…[Jesus] has become a priest, not on the basis of a legal requirement concerning bodily descent, but by the power of an indestructible life. (Hebrews 7:16, ESV)
Have you ever felt indestructible on the golf course? For one brief moment, you had that feeling, “I am on a roll, and nothing is going to stop me.” While rare, those moments come along, and hardly anything compares. Perhaps you made a “fifty-footer” for six birdies in a row, and you feel invincible.
If you haven’t experienced this sense of the unconquerable, you’ve likely seen it. A recent example is Denny McCarthy’s eight birdies over the last nine holes at the 2024 Valero Texas Open.
Standing on the 10th tee, Denny was six back. Eight birdies later, walking off the 72nd green, he was tied for the lead. In the moment, he was indestructible. Posting a 28 on your last nine has a way of making one feel invincible.
Alas, chunking your wedge into the creek on the first playoff hole can bring you back down to earth. The emotional plummet from hearing eight putts falling into the cup only to hear your ball go “kerplunk” had to be devastating.
No one “keeps it going” forever. On this side of the grave, nary a soul can remain in the zone indefinitely. As much as we might like to see Scotty stay on pace with his most recent run, even this ball-striking genius will have a lull at some point.
We have a stretch of good runs and think, “This could last forever.” We are riding a stock that splits and splits and splits again, and we think, “Warren Buffet doesn’t have anything on me.” Then, “reality hits back!”
We “go low” on the front side, and every fiber of our being suggests that today is when we better our lowest round. An intended power fade off the tenth tee becomes a smother hook, and you are in deep weeds, anxiously counting the seconds down to your allotted three minutes before declaring a lost ball.
Disheartened, you begin the lonely walk back to re-tee, thinking, “What if I had just….?” Then you mutter, “All good things must come to an end.” Do they?
Most recognize this platitude— “all good things come to an end” as irrefutable. I suppose it applies to stocks, good health, occupations, a string of birdies, etc. But it most definitely does not apply to the man, Jesus.
He was alive, dead, and alive again—as in, never to die again. As the author of Hebrews says, he has the “power of an indestructible life.” Jesus is the sole reason why this truism cannot be applied to “all things.” We might say, “Most good things come to an end,” but the “all” has been utterly destroyed.
The idea that we can keep a good thing going forever seems like fiction. “Only Hollywood can make that appear like a reality,” we say to ourselves. As it turns out, our deep yearning to live forever is possible.
This yearning for immortality is possible not because some biologist has broken the code or cryogenics works, as baseball legend Ted Williams hoped, but because the Author of Life has entered into this world, satisfied God’s judicial verdict and punishment for sin, conquered death, and offered us the gift of physical immortality.
Fascinatingly, the joy of life to come is not merely never-ending but ever-increasing. That is to say, unlike this life and its many disappointments, the life to come gets better and better; not only is there “no end in sight,” but there is no end at all.
Escalating joy for all eternity awaits those who entrust their life to Jesus.
Prayer: Jesus! Thank you for what many believe is unbelievable—we who follow you know the amazing truth that immortality is real.