Recently, my Uncle Bill passed away, and we will be having a memorial service for him in a week and a half as I return from Togo, West Africa. As I’ve been putting together his service and the message I will give, I wanted to share a few thoughts about my uncle and the promises Scripture offers that relate to his life.

For some reason, my Uncle Bill was always very special to me. Maybe it was the connection we had early on when I was about 15 and he got me a weight bench and we lifted weights together. Or maybe it was his sense of humor, his humility, or his interest in my life. But I always respected, appreciated and enjoyed him.

He was a private man, but to those who were close to him, like my mom (his sister), he opened his heart. Uncle Bill and Mom used to say to each other near the end of Bill’s life, “If I don’t see you here, I’ll see you there.” This indicates a degree of assurance for what the future holds, but there is much deeper assurance Scripture offers all believers, confidence not in ourselves, but in Christ and His promises.

A verse Uncle Bill held onto was Matt. 12:20, “A bruised reed He will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not quench….” This verse, which is a quote from Isaiah, is fulfilled in Christ. Perhaps Bill thought of himself as the bruised reed and smoldering wick as he frequently pondered his sinfulness and the fact that he didn’t deserve God’s grace, love and acceptance. The truth is that none of us do. Yet Jesus came not to break, or quench, but to offer life, hope and joy, not in ourselves or in this world, but beyond this world. Uncle Bill, just like his father before him, longed for this joy and confidence which flows from faith in the person and work of Christ. Yet this assurance was something that frequently eluded both men, and many others for that matter.

In John 5:24, Jesus says, “I tell you the truth, whoever hears My word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.”

Uncle Bill heard God’s words and believed them. In fact, every time Mom suddenly dropped in to visit him in Prescott, AZ, she found him listening to CDs of sermons, Bible studies or hymns. They offered him comfort and hope. This verse tells us that there is no condemnation for those who believe. There is total acceptance in Christ. We have crossed over from death to life. We now belong to God.

1 John 5:11-13 – “And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.”

This is a bedrock promise upon which we can stake our eternal destiny. Even though Uncle Bill might not have felt that assurance, it was there, because Christ held it for him.

Bill came to know Christ on an operating table in Washington when he was having stomach surgery. The surgeon talked to him about eternal life and prayed with him just before the surgery and from that point on his life changed. The Apostle Paul says, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” Uncle Bill found that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life, and through Jesus he came to the Father.

Today, Bill Bronsema is alive and in a very different place. In life he had many struggles. Now he has been set free. In speaking to a woman who had just lost her brother, Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25-26) Jesus’ words and final question resonate in our ears. Do we believe this?

I’ll end by quoting from the last book in the Bible, Revelation, which Uncle Bill loved so much and listened to over and over and over again. Revelation is a book of worship, a book of victory celebrating the Lamb of God who was slain and rose victorious and rules over all. Rev. 7:16-17 – “Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat upon them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

I hope each of us can hold onto the promises God’s Word shares, believe them and encourage each other in their certainty.