Chapter 20

Children Raised from the Dead

ISN’T it wonderful to know that someone loves you?⁠— It’s a fine thing to have persons who really care for you. But do you know that there is someone who loves you more than anyone on earth does?⁠— That one is Jehovah God.

How much does Jehovah love us?⁠— Does he just think about us when we are here, and then forget us when we are gone? Or does he really remember us?⁠— The Bible says that neither ‘death nor life, nor things here nor things to come, will be able to separate us from God’s love.’​—Romans 8:38, 39.

So God does not forget. He remembers persons who serve him, and he remembers their little children too. Even if they should die, he will bring them back to life again.

When God’s Son Jesus was on earth, he showed that Jehovah cares for little children. Jesus would take time to talk to children about God. He even used God’s power to bring young ones back from the dead! Would you like to hear how Jesus did this for one family?⁠—

There was a man named Jairus. He and his wife and their twelve-year-old daughter lived  a short distance from the Sea of Galilee. The father and mother loved their daughter very much. She was their only child.

So you can imagine how sad they were when their little girl became very sick. They did everything they could to make her better, but she only got worse. Jairus could see that his daughter was going to die. And there was nothing that he or the doctors could do to help her.

But maybe Jesus could help. Jairus had heard about this wonderful man and how he could heal people. So Jairus went to look for him. He found Jesus on the shore of the Sea of Galilee teaching many people.

Jairus made his way through the crowd and fell at Jesus’ feet. He said to him: ‘My little daughter is very sick. Will you please come and help her? I beg you to come.’

Right away Jesus went with Jairus. The crowd that had come to see the Great Teacher also followed along. But after they had gone a distance, some men came from the house of Jairus, and told him: “Your daughter died! Why bother the teacher any longer?”

Jesus overheard the men say this. He knew how sad Jairus was to lose his only child. So he told him: ‘Do not fear. Just have faith in God. Your daughter will be all right.’

So they kept on going until they came to Jairus’ house. Here friends of the family were crying. They were sad because their little friend  had died. But Jesus told them: ‘Stop weeping. The young child has not died, but she is sleeping.’

When Jesus said this, the people began to laugh at him. For they knew that the girl had died. But Jesus said that the girl was only sleeping in order to teach those people a lesson. He wanted them to know that by means of God’s power he could bring a dead person back to life just as easily as we could wake up a person from sleep.

Jesus now had everyone leave the room except three of his apostles and the child’s father and mother. Then he went in where the young child was. He took her by the hand, and said: ‘Young girl, get up!’ And right away she got up  and began walking! The father and mother were just filled with joy.​—Mark 5:21-24, 35-43; Luke 8:40-42, 49-56.

Have you ever had a friend who died?⁠— Would you like it if that person could come back to life so that you could enjoy his company again?⁠— Do you think this can happen?⁠—

Since Jesus could bring that young girl back to life, he can do the same for others, can’t he?⁠— But will he really do it?⁠— Yes, because Jesus himself said: “The hour is coming in which all those in the memorial tombs will hear his voice and come out.” And that time is coming soon, under the rule of God’s kingdom.​—John 5:28, 29.

Just think how wonderful it will be to welcome people back to life! Some of them will be persons that we knew. And we will know who they are when they come back from the dead, just as Jairus knew his daughter when Jesus raised her. Others will be persons who died thousands of years ago. But just because they lived long ago, God will not forget them.

Isn’t it wonderful to know that Jehovah God and his Son Jesus love us that much?⁠— They want us to live, not for just a few years, but forever!

(Concerning the Bible’s wonderful hope for the dead, read also Acts 24:15, 1 Corinthians 15:20-22 and Isaiah 25:8.)