Let us come to the ministry of the Lord Himself. We have seen that the Lord's greatest comfort to a sorrowing

woman was to remind her that her brother would rise again (John 11:23). What an opportunity the Saviour had for

telling Martha that Lazarus was consciously in glory, if this had been the truth! And if that was so, was it an act of

love that brought him back from the unutterable bliss of heaven to a world of sin, death and darkness? But we go

further. In the sixth chapter of John's Gospel we have a record of the Lord's discourse to the multitudes who

followed Him. He gave them precious truth and revealed Himself as the Bread of Life (6:35) and promised the

believer that he should never hunger or thirst (6:35) and then added the following:

`And this is the Father's will . . . that . . . I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day'

Nor is this all, for verse forty continues:

`And this is the will of Him that sent Me, that everyone which seeth the Son, and believeth on Him, may have

everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day'.

And further on:

`No man can come to Me, except the Father which hath sent Me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last

`Whoso eateth My flesh, and drinketh My blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day'

So we find that the Lord four times over, emphasises resurrection as the hope of the believer. To those who

are pleased to remind us that we should return to the `teaching of Jesus' we are glad to say that we stand foursquare

on this precious hope that He has given. But do they? To all such we would say - do you really believe what the

Lord Jesus Christ taught here or have you substituted something other than the truth of resurrection for your hope?

If so it is a vain one. But this is not all. We have been dealing with the hope for believers who have died. Does the

Lord deal with hope from the standpoint of His children who are alive when He returns again? The answer is yes,

He does. In John 14:3 we find the following:

`And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there

ye may be also'.

It is the believer's greatest joy to look forward by faith to the time when he will be with his Lord. How is that

going to be accomplished? By death say multitudes of Christians; by My coming again, says the Lord Jesus. Which

are we going to believe? When we come to the epistles we find the same truth. It is well to remember that 1

Thessalonians 4 was not written to give a dissertation on the doctrine of the Second Advent, but to comfort those

whose loved ones had fallen asleep, that they should sorrow not as others who had no hope. The Lord would surely

return `Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in

the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord' (17). The word so is houtos meaning thus - or in this way. In this

way (i.e. by the Lord's coming) shall believers be with the Lord and we have no right to substitute any other way.

The Thessalonians were exhorted to comfort one another with these words and we look in vain for death or any

other conception to be presented as a hope by the apostle. Rather is he promulgating exactly the same truth as we

have seen that the Lord Jesus proclaimed, namely that resurrection and His coming again was not only the true hope

of the living Christian, but also the hope for those who had died.  But, it will be objected, what about

2 Corinthians 5:6 and Philippians 1:23? To begin with, we would emphasise that both these verses have contexts

and if these are carefully considered, they only confirm what we have already stressed. 2 Corinthians 5 commences

with the word `For', reminding us that there should be no chapter break, but that the apostle is continuing the

argument developed in chapter 4. Verse 14 reads `Knowing that He which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us

also by Jesus, and shall present us with you'. So the presentation of the believer to the Lord is vitally linked with

resurrection. Paul now refers to the earthly body as our `earthly house' (1) and contrasts it with the resurrection

body as `our house which is from heaven' (2). But what about the time in between when this earthly house shall be

dissolved (i.e. death) and we are clothed upon with our heavenly house? (i.e. resurrection). This can only refer to

the death state and it is figuratively described as being `naked' or `unclothed' (3 and 4). Now the apostle definitely

asserts that he did not desire to be unclothed (4) but He did desire to be clothed with the heavenly house