The Importance of the Resurrection

Romans 1:1-4
Richard Spencer | Sunday, April 17, 2022
Copyright © 2022, Richard Spencer

Today is Easter Sunday. The day when Christians all over the world celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. But the resurrection of Jesus Christ is not just important for Christians, it has eternal significance for every single person who has ever lived or ever will live. In fact, the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the most important event in the history of the world, indeed, in the history of the universe. The resurrection of Christ is more important than the creation of this world. It is more important than the first appearance of a plant, or an animal or a human being on this earth. It is more important than the day this earth will finally be destroyed. There is no other event in the history of the universe that is as important as the day Jesus Christ rose from the dead.

Now, that is a very strong statement, so let me back it up. In order to do that, we first need to look at the purpose God had for creating this universe. And so, that is my first point this morning, God’s purpose in creation.

I.       God’s Purpose in Creation

Let me begin by saying that God did not create man because he needed fellowship, which is something you occasionally hear people say. God exists necessarily and independently. He alone is eternal. And he exists in three persons, which the Bible calls the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. The three persons of the godhead have had perfect fellowship for all eternity and, therefore, God has no need of anything outside of himself. He wasn’t pining away in loneliness prior to creating man.

You can make a simple logical argument to prove that God did not ever need this universe by first assuming, purely for the sake of argument, the opposite to be true. Suppose God did need this creation for fellowship or, indeed, for any reason whatsoever. If that were true, then he would have always needed it since the Bible tells us clearly that God is unchangeable. But this universe has not always existed. Therefore, God clearly did not, and does not, need this universe or anything in it, including man.

No, the Bible clearly tells us that God created this universe simply because he chose to. This is somewhat similar to a human being creating a work of art solely for his own pleasure. But in the case of God’s creation, it includes sentient, moral creatures able to understand and appreciate his handiwork, at least to some extent, and to have fellowship with God himself. Therefore, God’s purpose includes the manifestation of his glory to these creatures.

In Psalm 19:1 we are told that “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.” So we see that the inanimate creation was made to display God’s glory. And in Jeremiah 13:11 the Lord declared that “as a belt is bound around a man’s waist, so I bound the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah to me, to be my people for my renown and praise and honor.” This tells us that God’s chosen people are to display his renown and praise and honor, in other words, his glory. And in Ephesians 1:4-6 we read that God chose his people in Christ “before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—to the praise of his glorious grace”. Which again tells us that the purpose of God’s chosen people is the display of his glory, and these verses also tell us that this was all done in accordance with God’s pleasure and will. In other words, it was God’s free choice to create. He had no need of creation and, more specifically, he had no need of man.

Even hell exists for the glory of God. As hard as it is for people to accept this fact, it is a clear teaching in Scripture. In Romans 9:22-23 the apostle Paul tells us about those who will endure God’s wrath in hell and writes, “What if God, choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction? What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory”. Hell exists for the display of God’s perfect justice and power and to make clear, by contrast, his amazing love and mercy shown to his chosen people.

There are many other Scriptures we could look at, but the truth is that God created this universe for his own pleasure and glory, not out of any need. And, in order to defend my statement that the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the most important event in the history of the universe, we also need to know that God’s plan for creation revolves around his creating a people for himself. His chosen people, the true church.

This group of people is referred to as the bride of Christ in Ephesians 5:25-32 and Revelation 19:6-8, it is referred to as the body of Christ in Ephesians 5:29-30, 1 Corinthians 12:27 and elsewhere. The church is called God’s temple, for example in 1 Corinthians 3:16. We are called God’s children, for example in Romans 8:16 and, most incredibly, we are called God’s treasured possession. In other words, the church is the pinnacle, or focus of God’s creation.

In Exodus 19:5-6 we read that God said, “Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” And five more times in the Old Testament God refers to his people as his treasured possession.

But we must realize that when God calls his people his treasured possession, he is thinking of them in their final, glorified state. He is not yet done creating his treasured possession, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ was the most important part of God’s work to accomplish this purpose.

