To Encourage You

1 Corinthians 15:19 “If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.”

The other day I saw a program on TV about the life of baseball player Ted Williams.  Some say he was the greatest hitter of all time in the major leagues.  After he died, his children had his body frozen by the process of cryogenics. Why did they do such a thing?  As best I can recall, his daughter said something like this: “We didn’t have religion to turn to, so we thought if there was ever a hope, however slim, of seeing our dad again, it would be by cryogenics.” This is based on the hope that someday someone might figure out a way to bring a person that had been frozen back to life. 

Some would say that any hope anyone has in the resurrection from the dead is as futile as this one.  In fact, in the verse above, the apostle Paul tells us that if a Christian’s hope is limited only to this life, then we are to be pitied.  Literally thousands of believers, including the apostle Paul, have suffered deprivation, torture, and a gruesome death simply because they professed faith in Jesus and encouraged others to place their faith in Him as well.  Some see Jesus as a good example for us to follow.  But if we follow Him right to the grave and that’s it, to what purpose is it?  Why suffer for His sake?  It wouldn’t make any sense. 

But then Paul goes on to say the following in 1 Corinthians 15: “But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.”  In short, it will be worth it all, in the end, for the Christian. All the deprivation, all the suffering, even martyrdom, if it comes to that, will be worth it all, in the end.   For you see, death is not the end for the believer. Rather, it’s the beginning of an eternity of joy in heaven. 

Hebrews 11 is often called “the faith chapter.” In it we see a list of many of the believers of the past who suffered and died based on a promise of an inheritance that they never received while they lived.  Of them we are told, “These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland.If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city” (Hebrews 11:13-16).  Further, we are told this about the Old Testament saints: “And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets—who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions,quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. Women received back their dead by resurrection. Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better “ (Hebrews 11:32-35.) Then in Hebrews 12 we are told this about Jesus: “Who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” 

It is for such reasons that it is not the believers who are to be pitied. Rather, it is anyone who doesn’t know Christ. It was because of the assurance of the resurrection that Paul could say to King Agrippa as he faced him in his trial for preaching the gospel, “I would to God that not only you but also all who hear me this day might become such as I am—except for these chains” (Acts 26:29). Think about this. In essence, as Paul stood there in chains as a prisoner before the king, he says to the king – “I feel sorry for you that you’re not like me.”  And why could he say this?  It was because the king’s hope was only in this life. All his power, all his privilege, all his glory, and all his wealth would rot someday soon, and he himself had absolutely no hope for the eternity beyond the grave. Paul, on the other hand, had “hope that was as an anchor of his soul, sure and steadfast” (Hebrews 6:19). It was the sure hope that he would one day follow Jesus into His very presence in the joy of heaven, a place that Jesus had gone before and is preparing for all those who love Him. 

No, it is not in this life only that the believer has hope. It is for the eternal life to come.  If you don’t know this hope, it is you who should be pitied, not the Christian, for your hope, tragically, is no better than that of someone with the wistful and futile hope in cryogenics – or in anything else that is other than the gospel of Christ.