Why is there hope for all who believe in Jesus?
As far as the secular world is concerned, we are now definitely in the Christmas season, but for Christians who still follow the Church's traditional liturgical calendar we are still in the season of Advent. The term 'advent' means 'coming' and from the sixth century onwards Christians have observed Advent in the weeks leading up to Christmas not only as a time when they prepare to celebrate the coming of Christ in humility at Christmas, but also as a time when they look forward to the coming of Christ in glory at the end of time to bring about the resurrection of the dead, the final judgement, and the new heaven and earth promised in Revelation 21-22.
The first thing to note is that the Christian's hope is not simply a hope that there is life after physical death in this world. Now, orthodox Christians do believe in what is known as the 'general resurrection.' That is to say, they believe in the truth of the words spoken by Jesus in John 5:25-29:
"Truly, truly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself, and has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of man. Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come forth, those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of judgment."
If we look carefully at these words, we see that all the dead will be raised by Jesus at the end of time. However, this is not something to which everyone can look forward to in hope. This is because 'those who have done evil' (which in John means those who have refused to put their faith in Jesus and live accordingly) will face the 'resurrection of judgement.' In other words, they will be judged by Jesus and condemned to everlasting damnation. This will be a form of life after death, but it is not one that any rational person would desire.
As JI Packer explains, in describing the fate of the damned:
"Jesus uses His own solemn imagery – 'Gehenna' (hell in Mark 9:47 and then other gospel texts), the valley outside Jerusalem where rubbish was burned; the 'worm' that 'dieth not' (Mark 9:48), an image, it seems for the endless dissolution of the personality by a condemning conscience; 'fire' for the agonising awareness of God's displeasure; 'outer darkness' for knowledge of the loss, not merely of God, but of all good, and everything that made life seem worth living; 'gnashing of teeth' for self-condemnation and self-loathing. These things are, no doubt, unimaginably dreadful, though those who have been convicted of sin know a little of their nature. But they are not arbitrary inflictions; they represent, rather, a conscious growing into the state in which one has chosen to be. The unbeliever has preferred to be by himself, without God, defying God, having God against him, and he shall have his choice."
To put it simply, according to Jesus and the Christian tradition following Jesus, the damned will experience eternally the life that they have chosen for themselves, and it will be dreadful.
However, in John 5 Jesus also tells us that those 'who have done good' (that is, those who have put their faith in Jesus and lived accordingly) will receive the 'resurrection of life.' According to the New Testament, this means they will experience eternally a new and infinitely better kind of life which it describes in terms of 'glory'. As Paul explains to the Christians in Corinth, the 'slight momentary affliction ' which they have to undergo in this life will lead to 'an eternal weight of glory beyond comparison' (2 Corinthians 4:17).
The first thing to note is that the Christian's hope is not simply a hope that there is life after physical death in this world. Now, orthodox Christians do believe in what is known as the 'general resurrection.' That is to say, they believe in the truth of the words spoken by Jesus in John 5:25-29:
"Truly, truly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself, and has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of man. Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come forth, those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of judgment."
If we look carefully at these words, we see that all the dead will be raised by Jesus at the end of time. However, this is not something to which everyone can look forward to in hope. This is because 'those who have done evil' (which in John means those who have refused to put their faith in Jesus and live accordingly) will face the 'resurrection of judgement.' In other words, they will be judged by Jesus and condemned to everlasting damnation. This will be a form of life after death, but it is not one that any rational person would desire.
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