Creator, Father, King #281

Thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ.

WHAT IF THIS LIFE was all there was?

What if, after we died, our physical bodies remained six feet underground and our souls also ceased to exist? No heaven. No hell. No afterlife at all. Just an average of seventy years or so on earth and then . . .

Nothingness.

Lots of people believe in this theory. John Lennon, the late superstar of the Beatles, pondered the question in his solo-career song, Imagine:

Imagine there’s no heaven

It’s easy if you try

No hell below us

Above us only sky

Consider that possibility for a moment. It’s actually one of the most frightening, depressing, fatalistic thoughts imaginable.

If there were no afterlife, what would life’s point be? To eat, drink, be merry, and then die? To do whatever you pleased and then fade to black? Why? For what purpose? That’s the essence of hopelessness.

The first-century Corinthian Christians pondered some of these questions. They believed in Jesus’ resurrection, but some weren’t sure about the future resurrection of believers. The apostle Paul heard of their confusion and addressed it in 1 Corinthians 15. If there’s nothing beyond this life, Christians “are more to be pitied than anyone in the world” (verse 19).

But praise God this is not the case! Thanks to Christ, there is life after death!

What’s It Mean?

When it comes to life after death, everything hinges on Jesus. Because God’s Son rose from the dead, so will all who trust in him! As Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15:23, “Christ was raised as the first of the [resurrection] harvest; then all who belong to Christ will be raised when he comes back.”

When a follower of Jesus dies, their physical body remains on earth, but their spirit immediately enters the Lord’s presence (Luke 23:43; 2 Corinthians 5:8). Then, one day when Christ returns to earth to consummate his eternal Kingdom, he will raise dead saints and give them imperishable heavenly bodies before clothing Christians who are alive with resurrection bodies, as well (1 Corinthians 15:35-58; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18).

We don’t have to only imagine it. This is the great, guaranteed hope of every Christian, thanks to our risen Savior!

Now What?

What do we do with this incredible hope of resurrection in Christ? Paul answers that in 1 Corinthians 15:58. Check it out!

Did You Know?

Most first-century pagans believed a person’s soul ceased to exist altogether upon death or continued in some form in the underworld. This is why many Corinthians (who were former idolaters) were confused.