The Return of Christ

The Resurrection and the Last Judgment

The Christian hope is not merely that the soul survives, but that the dead will be raised bodily, because Christ was raised as the firstfruits, as Paul teaches in 1 Corinthians 15. At his return the dead are raised and all stand before God, who judges justly, as John sees in Revelation 20. This is shared ground across the whole church: the resurrection of the dead and a final judgment are confessed in the creeds. The details of the judgment are held with humility and hope.

But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.1 Corinthians 15:20 (KJV)

More than survival: a real resurrection

The Christian hope has always been bolder than the idea that some part of us drifts on after death. It is the hope of resurrection, that the dead will be raised bodily, made new and imperishable, to live in a renewed creation. This is why the creeds do not say I believe in the immortality of the soul, but I believe in the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting. Death is not treated as a friend that frees the spirit, but as an enemy that will be defeated and reversed.

The ground of that hope is not wishful thinking but an event: the resurrection of Jesus. Because he rose, his people will rose too. Paul builds his whole argument on this in 1 Corinthians 15, the great resurrection chapter of the Bible.

Christ the firstfruits

Paul calls the risen Christ the firstfruits, using the image of the first sheaf of a harvest that guarantees the rest is coming:

But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.1 Corinthians 15:20 (KJV)

The logic is simple and strong. Christ has already been raised, in a real body that could be seen and touched, never to die again. He is not the exception but the beginning, the first of a great harvest. What happened to him is the pledge of what will happen to all who belong to him.

For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.1 Corinthians 15:22 (KJV)

Paul goes on to describe the change itself, that the body sown in weakness and corruption will be raised in power and incorruption, no longer subject to death or decay. And he tells of the moment it happens, at the last trumpet, when Christ returns:

Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.1 Corinthians 15:51-52 (KJV)

This is why Christians can face the grave with something other than despair. The same power that raised Jesus is promised to us, and the resurrection is not a metaphor but a coming reality, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye.

The last judgment

The return of Christ also brings the final reckoning that the whole Bible moves toward. John describes it in a scene of great solemnity and great fairness, a throne before which all the dead, small and great, stand:

And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.Revelation 20:11-13 (KJV)

Two things stand out. First, the judgment is just; each is judged according to their works, truly and without partiality, by a Judge before whom nothing is hidden and nothing is overlooked. The victims of history are not forgotten, and the powerful do not escape. Second, there is another book, the book of life, and the deepest question is whether one's name is written there, which Scripture ties to belonging to Christ, whose grace is received by faith.

And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.Revelation 20:15 (KJV)

Christians hold this sober truth with great humility. The judgment is real, and it is Christ's, the same Christ who bore the cross for sinners. That the Judge is the crucified Savior is the deepest comfort the doctrine holds.

What all Christians confess

Here again it helps to mark the shared ground. That the dead will be raised and that there will be a final judgment are not points of division; they are confessed in the Apostles' and Nicene Creeds and taught across every branch of the church. From the beginning Christians have said together that Christ will come to judge the living and the dead, and that they look for the resurrection of the dead.

Where believers have differed is over harder and more painful questions at the edges: the precise nature and duration of final judgment for those who reject God, and how God's justice and mercy meet in the end. Devout Christians have held these things with tears and with different emphases, and Scripture speaks of them with awe rather than with a diagram. The Living Bread does not resolve every one of those questions here. It holds firmly to what the church confesses, and holds the mysteries with reverence.

A hope that changes how we live now

The resurrection is not meant to be an abstract belief filed away for the future. Paul ends his great chapter not with speculation but with a call to action: therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, because you know your labor is not in vain. If the dead are raised, then nothing done in love for Christ is ever wasted, not the smallest kindness, not the longest faithfulness, not the life that seemed to accomplish little. All of it will be gathered up in the resurrection.

And the judgment, far from crushing hope, secures it. It means evil will not have the final say, that every wrong will be addressed by a Judge who is perfectly good, and that those who are Christ's, covered by his grace, may lift their heads. The one who died for us is the one who will raise us and stand as our advocate. So the Christian faces both the grave and the judgment seat not with dread but with the sober, steady hope that Christ has already gone through death ahead of us and will bring us safely through.

This is also why Christians can grieve differently. Paul told the Thessalonians that they sorrow, but not as others which have no hope. The resurrection does not forbid tears; Jesus himself wept at the grave of a friend. But it changes what the tears mean. For the believer, a burial is not a final goodbye but a seed sown in the ground, waiting for a harvest as sure as the risen Christ. Death is real, and it is an enemy, but it is a defeated enemy, and its defeat is dated: at the last trumpet, when the dead in Christ shall rise. To believe that is to be able to stand at a graveside with real grief and real hope at once, which is one of the quiet miracles the gospel works in ordinary people.

A note on the end times: on the questions where sincere Christians differ, chiefly the rapture, the millennium, and the timing and details of Christ's return, this platform is non-denominational and describes the main views fairly rather than declaring a winner. What all Christians share and hold as certain is this: Christ will return, the dead will be raised, there will be a judgment, and God will make all things new. We anchor on that, and hold the rest in peace.

Related: The millennium explained · The new heavens and new earth · Who is Jesus? · The Return of Christ