This verse sets before us the great foundation of Christian hope: the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Everything rests on that word “if” — not uncertainty, but faith. The Gospel begins with a historical fact: Jesus died. He truly entered death, bearing the full judgment of sin. “Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:3). But death could not hold Him. He rose again, victorious over the grave. That resurrection is God’s public declaration that the work of salvation was finished and accepted.
Because Jesus died and rose again, death has been changed for the believer. The Bible does not speak of saved people as destroyed or lost, but as those who sleep in Jesus. Their bodies rest in the grave, but their souls are with the Lord. “To be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:8). Death is not a prison — it is a doorway. The resurrection of Christ guarantees that death does not have the final word for those who belong to Him.
The promise reaches beyond the grave. God will bring with Christ those who have died trusting in Him. Just as surely as Christ rose, they will rise also. This is not wishful thinking; it is the consequence of union with a risen Savior. “Because I live, ye shall live also” (John 14:19). The same power that raised Jesus from the dead will raise all who are His.
This hope is not for everyone — it is for those who believe that Jesus died and rose again. Faith in Christ is the dividing line. Those who trust Him have forgiveness now and resurrection glory ahead. Those who reject Him have no such promise. The Gospel does not merely offer comfort in death; it offers life through the crucified and risen Son of God.