At 10:25 pm on April 14, 1865, Abraham Lincoln was alive and arguably the most important man in the world. Five minutes later he was dead. It is true that his heart did not stop until 7:22 am the next day. But for all intents and purposes he was gone the second that .44 caliber bullet entered his skull.

This occurred to me when I was reading an article on the autopsy of Lincoln. In spite of sensationalized speculations, he could not have lived, even with modern medicine. The wound that Robert F. Kennedy suffered in 1968 was far less severe than Lincoln’s wound and modern medicine could not save him.

Death comes to all. We tend to only note it when it is someone close to us, or someone famous. For my generation, the death of John F. Kennedy in 1963, his brother Robert in 1968 and the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. also in 1968 are etched in our minds. I was only six-years-old at the time, but I still remember hearing the principal at the school poke his head in the classroom and tell us that John F. Kennedy had been shot.

Men and women of importance and stature in the world, throughout time, simply cease when they die. Napoleon, Genghis Khan, George Washington, Robert E. Lee, U. S. Grant, Winston Churchill, Christopher Columbus, Humphrey, Bogart, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Margaret Thatcher, and Elvis Presley are but a few of the important people who just ceased to exist when their hearts stopped. Yes, their influence lives on for a time, but soon fades away too.

All. but. one. In all of history, only man became more important and gained more influence after His death. That man was and is Jesus Christ. We serve a risen Savior, He’s in the world today…