Do You Want To Live Forever?

From Futurism.com is this recent headline:

SUPER WEALTHY FUND MYSTERIOUS LAB TO UNLOCK IMMORTALITY

A group of billionaire investors, led by Amazon founder and ex-CEO, Jeff Bezos, the world’s richest man, are exploring the secret of living forever. Or at least, extending life well beyond our current expectations.

Multiple new sources including the MIT Technology Review are reporting that Altos Labs, funded by Bezos and others is a startup company pursuing breakthroughs in biological reprogramming technology.

“Biological reprogramming technology attempts to revert cells to an embryonic state. If successful, this could unlock the potential to “rejuvenate” organs, or perhaps entire bodies.”

Bezos’ attempt to advert the inevitable is nothing new. From the days of the ancient, 5th century BC Greek historian, Herodotus, to the 16th-century Spanish explorer, Juan Ponce de León, mankind has sought the mythical and proverbial, “Fountain of Youth.”

Yet, the Bible teaches that “it is appointed for men to die once but after this the judgment” (Heb. 9:27). And that death is the consequence of sin.  “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men because all sinned” (Rom. 5:12).

I admit I don’t like death. He’s the bully on the block. He’s an intruder in our homes and churches. He leaves broken hearts. Separated families. Hurting husbands. Devastated wives. Confused children. And a hollow feeling in the depths of our being.

However, “the desperate race for immortality is not an attempt to reverse the effects of sin, observes John Stonestreet and Kasey Leander in breakthrough.org. “ Rather, it reflects just how desperate man – without God – is to exert complete control over the cosmos, and to have life on our own terms.”

Bezos and his wealthy friends are simply verifying the observation of the 17th-century French philosopher, Blaise Pascal, “There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of each man which cannot be satisfied by any created thing but only by God the Creator, made known through Jesus Christ.”

All the wealth in the world, and its accompanying power, prestige, position, and possessions, will never satisfy our carnal cravings. When our life is totally invested in this world and its pleasures, with no thought of an afterlife, no wonder people want to extend their time here, or even live forever.

Living forever, however, is not a far-fetched idea. The Preacher of Ecclesiastes described how God has “set eternity in the hearts of men” (Eccl. 3:11).  Apparently, King David had a notion that he would live on when he said after his child died that he could not bring him back, but “I shall go to him” (2 Sam. 12:23).

Bezos’ desire for immortality is not wrong. It’s just misplaced, misguided, and misunderstood.

God has given us thoughts, desires, and feelings in which He has provided an outlet. C. S. Lewis famously put it this way in Mere Christianity.

Creatures are not born with desires unless satisfaction for these desires exists. A baby feels hunger; well, there is such a thing as food. A duckling wants to swim; well, there is such a thing as water. Men feel sexual desire; well, there is such a thing as sex. If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.

That’s it. We were made for another world.

When he faced the possibility of execution by the Roman government, Paul penned “For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” Then he add that he possessed a “ desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better” (Phil. 1:21-23).

For the Christian, life beyond the grave is better. We live in hope of living forever with God. With Jesus. With the Holy Spirit. We know we will live in a better place. We will be blessed with a better body. And enjoy a better inheritance.

In the sentiment of the hymnist, Thomas J. Laney

Tis a sweet and glorious thought that comes to me:
I’ll live on, yes, I’ll live on;
Jesus saved my soul from death and now I’m free:
I’ll live on, yes, I’ll live on.

Through eternity I’ll live on.

–Ken Weliever, The Preacherman