Return and Resurrection

For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all shall be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ's at His coming,
(I Corinthians 15:22-23)

Trusting Christ meanings having confidence that the crucified, resurrected, and ascended Lord Jesus Christ will return (Mark 8:38; Mark 16:27; Revelation 1:7). We anticipate his return and our being raised bodily from the dead like our Lord (I Corinthians 15:42-44, I Corinthians 15:51-54).

If we really grasp the gospel, then we recognize that Christ will return to judge the world (Acts 17:30-31), and that everyone will stand before God's judgment seat (Romans 14:10; II Corinthians 5:10). Those who are in Christ will be separated from those who are not; believers will be raised to everlasting life, while those rejecting Christ and refusing to repent and believe the gospel, will face everlasting condemnation (Daniel 12:1-2; Matthew 25:46; Romans 2:5-8; Galatians 6:8). Thus, trusting in Christ includes hearing and believing what has been said about God's plan for the future of humanity.

Our view of what the future holds affects the way we live our life. Apart from Christ we live only for ourselves. We have no real hope for the future. That which we claim as hope is in things that have no lasting value that will eventually pass away. Real hope comes from and in Christ. The hope Christ offers is birthed and grows in us as we trust him and discover that God's plan for the future involves Christ's return and our bodily resurrection from the dead. As we mature, we realize that God's design is for those who are in Christ to live in eternity, and those who reject Christ to go to the second death. As our confidence in the promises of Christ deepen, our concern that others hear about Christ increases. The more confidence we have in him, the more confidence we have in carrying out his commission to go and make disciples. Having confidence in him, we continue following him even when our circumstances beg us to turn back; yet we remain true to Christ for he remains true to those who belong to him. Our confidence is evident in the choices we make to glorify God. Confidence eventually becomes a living expectancy of Christ's return as we carry on his mission. We are not concerned about our future since we are in Christ and he is in us. We trust his promises, for they are rooted in our heart, enabling us to live expectantly.

Growth towards Christian maturity

Without Hope

Apart from Christ, we have no God inspired hope for the future. Our perspective of the future is limited to what we hope to do, gain, or achieve in this life. Some of us may speculate about what happens after death. We may buy into various conjectures about the future which either give a false optimism that does not align with Scripture, or produces a pessimistic view which ignores what Christ and Scripture says. Since we do not grasp the good news of the kingdom of God, we are ignorant of the resurrection of Jesus Christ (John 11:25; Acts 4:33; Acts 17:18; Romans 1:4) and his promise to return (Matthew 16:27; John 14:2-3), or simply dismiss it as foolishness (I Corinthians 1:18). We have no knowledge of our eventual bodily resurrection. Whatever we may have heard of a coming day of judgment, we either dismiss or deceive ourselves by saying that God would not judge the world (Genesis 3:4). We are without the hope that is found only in Christ.

Hope in the Promises

But Christ was crucified, dead and buried, and on the third day he rose again (I Corinthians 15:3-4) just as he promised (Mark 8:31; Mark 9:31; Mark 10:32-34). He promised to return, though no one knows the day or the hour except God the Father (Matthew 24:29-44). Therefore, in order to know Christ and have faith in him we must reach a point where we begin to accept the reports of his resurrection and promise to return. Though it may take time to grasp his claims, we eventually come to believe the truth of Christ. Learning about him and from him, we become his followers and begin to pay close attention to what he says. As we listen, the truth takes root in our heart, and increases our confidence in what he promised. A new hope that had not previously existed is birthed in us. We realize that the world does not offer hope, but Christ does. We grow as we learn from Christ and his disciples, through whom we gain an awareness that Christ's resurrection includes the promise of our bodily resurrection (Matthew 4:16; Matthew 16:25; I Corinthians 15:22); death is not the end for us. Perhaps, when we first trust Christ, we think we will survive death in some kind of spirit form, but now we find God saying He will raise everyone from the dead. There will be a bodily resurrection, and as a result the curse of the Garden of Eden will be over. The Holy Spirit is God's pledge to us that we will be raised to life (Ephesians 1:13-14). A physical body awaits us, and even though we are told it will be better, we have not been given specific details (I Corinthians 15:42-44). All we really know is there will be no more pain, no more tears, and no more death (Revelation 21:4). Christ has overcome death, and we too will be raised from the dead (Romans 6:8-10). This is great news that is full of hope. We are well aware of our struggles with pain and sickness in our current physical body, and that a day will come when we will die physically, unless Christ returns first (I Thessalonians 4:16-17). Yet God has given us the hope of life by raising Christ from the dead, and promising that He will raise us.

