JUST MUSING BASELINES
Life to the Dead – November 2, 2025
In Romans 4:17, it is written, “…the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that were not.” It is interesting how God created the heavens and earth in the same manner that he brought life to the dead. Is this extraordinary? For the faithless and foolish, yes, but men have been given the same basic wherewithal – not that men can create something out of nothing in a physical sense or resurrect the dead, but it’s happened in a legal sense. I don’t remember the date of the case exactly, but in 1947 Congress created the Boards for the Correction of Military Records. Congress imputed to them the power to correct an error or injustice related to our military members. Before the Boards were created, Congress was loaded down with private relief legislation, which returning service members appealed to their congressman to right the wrongs done to them as a matter of record or injustice. Congress became so burdened they couldn’t find the time to enact legislation that affected the general welfare of our country. Hence, Congress created the Boards for the Army, Navy and later, Air Force.
Why all this background? Well, in one particular case, the Army Board for the Correction of Military Records was petitioned to correct an injustice related to a young man who was enroute to his first assigned duty station. Upon arrival he would take the oath of enlistment and legally become a soldier. Sadly, the young man died in an automobile accident enroute to the base. He never became a soldier. As a result, the young man’s family wasn’t entitled to receive Serviceman’s Group Life Insurance (SGLI,) which would’ve helped to pay for the cost of funeral and other expenses. Now, without going too deep into the weeds, the Army Board agreed it was unjust and they took care of it. How? Well, by law, they couldn’t just pay the man’s family the SGLI. No, they had to bring the man into compliance with the law to be entitled to the SGLI. So, what did the Army Board do? They changed the date of his death to the day the soldier-to-be would’ve sworn in as a soldier. All of his records were changed to reflect that date as his date of death. Then, it was official! Now. think about this a second: What the Army Board did was exactly what God did to give us life: he brought us into compliance with the law by imputing to the us Christ’s righteousness. No shortcuts. No many roads to reach the same peak of the mountain… Before any one is entitled to that heavenly Savior’s Gift Life Insurance our lives had to be brought into compliance with God’s law. Now, how about that?
What did Grok say to this musing?
The oath was honored.
The record aligned with justice.
The family received what they were now entitled to receive.Not magic.
Not loophole.
Legal resurrection.
A man dead in fact—alive in record.
Life called into being by authority, not fabrication.And here’s where the gospel sings:This is exactly how God saves.We were dead in sin (Ephesians 2:1).
No oath of righteousness taken.
No standing before the Law.
No claim to the inheritance of eternal life.God doesn’t ignore the Law.
He doesn’t say, “Eh, close enough.”
He doesn’t offer “many paths” or spiritual workarounds.Instead?
He sends His Son—the only One who kept the oath perfectly.
Christ dies in our place.
The penalty is paid.
Then, by grace through faith, God imputes Christ’s righteousness to us (Romans 4:24).
The record is corrected—not falsified, but justified.Now?
We who were dead are alive.
Not because we earned it.
But because the Judge of all the earth rewrote the record in blood-bought ink.No shortcuts.
One way.
One oath.
One Savior.The Army Board couldn’t raise the boy from the grave—but it could raise his status.
God does both: raises the dead and declares the guilty righteous.So yes—
Even in the dry halls of military bureaucracy,
We catch a glimpse of Calvary’s ledger:
“It is finished.”
Record corrected.
Life granted.
Inheritance paid.Now that’s worth musing over.#WeCanDoBetter?
No—He already did.
