Ashes To Ashes No More

A common phrase uttered during funeral rites is "ashes to ashes, dust to dust." The phrase echoes God's instructions to Adam and Eve, explaining that from dust they are and unto dust they shall return. Until one Easter Sunday almost two thousand years ago, ashes to ashes and dust to dust was the fate of all men and women born to this Earth. Although the Son of God Himself died just like everyone else, He did not stay dead for nearly long enough for the process of ashes to ashes and dust to dust to even begin. We celebrate Easter because for the first time ever, instead of ashes to ashes, Jesus Christ brought "beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness." (Isaiah 61:3). Thanks to the power of Jesus Christ's Resurrection and the culmination of His Atonement, any period of ashes to ashes will only be temporary. Everything that we have lost will be restored. Everything that has burnt to ash will once more be made beautiful, even more beautiful than it was originally. We will embrace our loved ones again. Burned bridges will be rebuilt. Lost causes will be found. Hopeless cases will see the glimmer of hope once more. Every faithful act of patience will be rewarded. Every sacrifice will be honored and restored to us one hundred fold. Every tear shed, every drop of blood bled will be replaced with the oil of joy. Every moment of depression and anxiety and guilt and remorse and pain and trauma and anger and fear will be wrapped up in the garment of praise. We may still occasionally witness parts of our lives and people that we love go from ashes to ashes and dust to dust, but thanks to the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, there will come a day when for every single one of us we will all experience the incomprehensible joy of seeing ashes to ashes no more but only ashes to beauty and dust to immortality and exaltation and eternal life.