Growing in Confidence

A growing faith is fed by Scriptures that speak of Christ's second coming. Anticipation for his return birthed in us, not deterred by the hundreds of years that have already passed since Christ ascended into heaven. He could return at any moment, though no one knows the day or hour it will happen (Matthew 24:36). It could very well be in our lifetime or it may not occur for several hundred more years. When it happens is not our concern, and since he has promised to return we do not question whether he will return. Jesus said that he would return, so we watch for him. We watch and wait, the whole time focusing on our master's business (Luke 19:12-13) because he commissioned us to carry on his mission until he returns (Matthew 28:18-20; Mark 16:15). Therefore, we do the work of ministry with a heart full of gratitude for what the Lord has done and will do. We do the work of ministry with confidence that until Christ returns there are people who need to know him. We are confident that the Holy Spirit can transform the lives of those with whom we speak about Christ. Therefore, we proclaim Christ, knowing that it is not the Father's will that any would parish, but that all would come to repentance (II Peter 3:9). With great confidence in Christ, as his ambassadors we plead with people to be reconciled to God (II Corinthians 5:20). We do not worry about our life for our focus is on the kingdom of God and on His righteousness (Matthew 6:33). The more we reflect on Christ's promises and our being raised bodily, the more we anticipate it, resulting in an ever increasing confidence. Sure, we face challenges, which if we were to focus on them rather than Christ, might undermine our confidence for there is an enemy that seeks to steal, kill, and destroy (John 10:10), who roams around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour (I Peter 5:8). But we do not get sucked in because our confidence is in Christ and it is growing. While we are still here, like the apostle Paul we acknowledge that our current sufferings are of little concern compared to the promise of the eternal glory we have in Christ (Romans 8:18).

Living Expectantly

Confidence becomes expectancy. For some time we are conscious of our growth in Christ. Challenges arise and we consciously choose to believe Christ even when situations and people try to suggest that we do otherwise. Over time our growing faith makes us less aware of ourselves as confidence becomes part of who we are. We do not have to wrestle, think, and choose to follow Christ, for we seem to instinctively act through faith in Christ. Being certain of his return and the bodily resurrection of the dead, we no longer wrestle with choosing to believe Christ, rather we simply trust him. Time and time again the Lord has shown himself faithful in His Word, in our life, and in the lives of the saints that we observe. We see the faith of those who have gone before us and we acknowledge the faith of that great cloud of witnesses regarding the goodness of God (Hebrews 12:1). Without being conscious of it, we live expectantly, having Christ in us, which is the mystery of our faith (Colossians 1:27). We expect his return. We anticipate our own resurrection and of those saints we have known. We hunger to help others grasp the good news of the kingdom of God until he returns. We watch and pray for God to utilize us in helping others come to know Him so that they too may become Christ's growing disciples, knowing that our being of use is not because we are anything special, but because we are about our master's business just as he was about his Father's business while he was here. The Lord Jesus Christ has sent us to continue his mission and the Holy Spirit has equipped us to carry out that mission. Christ is with us, subtly guiding us with the details we need at any given moment. This is the evidence that we live expecting to see God's hand at work transforming the lives of people around us by the power of the Holy Spirit. We have a confidence surrounding us and a hope within. An expectancy differentiates us, which confounds those who recognize that we are not like most people. Some are drawn to God through us, while others are repelled and express hostility towards God (II Corinthians 2:15-16). But that is not our concern. Ours is simply to live each day for God (I Corinthians 10:31; Colossians 3:17-23), knowing deep down in our heart that the future is very bright because when Christ returns and the dead in Christ are raised, the old things will have passed away and everything will finally be made new (Revelation 21:1-5).