Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.

1 Corinthians 15:51-52

As we approach this Easter weekend, three older men I’ve known, have each passed on from this life to the next over the last ten days or so. While they were each more than 80 years of age, the loss felt by those who loved and cared for them is real.

For the believer in Jesus Christ, we do not experience death without genuine hope! That hope is tied directly to the Resurrection we will celebrate this weekend at churches across the country.

In his letter to Titus, Paul described how we wait “for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ (Titus 2:13). It is described in the verses above as a mystery that will surely take place. And in another letter, Paul described the return of the Lord this way –

But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words.

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

This is the promise of the Resurrected Christ. Because Christ is resurrected, we do not grieve as others who have no hope. Because He is alive, we will also live. Some will die and be resurrected. Others will be transformed in the “twinkling of an eye.” Take some time this weekend to ponder this wonderful truth.