Really Alive 真的复活了
Dexu Xia
There will be no more death. Revelation 21:4
Since it was the week after Easter, our five-year-old son, Wyatt, had heard plenty of resurrection talk. He always had questions—usually real stumpers. I was driving, and he was buckled into his seat behind me. Wyatt peered out the window, deep in thought. “Daddy,” he said, pausing and preparing to ask me a tough one. “When Jesus brings us back to life, are we going to be really alive—or just alive in our heads?”
This is the question so many of us carry, whether or not we have the courage to speak it aloud. Is God really going to heal us? Is He really going to raise us from the dead? Is He really going to keep all His promises?
The apostle John describes our certain future as “a new heaven and a new earth” (Revelation 21:1). In that holy city, “God himself will be with [us] and be [our] God” (v. 3). Because of Christ’s victory, we’re promised a future where there’s no more tears, no evil arrayed against God and His people. In this good future, “There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away” (v. 4).
In other words, in the future God promises, we’ll be really alive. We’ll be so alive that our life now will seem a mere shadow.
Where do you experience death in your life? If God promises that death is doomed and we’re going to really live, how does this renew your hope?
God, You said death will meet its end and You promise me genuine life. Thank You.
不再有死亡。—启示录21章4节
在复活节过后的那一周，我五岁的儿子伟德已经听了不少关于复活的事，但他的问题也不少──通常都是不好应付的。那天我正在开车，他坐在后座的安全座椅上，望着窗外似乎陷入沉思。“爸爸！”他喊了一声，然后顿了顿，准备给我出难题了，“当耶稣让我们复活的时候，我们是真的复活了，还是我们以为自己复活了？”
我们很多人也都会思索同样的问题，但却不一定有勇气说出口。上帝真的会医治我们吗？祂真的会让我们从死里复活吗？祂真的会持守祂所有的应许吗？
使徒约翰描述我们的未来肯定是个“新天新地”（启示录21章1节）。在那座圣城中，“上帝要亲自与[我们]同在，作[我们]的上帝”（3节）。因为基督已经得胜，我们将会得到上帝所应许的未来，不再有眼泪，也不再有罪恶抵挡上帝与祂的子民。在这美好的未来，“不再有死亡，也不再有悲哀、哭号、疼痛，因为以前的事都过去了”（4节）。
换句话说，在上帝应许的未来里，我们是真的复活了。我们将拥有真实的生命，相较之下，今生只不过是影子。
在你的人生中，
何时曾有如经历死亡？上帝说死亡将被吞灭，
我们将拥有真实复活的生命，
这应许如何带给你全新的盼望？
上帝啊，感谢祢，
因祢说死亡将会终结，
而且祢应许赐给我真实的新生命。