For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God. (Job 19:25-26)

At this point in history God had not chosen to pull back the curtain to reveal what happened to His followers after they died. The mystery of what ultimately happened to the body after death continued. And then it happened! Three days after Jesus' agonizing death on the cross He physically raised from the dead. What was once a total mystery began to be revealed. God began to give a glimpse of His plan for our physical bodies after we die.

God continued to progressively reveal His ways throughout the New Testament. When we finally come upon Paul he basically throws the curtain wide open so all could see. Paul was dealing with this issue with the believers in Thessalonica; he wanted to give them hope in the midst of grieving for those who had died and so he wrote,

But we do not want you to be uninformed brothers about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep...The dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive...will be caught up together with them...and so we will always be with the Lord. (1 Thessalonians 4:13-14, 16-17)

I believe people look for hope in death. The one true hope believers have in death is that God is not done with their believing loved ones. He clearly promises a resurrection to eternal life for those who believe in Him. The resurrection of His Son, Jesus, is proof positive of the authenticity of the resurrection. The resurrection we celebrate every week as we gather on the first day of the week infuses us with hope!

Grace & Peace,

Scott