In order to understand why the resurrection is so important, we also need to recognize that God made man with free agency, meaning the ability to sin. God did this knowing full well that man would, in fact, sin. But before God created anything, he had already chosen some people to be saved from their sins and to be transformed into his treasured possession. This is God’s mighty work of salvation, which is my second point, God’s work of salvation.

II.      God’s Work of Salvation

As I said, God created man with the ability to sin. God appointed our first father Adam as a representative for the whole human race and when he sinned, the punishment, which is death, came to him, his wife Eve, and all of his natural descendants. And not only are we born subject to death, we are all born with a sinful nature, which is handed down to us from Adam through the normal process of procreation.

Paul explains all of this clearly in the book of Romans. In Romans 5:12 we are told that “sin entered the world through one man”, which is referring to Adam, “and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned”. We all sinned because Adam was our representative and, in addition, we all sin because we inherit his sinful nature. And sin is pervasive. It affects every part of our being and it affects everyone who is a natural descendant of Adam and Eve. In Romans 3:10-12 the apostle Paul combines several Old Testament passages to tell us that “There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.”

Now if that sounds like an awful condemnation of mankind, it’s because it is! And, more importantly, it is the truth. This is the universal problem of mankind. We are born sinful rebels, at enmity with our Creator God. But God had in mind from before the creation a solution to this problem, and that solution required the redeeming work of Jesus Christ. We have already read Ephesians 1:4-5 where we are told that God chose his people “before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ”. Saving his chosen people was God’s plan all along and this is the glorious gospel as Paul explains further in Romans 3:21-26. After declaring that there is no one righteous before God, Paul writes, “But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice …, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.”

In other words, Jesus Christ, the eternal second person of the Holy Trinity, came to earth to be incarnate as Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of Mary. And this Jesus lived a perfect, sinless life in perfect obedience to the Father, fulfilling the law of God. He then willingly took our sins upon himself and paid the penalty we owed on the cross on Calvary. He did this so that we could be saved and yet also have God’s perfect justice satisfied. The debt we owed because of our sins has been paid in full by Jesus Christ on the cross.

And this perfect salvation becomes ours when we are born again, repent of our sins and place our trust in Christ’s perfect work. When we do that, we are united with Christ in his death and resurrection as Paul explains in Romans Chapter Six. This union is represented by the sacrament of baptism. In Romans 6:4 we are told that “We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.”

Isn’t that glorious? Isn’t that amazing? We can do nothing to earn our salvation. We cannot pay the penalty we owe for sinning against the infinite, perfect God. But by believing in Jesus Christ, by trusting in God’s promise, we are united with Christ in his death and in his resurrection. He assumes all of our guilt, and our debt is paid for by his sacrifice and we, in return, receive his perfect righteousness and are raised with him to new life. This is the incomprehensible double transaction of the gospel. As Paul wrote in
2 Corinthians 5:21, “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

And Jesus’ sacrifice is of sufficient value to pay our infinite debt because he was not just a man, he was the unique God-man. Paul told us about this in Romans 1:2-4, our passage for this morning. He wrote that the gospel Paul preached was, “promised beforehand through [God’s] prophets in the Holy Scriptures regarding his Son”, in other words, the entire Old Testament testifies to the coming Savior, God’s only Son, Jesus Christ, and Paul then goes on to say about this Son, “who as to his human nature was a descendant of David”, now stop a moment and think about that. He was a descendant of King David in his human nature. That is a peculiar thing to say. It would make no sense to say that of any other person who has ever lived because we only have a human nature. But Jesus Christ is God incarnate. He is the unique God-man. And in his human nature he is a descendant of King David because he was born of the virgin Mary, who was a descendant of David. But Paul then goes on and writes, “and who through the Spirit of holiness was declared with power to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord.” And there we see the importance of the resurrection; Jesus was declared to be the Son of God. He is not just the Son of David, he is the only, perfect, sinless eternal Son of God. Death had no power over him, no hold on him.

God is perfect and if we are to be his treasured possession and spend eternity in his presence, we must be perfect as well. And so God, in his infinite power and wisdom, devised his plan of salvation to make us perfect in union with his perfect Son.

