The Hope of the Resurrection

¹³ And now, dear brothers and sisters, we want you to know what will happen to the believers who have died^[a] so you will not grieve like people who have no hope.

² Many of those whose bodies lie dead and buried will rise up, some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting disgrace.

⁴ They will say, “What happened to the promise that Jesus is coming again? From before the times of our ancestors, everything has remained the same since the world was first created.”

¹² In those days you were living apart from Christ. You were excluded from citizenship among the people of Israel, and you did not know the covenant promises God had made to them. You lived in this world without God and without hope.

⁶⁰ He fell to his knees, shouting, “Lord, don’t charge them with this sin!” And with that, he died.

¹⁰ Christ died for us so that, whether we are dead or alive when he returns, we can live with him forever.

¹⁵ We tell you this directly from the Lord: We who are still living when the Lord returns will not meet him ahead of those who have died.^[a]

⁶ After that, he was seen by more than 500 of his followers^[a] at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died.

¹¹ Then he said, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but now I will go and wake him up.”

¹² The disciples said, “Lord, if he is sleeping, he will soon get better!” ¹³ They thought Jesus meant Lazarus was simply sleeping, but Jesus meant Lazarus had died.

¹¹ Then he said to me, “Son of man, these bones represent the people of Israel. They are saying, ‘We have become old, dry bones—all hope is gone. Our nation is finished.’