Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” (Jn. 11:25-26 ESV)

The last two phrases of the Apostles’ Creed say “I believe in…the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.” We tend to treat heaven and the resurrection of the body as abstract concepts, theological constructs. We ask each other, “Do you believe in the idea of heaven?”

As long as heaven and resurrection are just ideas which we may take or leave, they become mere competitors in the marketplace of ideas. John Lennon’s doubt, “Imagine there’s no heaven,” is just as attractive to most folks.

Jesus did not ask Martha if she thought the abstract concept of the resurrection was a good idea. He asked her this: “I am the resurrection and the life. Do you believe this?”

If I were in Martha’s place, conversing with Jesus, and he asked me if I thought the resurrection of the body and perhaps eternal life were believable, I would struggle with the answer like any other man. I have seen death, plenty of it, and I have never seen the dead revived. So if we are talking hypothetically about concepts, I would have to say it seems far-fetched.

But if Jesus looked me in the eyes and said, “I am the resurrection and the life. Do you believe this?” I would be strongly compelled to say, “Yes!” Because I know him and trust him. He is the one who laid down his life and took it up again.

We do not put our faith in sentimental ideas. We put our faith in a faithful God who has blazed the trail before us.