Death - and resurrection!

Listening, this morning, to the Radio 4 programme Saturday Live, I heard 70-year-old Chrissie de Rivaz who hopes to cheat death by having her dead body stored in liquid nitrogen (cryonic suspension) in anticipation of “a medical resurrection”. I won’t go into the practical processes that she was happy to share, but the costs are apparently in the region of $28,000 in the USA (where, not surprisingly, this procedure takes place), plus an additional £8,000 for transportation of the dead body from the UK!!

It was very interesting to listen to this lady’s thinking on the subject! The analogies that she used were either technological – avoiding the simple fact that human beings are not mere machines; or very personal – there is so much that she won’t be able to do in this one life; and, of course, she might meet her great, great, (etc.) grandchild!

The presenter – himself a Christian clergyman – did seem to be starting a useful dialogue when he was asked by Mrs de Rivaz if he didn’t come across many people who couldn’t bear to be “planted in the ground to rot” or who would hate “to go up the chimney” and, in response, made a valid point by asking how we could possibly “understand the one thing that lies immediately beyond our powers of understanding.” I suspect that he would have gone further, as he began to make reference to “the general resurrection at the end of all things” that “promises us … that we’ll be revived as something spanking new”. Unfortunately, he informed us, the producer was “waving his hands” as an indication that he wasn’t allowed to go down that route!!

Death is, of course, something that, until the return of the Lord Jesus, not one of us can escape. It is something for which, I would suggest, there is never going to be a medical cure. If the proponents of cryonic suspension really want to cheat death, surely they should have themselves "frozen" before they die, in the more reasonable hope that a cure for the disease/illness from which they were suffering (although Mrs de Rizaz sounded perfectly healthy!) might one day be discovered! Of course, the Word of God makes it quite clear that "…it is destined that each person dies only once and after that comes judgment …" (Heb.9:27). However, it also makes clear that, for the true believer in Jesus – those who are His faithful disciples – death is not the end. Paul, writing to the church in Thessalonica, has this to say:

"And now, brothers and sisters, I want you to know what will happen to the Christians who have died so you will not be full of sorrow like people who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and was raised to life again, we also believe that when Jesus comes, God will bring back with Jesus all the Christians who have died. I can tell you this directly from the Lord: We who are still living when the Lord returns will not rise to meet him ahead of those who are in their graves. For the Lord Himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the call of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, all the Christians who have died will rise from their graves. Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and remain with Him forever. So comfort and encourage each other with these words."(I Thess.4:13-18).

My assurance of resurrection is not to a future earthly existence in a body that has been maintained in a thermos flask of liquid nitrogen, but is to a resurrected, glorified, body that will be physical, recognisable, yet different because it will be spiritual. Perhaps I will provide my personal theory of the resurrection body in a later post, but it certainly doesn’t depend on cryonic suspension! It is based on the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and the assurances that I find in my Bible. I trust that you have the same assurance, through the same Lord!