"Sadness Will Be Turned to Joy"

  ""In a little while you won't see me anymore. But a little while after that you will see me again." 

 Some of the disciples asked each other, "What does he mean when he says, 'In a little while you won't see me, but then you will see me,' and 'I am going to the Father'? And what does he mean by 'a little while'? We don't understand." 

 Jesus realized they wanted to ask him about it, so he said, "Are you asking yourselves what I mean? I said a little while you won't see me, but a little while after that you will see me again. I tell you the truth, you will weep and mourn over what is going to happen to me, but the world will rejoice. You will grieve, but your grief will suddenly turn to wonderful joy. It will be like a woman suffering the pains of labor. When her child is born, her anguish gives way to joy because she has brought a new baby onto the world. So you have sorrow now, but I will see you again; then you will rejoice, and no one can rob you of that joy."" (John 16:16-22 NLT)

  "So you see, just as death came into the world through a man, now the resurrection from the dead has begun through another man. Just as everyone dies because we all belong to Adam, everyone who belongs to Christ will be given new life." (1 Corinthians 15:21-22 NLT)

 There is so much to see here, it might take some time to examine all that we can, just so we can get a feel for what was being said, from Jesus, as well as His clueless disciples. This whole thing about dying and then coming back to life, was something that they couldn't really understand. You might think that they would have had some kind of clue, after Jesus called Lazarus out of the grave; but they just did not see the picture Jesus was painting! 

 Basically, that is the whole point, we cannot see the picture because we are the painting! The subjects on the canvas cannot see anything about the whole picture because they are stuck to the canvas. We cannot see the whole picture because we are stuck in this world; but when we are raised to life, in our new bodies, we will see clearly; everything will be made known to us. 

 In the meantime, we can enjoy knowing that is what will happen! No one can take that you away, because it is secure in what we believe! Just keep on believing...

"Let me now remind you, dear brothers and sisters, of the Good News I preached to you before. You welcomed it then, and you stand firm in it. It is this Good news that saves you if you continue to believe the message I told you - unless, of course, you believed something that was never true in the first place." (1 Corinthians 15:1-2 NLT)