“If a man die, shall he live again?” (Job 14:14) is a question asked by many, particularly those who grieve over the loss of a loved one. In the following poem, Tennyson is seemingly asking the same question, but as he points out, rivulet, wave, and river incessantly run their course, while no more the steps of man shall be, for ever and forever.
Flow down, cold rivulet, to the sea,
Thy tribute wave deliver:
No more by thee my steps shall be,
For ever and for ever.
Flow, softly flow, by lawn and lea,
A rivulet then a river:
Nowhere by thee my steps shall be
For ever and for ever.
But here will sigh thine alder tree
And here thine aspen shiver;
And here by thee will hum the bee,
For ever and for ever.
A thousand suns will stream on thee,
A thousand moons will quiver;
But not by thee my steps shall be,
For ever and for ever.
This beautiful poem could be taken as negative, until one realizes that Alfred Lord Tennyson in his last days sought proof that there was indeed life after death. Oh, indulge me reader as I share with you another of his beautiful poems wherein he evinces a greater hope, to see his Pilot, “face to face.”
Sunset and evening star,
And one clear call for me!
And may there be no moaning of the bar,
When I put out to sea,
But such a tide as moving seems asleep,
Too full for sound and foam,
When that which drew from out the boundless deep
Turns again home.
Twilight and evening bell,
And after that the dark!
And may there be no sadness of farewell,
When I embark;
For tho’ from out our bourne of Time and Place
The flood may bear me far,
I hope to see my Pilot face to face
When I have crost the bar.
To any who need reassurance as to life after death,and an eventual resurrection from the dead, it is recorded in divers places in holy writ that Jesus of Nazareth was resurrected from the grave.
“He appeared first to Mary Magdalene” (Mark 16:9). She saw him and heard his voice.
He appeared to Joanna, Mary (the mother of James), “and other women that were with them” (Luke 24:10). They “held him by the feet, and worshipped him” (Matt. 28:9).
He appeared to Peter (Luke 24:34).
He appeared to two disciples (Luke 24:13–32).
He appeared to his beloved Apostles at least four times.
Following His crucifixion, He was seen by “above five hundred brethren at once” (1 Cor. 15:6), according to Paul’s account.
Not only did Jesus of Nazareth arise from the dead, but following His resurrection, “the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose”
But there were further witnesses. “The testimony of two men is true” (John 8:17). If this statement is correct, then surely the testimony of Christ’s resurrection provided by a second nation cannot be overlooked. From another testament of Jesus Christ, even the Book of Mormon, we read of Christ’s post mortal appearances on the Western Hemisphere.
Near unto a temple in the land called Bountiful some 2,500 people heard a voice declare: “Behold my Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, in whom I have glorified my name—hear ye him” (3 Ne. 11:7). They saw a man descending out of heaven. Unto them He spake, “Behold, I am Jesus Christ, whom the prophets testified shall come into the world. And behold, I am the light and the life of the world; and I have drunk out of that bitter cup which the Father hath given me, and have glorified the Father in taking upon me the sins of the world, in the which I have suffered the will of the Father in all things from the beginning…Arise and come forth unto me, that ye may thrust your hands into my side, and also that ye may feel the prints of the nails in my hands and in my feet, that ye may know that I am the God of Israel, and the God of the whole earth, and have been slain for the sins of the world. (3 Ne. 11:10, 11, 14).
We can know for ourselves that He lives, as surely as did those who saw Him! As we put away our sins, and attempt to walk in His footsteps, by obedience to His commandments, we will surely come to say, as did the two disciples on the road to Emmaeus “… did not our heart burn within us, while He talked with us by the way?” (Luke 24:32])
I bear my personal witness that He lives, even your Redeemer and mine! I know it, with every fiber of my being, and in a future day, I shall see Him for myself. Yea, my eyes shall behold Him, and in tears of gratitude I shall behold His face, for He lives, even Jesus Christ, and then shall my joy be full!