First, if there is no resurrection then death if final and there is no point in preparing for it. That in fact is the attitude of most people. They put off making wills, making arrangements for their funerals, or preparing to meet their Maker. They don't see this life as a preparation for the next life. While they may have a vague believe in the resurrection or heaven their default drive in life is to ignore the future.

There is more for Christ to do that has consequences for each one of us and the whole of creation. Christ is described as the "first fruits of those who have fallen asleep." The first fruits were the first sheaf of the harvest which was brought to the temple and offered to God. The first fruits were a sign of the harvest to come. What was true for Christ would be true for those who follow him. Jesus is the forerunner of all those who have died in Christ and will die in the future.

'Every man should have a built-in automatic crap detector operating inside him,' Ernest Hemingway once quipped. 'You reject everything that is not or can't be completely true.' The US President called for an ACD in his unique tongue of Trump-speak. At his first press conference as President-elect, the term "fake news" burst from the media echo chamber and became a mainstream meme. 'You are fake news!' he said, pointing at CNN's Jim Acosta.

“Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows,
yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.
We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way;
and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” (Isaiah 53:4-6)