But God doesn’t perfect us all at once, rather he perfects us in stages. We don’t understand exactly why God chose to do it in this way, but undoubtedly this redounds to his greater glory. The first stage of our transformation occurs in this life when we are born again and enabled to repent and believe. That results in our being declared justified in God’s sight based on the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ. And it also results in our definitive sanctification, which is a radical change in our heart, mind, will and emotions brought about by the direct action of God through his Holy Spirit.

Then, all through life, every true Christian works to put the old sinful nature to death and to walk in greater and greater obedience, which is the process of progressive sanctification. As Paul wrote in Philippians 2:12-13, we are to “continue to work out [our] salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in [us] to will and to act according to his good purpose.” This progressive sanctification is the second stage of our being perfected and made into God’s treasured possession.

Then, when we die, the third stage is that our souls are perfected as we are told in Hebrews 12:23. And, finally, the fourth stage will occur when Christ returns. At that time, all of his blood-bought children will receive their resurrection bodies and will enter into their final, eternal state with him in heaven. We will still be creatures, but we will be perfect, sinless creatures. Hallelujah!

And while the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ were all necessary to accomplish this incredible, gracious plan of salvation, the resurrection was the final and most important step. It was God the Father saying “Amen” to the work of Christ. It is the clear sign that Jesus’ sacrifice was accepted and that all that Christ said was true and that all of God’s promises are absolutely certain.

The apostle Peter wrote, in 1 Peter 1:18-21, “For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.”

Notice again that Jesus was chosen for this work before the creation of the world. God’s salvation is not a plan that he cooked up in response to some unforeseen glitch in his creation. It is the central part of his plan of creation! And, let me tell you, there is no salvation possible apart from trusting in Christ and his work. Our faith and hope must be in God alone as Peter wrote. If you are trusting in your own good works, or your church membership, or the fact that you have been baptized and confessed Christ as Lord, even if you are trusting in your own faith, you are eternally lost. We cannot do anything to merit our salvation. It is a free gift and all of our hope and trust and faith must be in God alone. We must trust his promises. He tells us in Romans 10:9, “That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

If you have never done that, I counsel you to do so today. Claim Christ as your Lord and Savior. Receive the free offer of salvation and be a recipient of the many rich blessings that come from the fact that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead. And it is a fact that he was raised, which is my third point; the resurrection is a historical fact.

III.    The Resurrection is a Historical Fact

All that I have just said would be meaningless lies if Jesus Christ had not, in fact, been raised from the dead. In 1 Corinthians 15:14, Paul wrote that “if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.”

But our preaching is not useless, nor is true faith, because Jesus Christ has been raised from the dead! There are many pieces of evidence that can be brought forward to prove that the resurrection of Jesus Christ is a historical fact and we don’t have enough time to go over many of them, so I just want to mention the five that I think are the most compelling.

But before I do that, I want to make clear that the resurrection of Jesus Christ is not just a resuscitation, it is not just that his earthly body was brought back to the same life he had before his death. No, this was a resurrection and his new resurrection body was very different.

In 1 Corinthians 15:42-44 the apostle Paul compared Christ’s death and resurrection to sowing seed and reaping. He wrote, “The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.” Jesus’ resurrection body is a body engineered by the Holy Spirit to be fit for eternity in heaven. And our resurrection bodies will be like his glorious body.

And in my mind the five most compelling reasons that allow us to know that Jesus was truly raised from the dead are:

1. First, the Bible clearly declares it to be true. The Bible is the best attested book in the world. It has never been proven wrong in any way even though many have expended huge amounts of effort to do so. The attempts to show the Bible in error are often silly, but even the serious attempts can be answered or they deal with inconsequential details.

   And not only does the Bible testify that the resurrection is a fact, it also contains many prophecies about the life, death and resurrection of Christ, which are known without any doubt to have been written centuries before the events, and which were fulfilled in Christ. Paul mentioned one of these in 1 Corinthians 15:4, where he wrote that Christ, “was buried, [and] that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures” There is no way these prophecies can be explained except by realizing that the Bible was written by the Holy Spirit through the agency of human authors and that all of history is under the control of God. He is sovereign over all the affairs of man.

