When tragedies happen like the shooting at Virginia Tech University yesterday, many people often ask, “Where was God? Why did He allow this to happen?” And ironically, He allowed this tragedy because of His love for us.

That doesn’t make sense, does it? Allow me to explain. Were God to cut off the hand of every thief before she picked a pocket or kill every murderer before the gun fired, we would all be handless and dead, because God says that we are guilty of a sin as soon as we consider it. (Matthew 5:27,28; 1 John 3:15)

But according to His mercy, God is patient with us in our sin, whether that sin be road rage, unwillingness to help a neighbor in need, or mass murder–God considers them all murder and worthy of hell. But this Easter season, we are also reminded that God allows these things because He has already solved the problem of death. By Jesus’ unfair death, which God not only allowed, but planned before creation, even the sins of a murdering gunman were paid for, and had he repented before his death (We can’t see his heart, so we can’t know for sure where his soul will finally reside.), he would today be with Jesus in paradise. This promise is for you as well.

But God’s solution for death is more than just heaven. He promises resurrection for all of us. Just as Jesus rose from the grave, He has promised that we will rise the same way, never again to die. Until that day, we will continue to see tragedy, because God loves us, and another day means more hearing the Good News of God’s love in Christ and being added to His Book of Life, but on the last day, death itself will die forever, and those victims will rise and stand before God alongside us. Meanwhile, Jesus is with you always, to the end of the age.