But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.

1 Corinthians 15:12-13

What happens when we die? This sounds like one of the questions I hear from my youngest grandson, Troy. Tonight, he brought up how can it be that God has always been. It’s a concept that is difficult for us to get our heads around, isn’t it?

And so it is when someone asks “What happens when we die?” This week I took note of a television show I watched on a plane. A young girl asked her grandmother about the death of her grandfather. The answer was poetic and hopeful, but lacked any relationship with the truth.

What happens when we die? A friend of mine will openly say that when he breathes his last breath he will pass into a certain nothingness. He will simply cease to exist. I know others who believe they will be reborn and others who believe they will exist as some kind of spiritual being.

In the passage above, Paul begins to answer the question of unbelief in some of the people in the church in Corinth. Evidently, some there believed that death was the end and that the promised resurrection was a fairytale. Paul’s answer was clear. You can’t believe Christ was raised and not believe in the resurrection of Christ’s followers.

To the Philippians, Paul wrote these words:

“I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:20-21).

Although she is not a believer, Lisa Miller at least understands the implications of the Gospel. In a Newsweek article some time ago, she explained the essence of the Christian hope –

“Jesus died and rose again so that all his followers could, eventually, do the same.”