2. The second reason is that there were many witnesses.
   In 1 Corinthians 15:6 for example, Paul mentions the fact that the resurrected Christ appeared to over five hundred people at the same time, and he goes on to say that most of them were still living when he wrote. This was a claim that could have been easily checked out. If it had been a lie, the early church would never have had the amazing success that it did.
3. Also, and this is the third reason, if Christ had not truly risen, the authorities could simply have produced the body and this new faith would have died. But in spite of the Roman guard and seal, the tomb was empty. Christ had risen! To believe that his followers took the body in spite of the Roman guard and that no one ever discovered that fact or betrayed their secret, stretches credulity way too far.
4. The fourth reason is that the apostles and many others had their lives changed radically and endured all kinds of persecution, even death, for the sake of the Christian faith. And they did this without receiving any earthly reward. And this has continued on through the millennia. Even today, Jesus is transforming lives. He transformed my life. And he can transform yours as well.
5. Fifth, the resurrection, along with the rest of the gospel message, is not something any human being would concoct. All religions created by man preach that we can save ourselves in some way; we just have to do the right things. Who would make up a religion that tells people they are sinners and can’t save themselves? But instead, that they must trust in a Messiah who was crucified by the Romans and didn’t even save himself from death? As Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 1:18, “the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”

There is much more that could be said, but the bottom line is that Jesus Christ is truly the eternal Son of God, who became incarnate by the virgin Mary, lived a sinless life, died a voluntary, sacrificial death on the cross, endured the wrath of God on behalf of all who would trust in him, and was then raised from the dead in triumph, with a glorious new resurrection body.

If you have trusted in this Christ, then join with me in rejoicing as we consider what the resurrection of Christ has accomplished. My fourth point is the benefits we receive from Jesus’ resurrection.

IV.    The Benefits We Receive from Jesus’ Resurrection

The resurrection of Jesus Christ has secured many tremendous benefits for those who trust in him.

1. First, and foremost, the resurrection demonstrates that God has accepted Christ’s sacrifice on our behalf and, therefore, our sins are paid for and we will never have to suffer eternal hell! Hallelujah! Romans 4:25 says that Christ “was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.” And in Colossians 2:13-15 Paul wrote, “When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.” We were dead! But now we are alive with Christ. The cross only represents a triumph because of the resurrection. The resurrection proved that Jesus was sinless and that, as Peter preached on the day of Pentecost, “God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him.” (Acts 2:24) Because of this triumph, our sins are forgiven.
2. The second benefit we receive as a result of the resurrection is that we are set free from our slavery to sin and Satan. In Romans 6:18 we read, “You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.” This is a great blessing. We are not yet perfect as I noted earlier, but we have the power to say “No” to sin. And we are told in James 4:7, “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” The devil, who is vastly more powerful than we are, will flee from us because Jesus Christ has already won the victory, which was dramatically shown by his resurrection. And we are also told, in 1 Corinthians 10:13, that “No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.” Friends, God is faithful and his salvation is a complete and total salvation from all of the effects of sin.
3. And not only are we set free from sin, the third benefit is that we have power to live a new life of holiness, which pleases God and results in blessing for us and others. Romans 6:4 tells us, “We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.” That new life is the Christian life. A life led and empowered by the Holy Spirit.

   It is a life described in the New Testament as bearing fruit for God. Paul wrote in Romans 7:4, “So, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God.” Saying that we died to the law does not mean that we don’t keep the law, but it means that we don’t depend on our law-keeping for our salvation; we are saved by grace alone. Instead, we keep the law out of thanksgiving and a desire to please God and because we are new creations and have the Holy Spirit power to help us. Paul explains all of this in Ephesians 2:8-10, where we read that “it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” These good works are the fruit that we bear because of the resurrection power of Jesus Christ.

   Paul wrote about this power explicitly in Ephesians 1:19-20, where he prayed that we may know the Father’s, “incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms,” Praise God for this great resurrection power!

