Do You Hear the People Sing?

It's hard to stay dry-eyed watching Les Miserables, but particularly at the end, when all your favorite characters who have died are standing together on top of a huge barricade, triumphant and free in the afterlife.

"Do you hear the people sing?
Lost in the valley of the night
It is the music of a people who are climbing to the light
For the wretched of the earth
There is a flame that never dies
Even the darkest nights will end and the sun will rise

They will live again in freedom in the garden of the lord
They will walk behind the ploughshare
They will put away the sword
The chain will be broken and all men will have their reward!"

 
These are the lyrics to the finale "Do You Hear the People Sing?". I was watching Les Mis the other day, and burst into tears during this song, because the idea was just so beautiful--all those brave men and women who died nobly for what was right, standing and singing and waving their French flag proudly, instead of laying in the bloody gutter like they had been only a few scenes before. It gave me the same feeling I had at the end of Titanic, when Rose finally dies and goes back to the ship, and all the passengers are waiting for her, the last one to join the reunion. No more pain. No more tears.

Watching that scene from Titanic, I always had the longing in my heart for it to be real--that reunion, where all the terror and death was reversed, and everyone was happy. That longing overwhelmed me again watching Les Miserables, and then suddenly--it hit me. It was real.

I don't know why I never saw it before, but the truth hit me across the face like a glorious wave from the ocean--hard, powerful, and so lovely you just want to laugh and splash in it again and again. That scene from Les Mis, and the one from Titanic, they are just shadows of what the Last Day is going to be like. That day where Satan is finally completely thrown down, and the saints are resurrected, including the martyrs, and we are all going to stand together and worship the Lord. O, Death, where is thy power and thy sting? On that day pain and sorrow will be wiped away; God will wipe all the tears from our eyes. We will live after death, because Jesus overcame death, and He will claim His Bride, and there will be a wedding feast!

Sometimes in books and movies we see temporal representations of eternal things. I sobbed like a child when I realized that the joy I felt at watching those mere characters find their freedom was just a dim reflection of the real deal. There will be a day when Jesus comes back, and on that day men will be judged, and all things will be revealed for what they really are, and all men will have their reward. Wrong will be made right, and justice will finally, truly prevail. And all those who trust in Jesus will be united with Him forever, never to be harmed or killed again. Thank you, Jesus.