The apostle Peter writes to the Christians who are scattered across Asia, urging them to be ready to speak with gentleness and kindness as they give a reason for the hope they have (1 Peter 3:15). And in a similar vein, Paul invites the church of Thessalonica to not grieve for Christians in the way that those who have no hope grieve (1 Thessalonians 4:13).

When we ask the question ‘what is our hope?’, Paul’s answer is disarmingly simple: Jesus died and rose. The hope of Christians is the gospel. But how does this help? How does this change our grieving and our living? How can this put courage in our hearts? Paul’s answer in 1 Thessalonians 4:13–18 draws out the implications of our union with Christ. In the face of death, the Christian has hope because the Christian can say: ‘What happened to Jesus happens to me.’

Resurrection: we will rise like he did
If Christ has not been raised then we are still in our sins and are wasting our lives. But the sworn testimony of the church from its first days was that Jesus Christ has been raised. His resurrection is the message. He rose so he lives and he will return. Consequently ‘the dead in Christ will rise’. He died, we die. He rose, we’ll rise. Christians believe in ‘the death of death in the death of Christ’¹ and the resurrection of Christians in the resurrection of Christ. ‘Death put to death as Jesus Christ was raised.’²

Our future will be as physical as Jesus’ resurrection body. It’ll be a body that isn’t wasting away, but instead our hearts will beat strong forever. Where today our knees are weak, one day we’ll run and not grow weary. This isn’t just a ticket out of hell it’s an invitation to finally and truly live the way we were meant to be.

There’s a moment that happens when one puts on a new pair of glasses – the whole world immediately shines sharper and brighter than on the sunniest day of the year. This is just a foretaste of the day when our eyes will be renewed and we’ll at last see clearly.

Vindication: we will meet him in the air
But what will we see? It’s commonly believed that Christians will spend eternity in the clouds, with harps and angels, and eating Philadelphia cream cheese. This imagery is what makes people say that the heavenly-minded are of no earthly use, that they’re too ‘spiritual’. The view arises, in part, because Paul says ‘we will meet him in the air’ (1 Thessalonians 4:17). And we will. But, if our future is so ‘spiritual’ then what is the use of food and drink, of blood and guts, of relationships and the rest of this very physical world?

Daniel prophesied that ‘with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man’, to whom was given ‘dominion and glory and a kingdom’ (Daniel 7:13–14). Jesus descends from heaven to the clouds as he comes in his victory and vindication. Then all will see him. When he comes Christians will be caught up into the air and join him there. From generation to generation the one we love has been disdained, but he will be seen as the chief among ten thousand and our beloved.

Today we may look like fools to hope in him, but one day we’ll stand next to him. Like a bride looking to her wedding day, we cry out, ‘Come!’ Longing to catch a glimpse of our lover, to hear his voice and be with him. ‘Make haste, my beloved’ is our prayer.

Yet the clouds will merely be our meeting place and not our home. The father in Jesus’ parable came out to meet his son on the road and the hillside, not so they could remain there but to bring him in to his house to eat the fattened calf and drink the finest wine. Christ descends to us so we need not climb to him. As he comes he catches us up into his arms.

Liberation: we will be with him forever on the earth
The coming of Jesus is marked by the sound of a trumpet. More than a fanfare this is the trumpet of God, sounded on the Day of Jubilee (Leviticus 25:9). A day of liberation for the earth. A day to return property and to set slaves free. A day when the earth breathes a sigh of relief and has its Sabbath.

What is the hope we hold out? That all the oppression and all the frustration we live with day to day will cease to be part of our lives – we’ll be able to appreciate the world as the well-cultivated place it was meant to be.

We don’t do justice to Old Testament descriptions of salvation – if we spiritualise away what is said about its physicality we lose something. In the renewed heavens and earth there will be vineyards to plant and fruit to eat… the wolf and lamb shall graze together.

We long for the renewed creation and the air longs with us to no longer give breath to sinful words and instead only breathe life into worshippers.

When people are raised to life in Christ, those who have turned from and hated Christ will also be taken from the earth, resurrected for final judgement. And so justice will be done and evil will be answered. The resurrection is the proof of that final day.

He has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead. - Acts 17:31

No longer will sinful feet walk upon the earth. No longer will Solomon make his despairing cries. The world will be renewed, the darkness chased away, the birds warmed, the whole of creation singing. Everything will be ready for Jesus and his church to descend from the air to live upon the earth forever, in the cool of the evening breeze and the heat of the day. At last we will have Christ and he will have us.

I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see him with my own eyes – I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me! - Job 19:25–27

No more dim mirrors. No more speculation about God. In my flesh and bones I’ll see my God, face to face, with my own eyes.

 
This article is part two of four in the series on hope.