Hopelessness, Suffering, and Unjust Loss - Part 10
God’s justice provides compensation packages for our pain and losses that more than make up for the losses that we’ve suffered, even if we’ve suffered the devastating loss of a child. If we have not realized that, then we have not fully experienced the justice that God has already provided and made available to us for our pain and losses. Job was given twice as much as he lost. That included double the number of his children. But what about those children whose lives were stolen prematurely? They may actually be the ones who benefit the most when God’s justice is fully realized.
In John 12:24, Jesus compared a person’s death to a seed being sown. When that death occurs, and the seed is buried, it begins to bring forth fruit, and Jesus said that it would be much fruit!
In other words, there is a great harvest of new life made available that would never have been possible if the seed had not died. And who would be rewarded most for the great harvest than the one whose death allowed it to happen? In the case of Jesus’ death, for example, many multitudes of people reaped benefits as a direct result of His death, but the main beneficiary of Jesus’ death and the resulting harvest is Jesus Himself!
Unjust death is a signal to us that on the other side of that, God has a great harvest of new life for everyone who suffered from that unjust loss of life.
We need to keep in mind that sowing and reaping happen in different seasons. You may not see the great harvest of new life immediately. It may take time to appear.
Also, the resulting harvest usually looks very different from the seed from which it came. Paul explains this in 1 Corinthians 15:35-38 (ISV):
“But someone will ask, ‘How are the dead raised? What kind of body will they have when they come back?’ You fool! The seed you plant does not come to life unless it dies, and what you plant is not the form that it will be, but a bare kernel, whether it is wheat or something else. But God gives the plant the form he wants it to have, and to each kind of seed its own form.”
So, after the Shunammite woman’s son died in 2 Kings, chapter 4, Elisha prayed for him, and life came back into his body—the same body that had died just a few hours earlier. But restoration doesn’t always happen that way. Often, the “harvest of new life” will come in a different form.
For example, after Jim Elliot was killed in Ecuador by the very people he was trying to help, other people came later, following in Jim’s footsteps, and the resulting harvest of new life there came in the form of many, many people in a remote tribe finding new spiritual life as believers in Jesus Christ. Would these natives of Ecuador ever have received this new life in Christ if Jim Elliot had not laid down his life as a seed for this great harvest? It is doubtful.
As another example, Job lost ten children in one day. In the restoration (or harvest of new life) that he experienced, the children that he had lost were not resurrected, but he received ten new children.
And in yet another example, after Stephen was stoned to death in Acts, chapter 7, Saul of Tarsus was converted and essentially filled the void that was left after Stephen’s death, arguably accomplishing much more than Stephen ever would have if his life had not been taken prematurely.
Another principle that should give us hope if we have suffered the unjust loss of someone dear to us is that only one seed goes into the ground in death, but from that one seed comes a multiplied abundance of harvest. One seed produces much, much fruit; and the harvest of new life is not a one-time repayment, but it is ongoing. The seed that dies produces new life that grows out of it in the form of new plants bearing new fruit and new seeds so that new life can be birthed from it indefinitely for many generations!
Jim Elliot’s life and sacrifice for others continues to produce fruit and an ongoing harvest of new life, not only through the lives that were transformed in Ecuador, but also through the books, magazine articles, theatrical productions and films that chronicle his powerful story.
Jesus died after speaking of Himself as a seed that would bear much fruit. Since His resurrection, multiplied thousands of people have found new life as a direct result of His selfless death on their behalf. The harvest of new life that resulted from His death continues to this day, and it will go on for generations to come!
We also have to remember that rewards for the believers in Christ go on for all eternity. Rewards don’t end when a believer dies. In fact, that’s just the beginning! The opportunities to receive the rewards of God’s justice don’t stop when the believer dies, even for a child whose life was tragically cut short. If a great harvest occurs as a result of that child’s death, don’t you think he would be rewarded throughout eternity for the benefits that were experienced as a result of his death?
In the case of Job’s children, whose lives were stolen prematurely, what justice could they receive? How could they be the beneficiaries of God’s justice after their deaths?
If Jesus’ words were true, and their lives were sown as seeds to bring a harvest later, we can guess that they would be beneficiaries of all of the benefits that came from their story which is recorded in the book of Job that is included in Scripture. Scholars tell us that Job is the oldest book in the Bible. The story of Job and his children has been positively affecting lives for thousands of years. When you think about all of the lives that have been touched by the story of Job, the impact and the rewards from that impact are mind-boggling! Job’s children continue to reap vast eternal rewards for the positive impact their story has had on the lives of others.
Jim Elliot certainly understood this principle of eternal rewards when he wrote these words: “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.”
