Born to Bring the Dead to Life

The arid, rocky landscape seemed to stretch on before us as we drove to the family farm of our Muslim friend Sidi.

Suddenly we descended into a cool, still expanse of towering palms. This was the oasis where many of the country’s dates are grown and harvested for export around the world.

Sidi was waiting for us in the middle of the oasis at a wide section of road. I pulled off to the side and parked, and Sidi led us to his family’s section of trees. His aunts and uncles and cousins had gathered there for a picnic lunch. We all ate, and my family and I listened to them laugh and reminisce about bygone days growing up in the oasis.

On a tour of their grove, we admired the fruit trees growing between the century-old palms. There were orange, lemon, fig, pomegranate, and olive trees.

On the other side of the fence stretched several acres of barren land bordered by giant palms.

At the back of his family’s property, we passed through a gate onto a dirt road. It weaved through neighboring date groves, each belonging to a different family.

We wandered along until we came to a fence. On the other side of the fence stretched several acres of barren land bordered by giant palms.

It was a cemetery.

Most of the graves were unmarked. Only a few wooden posts staked here and there marked the ground.

My family and I stood as silent bystanders in their sacred moment.

Sidi led us to a far corner of the cemetery to his family’s plot. I watched as he and his relatives spread out among their family members’ graves. Quietly they each prayed with their hands raised in supplication, palms facing upward.

My family and I stood as silent bystanders in their sacred moment. Within me resonated a line from Phil Wickham’s “Star of Wonder”:

Born to bring the dead to life.

Standing in that graveyard, this promise felt palpable, like a warm breath breathed out over the dry bones in Ezekiel 37.

Jesus was born to bring the dead to life. It’s a promise for me—a promise for all people. The promise of the Christmas gift that would bring the dead to life.

Surrounded by dry bones in the desert, I felt filled with fresh hope.

I had found Christmas hope in a place as unlikely as a manger.

Never before had I experienced the hope of Christmas like this—not among twinkling Christmas lights, or while sitting around a fire in matching pajamas or singing carols or sharing dinner with loved ones.

Instead, I had found Christmas hope in a place as unlikely as a manger: half-way across the world in a field of dry bones where our Muslim friends stood mourning and without the hope of Christ.

Jesus was born to bring the dead to life. We believe in this promise, and we’re pressing on until it is made manifest here.

• Thank God for sending us the greatest Christmas gift: Jesus Christ who came to give us life.
• Pray that Muslims around the world will discover Christ’s promise of eternal life and will give their whole hearts to Him.
• Ask the Lord to fill Frontiers field workers with fresh hope this season as they invite Muslims to discover and follow the Savior.