2 Corinthians 5:17 (NIV)
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has
come: The old has gone, the new is here!
When the Chinese dictator Mao Zedong died in 1976, his
physician, Dr. Li Zhisui, was given an impossible task. The Politburo demanded,
"The chairman's body is to be permanently preserved." The staff
objected. The doctor objected. He had seen the dry and shrunken remains of
Lenin and Stalin. He knew a body with no life was doomed to rot.
But he had his commands. Twenty-two liters of
formaldehyde were pumped into the body. The result was horrifying. Mao's face
swelled up like a ball, and his neck was as thick as his head. His ears stuck
out in right angles, and the chemical oozed from his pores. A team of embalmers
worked for five hours with towels and cotton balls to force the liquids down
into his body. Finally the face looked normal, but the chest was so swollen
that his jacket had to be slit in the back and his body covered with the red
Communist Party flag.
That sufficed for the funeral, but the powers above
wanted the body permanently preserved to lie in state at Tiananmen Square. For
a year Dr. Zhisui supervised a team working in an underground hospital as they
tried to preserve the remains. Because of the futility of the task, a
government official ordered that an identical wax dummy be made. Both the body
and the replica were taken to the mausoleum in Tiananmen Square. Tens of
thousands came to file past a crystal casket and pay their respects to the man
who'd ruled China for twenty-seven years. But even the doctor didn't know if
they were seeing Mao or a waxwork dummy...
"Though we were spiritually dead because of the
things we did against God, he gave us new life with Christ" (Eph 2:5).
God's solution is not to preserve the dead-but to raise the dead. "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he
is a new creation; the old has gone; the new has come! (2 Cor 5:17 NIV)
As Christians when we die we don’t have to worry about
being a wax dummy because He will make us new. As Paul tells us we have become a new
creation: the old has gone away.
Dear Lord, we thank You that we don’t have to worry about
our old body because You will give us a new creation. Help us share that great
news with someone today. In Jesus’ Name, Amen
No comments:
Post a Comment