We are reminded today that God who created us, gave us mortal life, and who graciously gives life from the dead, as he did Jesus, will give us eternal life with Jesus and bring us into his presence. We are not talking about human immortality, of survival for all beyond the grave. But that, for those who have Christ's life in them, who are animated, led and sanctified by the Holy Spirit, when the earthly body dies, they will be given a new resurrection body in heaven. Meanwhile in this life we suffer waiting for the glory which is to come. But we wait confidently trusting in the promise of God who is trustworthy, who always fulfills his promises.

What is the basis of your confidence that you will be raised with Jesus? How do you know? What difference can such an assurance make to your life?

To the man who has it, complete belief is equivalent to knowledge. Few of us have viewed Earth from outer space, yet we say that we know that it is a globe. We know certain things to be true because we accept them on the established authority of others. We trust in promises that are reliable. Just because things promised have not yet happened does not make them fantasies. Delay is not denial. What Paul says here is that, if he dies before the coming of Christ, he knows that God will raise him as he raised Christ, and will present him along with his fellow-believers to Christ. The basis of his confident assurance is the resurrection of Jesus and the promise of God that what has happened to Jesus will be fulfilled in us. This promise is to be trusted for the future as it is the promise of God who has been proven to be trustworthy.

He paints a picture of what that transition from this life to the next will look like. He begins with the physical nature of aging -- the natural decline of the body. As the outer nature wastes away, our inner nature that is in Christ, is being renewed day by day. The cycle of Nature displays death and resurrection: Winter and Spring. The present material world around us is passing away while the unseen world of the glorious future is permanent and eternal. The process of renewal in the spirit is as constant as the process of decay in the body. The Christian confidence is that the dissolution of the body means, not annihilation, but translation to a higher state of existence. As soon as the dissolution of the body takes place, something better is there. What is absolutely certain is spoken of as present. He contrasts the present body, which is earthly and temporary (tent), with the future body which is from God in the heavens, not made with hands, eternal. "For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality." (1 Cor.15:53)

In the mean time we groan, eagerly longing for the reality we yearn for. It is improbable that a natural craving should be incapable of gratification. Our yearning to have our perishable bodies superseded by something permanent, is evidence that the permanent dwelling is possible. "God has put eternity into man's heart...." (Ecclesiastes 4:11) It is logically improbable that a person can be conscious of his existence one moment and then for that existence to be terminated the next. Falling asleep is succeeded by waking up.

Now all this can sometimes seem unreal, ethereal, without substance, compared with the present realities of life. Our greatest deception remains the thought that this life is all there is and that we will never have to account for our lives in the presence of the Lord. What are the objections to this assurance of the resurrection?

C.S. Lewis, in The Silver Chair tells the story of Eustace and Jill who set out in Narnia to find Prince Rilian who has been kidnapped and enchanted by the Lady of the Green Kirtle to forget who he is and where he has come from. They rescue him while she is absent but the Enchantress returns and attempts to bewitch them to forget who they are. She weaves a spell on them to forget the land of Narnia, that there is no other country than the one they are in. She tries to persuade them that they are dreaming and that there is no other world but the one they are in -- an underworld with no sun, no sky, no stars, no Aslan (God). She keeps on repeating the mantra: "It is all a dream, there never was such a world, there never was any world but mine." She gets them to see that the present is the only reality and the rest is only a tale, a children's story, a make-believe world. Lewis makes the comment that the more enchanted you get, the more you feel that you are not enchanted at all. So she gets them to agree with her that the other world must be all a dream. It takes action by their companion Puddleglum, who is the realist among them, who endures much pain to defeat the sorcerer's spell. Sometimes the afflictions of life serve to break the spell of our illusions that this world is all there is. The Gospel is veiled to those who are perishing, and the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers to keep them from seeing the truth.

We live in a now-centered culture, filled with all sorts of attractions that feed our present desires. God has given us a beautiful and entrancing world in which to live though it was never meant to be an end in itself but to point to an even greater world that is permanent and eternal. St. Paul talks about God "preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison."

We must not forget that other world by being enchanted and persuaded that this world is the only reality. We have to be careful we are not so glutted on the second-rate happiness of this world, that we are too full to hunger after the future God has for us. Filled with the sights and sounds around us we can think little about the future life. Not having tasted much of heaven all we can imagine is earth. But the real illusion is to live only for now. It makes us superficial creatures.

While we are aware that this world is a dangerous place and that there is much suffering we enjoy what we have, what we can purchase and what we can control. We buy into the idea of progress: that things will somehow improve in this world despite all the evidence to the contrary. We look to social, economic and political advances to fulfill our ideals. Our chief concern is about having enough money to retire in comfort and living as long as we can, as healthy as we can, and as wealthy as we can. We are tempted not to look beyond this life. But disbelief in life after death makes this life meaningless. For those whose life is cut short or is full of suffering the idea that death is the finish makes the whole world absurd.

Into this world came Jesus. He came from God and returned to God. He showed us the way to God through his death and resurrection. The words of the angels pierce the enchantment of this world: "He has risen." He goes to prepare a place for us so that we will be with him if we are prepared to accept his grace. Resurrection from the dead is for those who welcome Christ and His Spirit into their lives. Of this we can be confidently assured. Such faith transforms our perspective in this life and gives us the sure and certain goal of the life to come.

(Ted's blog can be found at www.tedschroder.com.)