“Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear His voice, And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation” (John 5:29,30).

All who have ever lived, and whose bodies now are in graves, will one day hear the voice of the Son of man and they “shall come forth.”

Many have visited museums and have seen mummified remains of once living bodies, and can hardly imagine such remains coming to life. Others contemplate cremation, and wonder how burned and dispersed dust particles could ever be resurrected. Jesus, however, is no ordinary person. He spoke before a tomb, and Lazarus came forth (John 11:39–43). He told Peter to let down his nets, and fish gathered into them (Luke 5:4–6). Jesus “laid the foundations of the earth; and the heavens are the works of (His) hands” (Hebrews 1:10).

He, the “shepherd” of Isaiah 40:11, is also the one in the next verse who “hath measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance.” “The nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance” to him.

Recycling human dust, therefore, is easily accomplished by Jesus. The greater work was hanging on a cross for sinners and making reconciliation with God possible. It somehow involved the temporary severing of Trinitarian bonds (Matthew 27:46)—something of cosmic significance, but also a mystery beyond our weak comprehension.

We do not have to fully understand it, however, to entrust our beings to the saving care of his shepherding arms (Isaiah 40:11). PGH