4. The fourth benefit we receive from the resurrection is that we can be certain we ourselves will be raised to eternal life with God. In John 11:25 we are told that Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies”. And in Romans 6:5 Paul wrote, “If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection.” Then again, in 1 Corinthians 6:14, we read, “By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also.” Praise God!
5. The fifth benefit is that we have the help of Jesus Christ himself in our battle to put sin to death and live holy lives. In Romans 8:34 we read, “Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.” The fact that Jesus was raised to life is used here to make the point that his intercession will always be effectual. There will be many who try to condemn us, but who are they? They are nothing when compared with our risen Lord, Jesus Christ, who is interceding for us even now.

   And we also have the Holy Spirit helping us. In Roman 8:8-10 Paul wrote that “Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God. You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.” If you have repented and trusted in Christ, then you do belong to Christ and the Holy Spirit does live in you and more than that, he controls you. This doesn’t mean that you live a perfectly obedient life, but you do have the power to obey and when you disobey, you repent, ask forgiveness, get up and move on in faith.

6. The sixth benefit we receive is that we will stand in the day of judgment. Notice that the resurrection proves that there will be a day of judgement. In Acts 17:31 Paul told the Athenians that God “has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead.” It would not have been necessary for Jesus to die if God’s judgment was not certain. But because God is perfectly just, his judgment is necessary and the death of Christ was therefore necessary for God to save his people and simultaneously satisfy his perfect justice. And because God’s judgment is certain, all those who are outside of Christ have great cause for fear. But if we have trusted in Christ, we have no reason to fear God’s judgment. Jesus Christ will own us on that day as his blood-bought brothers and sisters. As we are told in Romans 8:1, “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus”.

There is more that could be said, but I think I have made a solid case to defend my claim that the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the most important event in the history of the universe. It was the final act, the completion of Christ’s work of redemption, which is God’s greatest work. God only had to speak in order to create this universe, but to save a people for himself and simultaneously satisfy his own perfect justice, he had to send the eternal Son to become incarnate, live a perfect life, and die a sacrificial death on the cross. And the resurrection is the proof that Christ’s sacrifice was accepted on our behalf.

And, in light of this fact, my fifth and final point is, how then should we live?

V.      How Then Should We Live?

The answer to this question has two parts. If you have never surrendered to Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, be warned. We have seen that the resurrection declares him, with power, to be the Son of God. Jesus is not just a man, he is God. To reject him is to reject God and his gracious offer of salvation. It is to call God a liar. We have also seen that Jesus’ resurrection proves there will be a judgment. And there is no way for any man to stand on his own in this judgment and not be justly condemned to hell. You can only be acquitted and declared righteous if you are clothed in the righteousness of Christ having been united to him by faith. Therefore, the first part of the answer to the question “How then should we live?”, is that we should all confess our sins and trust in Jesus Christ alone for our salvation.

The second part of the answer only applies to those who have fulfilled the first part and have trusted fully and exclusively in Jesus Christ. In Colossians 3:1-5 the apostle Paul answered the question of how Christians should live in light of the resurrection of Christ. He wrote, “Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.”

If you have trusted in Christ, your old self has died, it no longer controls you and your new life is now hidden with Christ in God. We know that we are destined to appear with him in glory. Therefore, we must set our hearts and minds on things above, not on the temporary things of this world. And we must strive to put our old sinful nature to death. It no longer rules us, but it is still present with us. And Paul goes on in that chapter to tell us how we are to put on the new nature we have in Christ. We are to clothe ourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. We are to forgive one another, love one another and let the peace of Christ rule in our hearts.

In short, we are to live as people destined for eternity in heaven. We are to be perfect, as our heavenly Father is perfect. To the extent we are obedient in doing these things, we will live blessed lives and we will also be a blessing to others. Our conduct will be a shining advertisement for the gospel. Jesus told his disciples in John 13:34-35, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” We are to love one another sacrificially, as Christ himself loved us and gave himself up for us. This is a high calling. And it is impossible unless you have been born again and are filled with the Holy Spirit.

So, let’s all strive to make our calling and election sure, to be filled with the Holy Spirit and to walk in holiness before God, looking forward to our own resurrection. Paul wrote in 1 Thessalonians 4:14 that “We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.” Let us all do everything possible to be sure that we live and die in Jesus Christ. If we do, then we can know for certain that God will raise us up to be with him in heaven for eternity.