewish friend of mine tells me God cannot be Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The concept of God expressing Himself in three persons confuses my friend, but he himself is brother, son, father, husband, and more. But my question to you, and to him, is, ”Who tells his God who He cannot be?”
I’m not saying God has limits. I personally am so blown away by the tiny bit that I do know of Him that I wouldn’t be willing to speculate on whatever the totality of His existence might encompass. I do know from His self-revelations that there are things He has committed Himself to, for example: righteousness and justice, mercy and faithfulness (Psalm 89:14.)
So why not look into His self-revelation to figure out if indeed, “Can God die?” In talking to His disciples, Jesus explicitly states that to see Him is to see what God looks like: “Whoever has seen Me has seen the Father,” (John 14:9b.) The author of Hebrews concurs in Hebrews 1:3, “He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of His nature, and He upholds the universe by the word of His power. After making purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.(ESV)” Even the Roman centurion who was present when the spear was driven in Jesus’s side to check if He were dead recognized Jesus as Son of God (Matthew 27:54 and Mark 15:39.) So Jesus, in addition to all His wisdom and miraculous healings, asserted that He is Son of God, a manifestation of God Himself.
So far we have that Jesus was God (yes, hard to figure) and died (yes, hard to figure.) But there are those who figure dying as a sign of weakness. What if Jesus’s dying and coming back to life (five hundred eye-witnesses, 1 Corinthians 15:6) were actually as sign of overwhelming power, unimaginable life? As if maybe crushing out death under His heel like an ember popped out of an autumn fire was nothing to Him? What if God could do such a thing, any time He chose? He said He did. Why couldn’t He, and who is anyone to tell Him He couldn’t? He said He did. He said He did it for you and me. He said He knew you and I couldn’t handle it down here, so He took care of it by dying for us, in our place, because buddy, you and I are totally messed up, beyond repair. We need a do-over, and He generously offers it freely. When you stand before Him, what will you say to a God who can die and live again anytime He wants to? Do you think you will try explain that you underestimated Him or just couldn’t figure out how He could be or do what He said He was and did? I think I’ll tell Him I think He’s astounding, and beautiful, and perfectly right about everything, and that I love Him and, probably, the most exquisite and heart felt, “Thank You” that I can muster, if I can speak at all.
See you there. Hope you are standing next to me. (If you can see Him for who He is and see yourself for who you are, all you have to do is politely ask.)
biggerpieces 