RESTING

(a Karl Franklin reflection)

The initials RIP stand for “Rest in Peace,” and they are sometimes carved on a tombstone, near the name of the departed. The nuance, it seems, is that the person will be at peace, resting somewhere.

That is a delightful idea, but fraught with theological problems because the spirit of the person is no longer in that body, grave, or near the tombstone, having left for the place which God has reserved.

Probably most evangelical Christians believe that the body, although embalmed, burned, or in some other way disposed of, will be resurrected as a new and living body when Jesus returns to the earth. 

I am not so certain we have to wait that long. As N.T. Wright wrote in 2018 (Surprised by Hope), “when Jesus refers to the soul it is not to some disembodied entity that goes to heaven, but rather to the whole person, body and all. We live as resurrection people, between Easter and the final day.”

Jesus and his favorite disciples met Moses and Elijah on the Mount of Transfiguration, and the two men had bodies. They were not spirits floating around like ghosts. They talked with Jesus and the disciples saw who they were and recognized them, perhaps because of their conversation. But the two men had been “dead” for hundreds of years and were also separated in death by hundreds of generations as well. However, they became visible human specimens. 

When we become “like the angels” we will note, as they did, what is going on below on the earth. Angels rejoice at conversions, carry messages from God, and they serve and worship Him with gladness and joy. They are not static or floating ghosts. God gives them work to do and they rejoice in it. 

At the birth of Jesus, “a great army of heaven’s angels” (Luke 2.13) visited the shepherds, singing praises to God, and telling them what was happening. The shepherds visited Bethlehem because of their message and found Jesus and his parents. And then “The shepherds went back, singing praises to God for all they had heard and seen; it had been just as the angel[s] had told them.” (Luke 2.20)

When God “rested” on the seventh day of creation, he paused to reflect on what he had done and likewise, when we “rest” in heaven, we can graciously pause and acknowledge all that he did for us when we were on earth.

The thought of “resting in peace” is especially meaningful for those who have cared for someone who did not die in peace, perhaps because of illness and pain. 

I have heard people say that they were relieved or glad that a certain person died, because they were now at peace with God and without pain. Pain brings turmoil, but it is also the “megaphone of God,” as C.S. Lewis described it. God uses whatever he wishes, including pain, to bring a person to himself.

The saying, “there is no rest for the wicked” probably comes from Isaiah 48.22, translated in the Good News Translation (GNT) as “There is no safety for sinners,” also in many other versions as “There is no peace for the wicked.”

The GNT also translates Isaiah 57.2 as “Those who live good lives find peace and rest in death.” However, interpreting this literally will also cause theological problems—many “good people” die horrible deaths, although they can find “peace and rest” in heaven when they have glorified and changed bodies.

I read of an epitaph from Boot Hill that read, with some dark humor:

Here lies Les Moore

Four slugs from a forty-four

No Less

No More

We can treat death with humor even if there is nothing humorous about it. It is final and it is not funny because we will “stand” before God. We will tremble and “fall” at his feet. “It is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”(Hebrews 10.31, CEV)

Although RIP will not be on our tombstone, it will be a part of our life In the Kingdom of God. And that is the rest of the story.

Karl Franklin