We’re going through our Death, Resurrection, Heaven, and Hell series; this is the third episode about resurrection. In the previous episode, I showed that by having faith in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, all believers receive the guarantee of our future resurrection in our current Born Again life. I showed that by the Power of God, His Spirit, and His Word, and our Burial in Christ by God, we’ve already received our advance toward our resurrection. So what happens when a believer dies in Christ? Where do we go before the resurrection?
I don’t want to get too far ahead as we discuss resurrection. I want to assure you, as Paul assured first-century believers, the bodily resurrection hasn’t happened yet (1 Thessalonians 4:13-15).
Paul uses the phrase “fallen asleep” for those believers who have died. Paul speaks of believers here because he says, “If we believe that Jesus died and rose again, then” we’ll be risen the same way through [Jesus]. In the last episode, I showed that we’ve died in Christ and been raised in him spiritually, which is our “Born Again” condition. The world doesn’t see us as dead and alive in Christ, but God does. He sees us as awake in Christ and walking around in this world. When our bodies cease, we’re still alive in Christ. To the world, we’re dead. We appear asleep to our brothers and sisters in Christ, but to Christ, we’re alive with him (2 Corinthians 5:1-8).
My interpretation of 2 Corinthians 4:18-5:8: We don’t focus on what we see but on what we can’t. When this mortal body ceases, we have an eternal body made by God waiting for us. Yes, being in this mortal body is painful because we long to be in our immortal body. This mortal body is very demanding because we’re exposed to the difficulties of this world. But when we receive our eternal body, our weaknesses will be gone forever.
We’ve been born again by the Spirit of God to see the guarantee of our future self. While we’re in this world, we know we can’t be with Christ, but by faith, the Spirit gives us confidence in what we don’t yet see. In fact, with confident expectation, we look toward leaving this body and being with Christ.
This is precisely what Jesus explains to Martha before raising Lazarus in John 11:25-26.
In these verses, Jesus isn’t saying that believers won’t die. Believers will die physically. Everyone dies. But those who believe in Christ, though they die, they will live. Then he says the same thing differently: “Everyone who lives and believes in me will never die,” meaning every person who believes in him will never die spiritually.
Jesus expresses parallel statements to convey a singular truth: He’s the resurrection and the life. Jesus is the source and embodiment of both resurrection and life. His identity is the very essence of resurrection life.
Whoever believes in him, though they die, they will live. This emphasizes the transformative power of faith in Christ. Death must happen to put off the mortal, but by faith in Christ, we’re given a transcendent life beyond death.
Therefore, everyone who lives and believes in him shall never die. This parallel expression reinforces that everyone alive with faith in Christ will experience life extending into eternity. There is a continuity between a spiritual existence in Christ now and belief in the promise of our permanent, eternal, transcendent life.
