Well, again, it's a joy to get to worship the Lord with you this morning on Easter Sunday. How many of you are glad we didn't do a sunrise service this year? I was thinking about that last night. A friend of mine did a sunrise service this morning, and before I went to bed, I just saw, we got three inches of snow last night at our house, and it's just snowing like crazy. I'm thinking, I wish we were doing a sunrise service just to hear everybody cry. It'd be so much fun. Oh, well, one year we did a sunrise service. It did snow on us a little bit. Well, as many of you know, my wife and I lived in California for 11 years right after we got married and I was in ministry there. And one of the interesting things for me of spending some time in California, especially initially, was the amount of predators that were around. It was not something I expected. Growing up here, I was used to the outdoors and dealing with predators. Yet, despite growing up here, the only time I've ever been charged by a mountain lion was in California. That's another story for another time. I'll share it with you another time. But there's another mountain lion story that I experienced there that bears repeating. I was thinking about it this week in relation to this text that we're looking at in 1 Corinthians 15, and it was kind of one of those lazy Saturday summer afternoons, and I was sitting on our back porch, and we lived on this ranch at the time. Off of our back porch, it kind of dropped off down to this little creek, and then you could look across at this face of a ridge on the opposite side that was full of oak trees and sycamore trees. that's out there called Poison Oak, everywhere. I was sitting there, looking across, and it was all private property. Suddenly, I see these two teenage boys sneaking along, straight across at eye level from me. I'm sitting there thinking, should I yell at these guys, because they're on private property? But at the same time, it's kind of fun to just watch them sneak along. I knew that they knew they were where they weren't supposed to be because they were kind of sneaking and talking in hushed voices and stuff like that. And then I caught movement out of the corner of my eye behind them. And I just kept seeing this flash of something. I couldn't figure out what it was. And then suddenly, there was this opening. And into it creeps this mountain lion. And it was all hunched down and just stalking these two boys. And I thought, well, I got to say something now. I can't just sit here and watch them get eaten. And so I shouted out to them, hey, there's a mountain lion behind you guys. And you could tell they kind of looked at each other and they looked at me and then they finally said, you're kidding, right? I said, no, I'm serious. There's a mountain line behind you. And they were kind of conferring. And this whole time, this mountain line, as soon as I shouted, just crouched down really low and never took his eyes off of the two boys. And so they couldn't see it. and I could hear them talking, couldn't make out the words, but I knew what they were saying. Like, is this guy just pulling our legs? Is he just trying to make us look like an idiot? Or could there really be a lion behind us? And if so, we should probably get out of here. And finally, they decided the last option was probably the one to play it safe by. And so they said, OK, we're leaving. And they turn and go up the ridge, and now they're moving pretty fast. And I watched this lion. get up, not once taking his eyes off of those two boys, and just turn and go right up the ridge, right after them. I never heard any screams, so I'm assuming that they made it out. I didn't see anything on the newspaper. I guess they made it, but it was an interesting thought to consider that I had put them in a pretty big quandary of, What if this guy's telling the truth, we could be in grave danger? Or what if he's just pulling our leg, and we're going to look like a couple of foolish fools? Having the right information is critically important, and sometimes it's a matter of life and death. And so let's look at 1 Corinthians 15. If you're not there already, turn to 1 Corinthians 15, verse 12, and we are going to see here, Paul is going, the Apostle Paul is going to give us a what if. And just as those two boys had to wrestle with what if he's telling the truth, what if he's not? So Paul is gonna force us to do the same thing this morning. This is God's holy word. Verse 12. Now, if Christ is preached that he has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say there is no resurrection from the dead? But if there is no resurrection from the dead, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty. Yes, and we are found false witnesses of God because we have testified of God that that he raised up Christ, whom he did not raise up if in fact the dead don't rise. For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen, and if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile, you are still in your sins. Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable. But now Christ is risen from the dead and has become the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since by man came death, by man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. but each one in his own order. Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ's at his coming. Then comes the end when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when he puts an end to all rule and all authority and power, for he must reign till he has put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that will be destroyed is death. For he has put all things under his feet. But when he says all things are put under him, it is evident that he who put all things under him is accepted. Now when all things are made subject to him, then the son himself will also be subject to him who put all things under him, that God may be all in all. Now, just prior to this, Paul has laid out the full gospel for us. Look again at verse one of this chapter. He writes, moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel. So what he's going to share now is the gospel, which I preach to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved if you hold fast that word which I preach to you, unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you, first of all, that which I also received. Now here's the gospel. That Christ died for our sins according to the scripture, that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scripture, and that he was seen by Cephas, then by the 12, and after that he was seen by over 500 brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep. After that, he was seen by James, then by all the apostles. Then last of all, he was seen by me also as one born out of due time. Now here, Paul is giving incredibly compelling evidence that Jesus really did rise from the grave. He lists all of these people who saw Jesus alive. And he's essentially putting them forth as evidence and says, if this is not true, any one of these people can come and say, no, I actually did not see Jesus alive. And so this is incredibly compelling evidence because he's putting the evidence in the hands of the people. He's giving them as the evidence. They could come and say this isn't true. And so this next section now deals with the what ifs, two of them. What if Jesus is dead? And what if Jesus is alive? And so the first one here we see is what if Jesus is dead? Paul says in verse 12, now if Christ is preached that he has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say there is no resurrection of the dead? Now what Paul is doing here is confronting a false teaching that had been circulating around the church, likely centered on the prominent Greek philosophical thought about death, and that is that the body is simply a shell, and when one dies, that shell just goes away forever, and the soul lives on. This is probably what's going on here in the church, some form of this. And Paul confronts this with, you know that Christ has risen from the dead. You know that he has preached that he is alive. And if Christ physically rose from this dead, how can you say those who trust in him won't be raised from the dead as well? That's his point here. And so what he's stating is that Christ's resurrection is intimately intertwined with those who trust him. Or another way we could put it is this, is the resurrection of believers cannot be separated from the resurrection of Jesus. In other words, you can't say Christ physically rose from the grave and those who are his people will not rise from the grave as well. It's either both or neither. And so that's why he moves into this powerful argument of what if Jesus is dead? Verse 13, if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen. And he's going to go on and state four things of what if Christ is dead. And the first one we see here is in verse 14. If Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty. In other words, what they have been preaching and teaching is empty and therefore what they have believed in following their teaching is vain and empty. And this word empty here means to be vain. It means to be pointless, devoid of truth, ineffective, have no ability to produce anything of worthwhile Value and so Paul here is saying our preaching our teaching has been pointless. It has been fruitless It can accomplish nothing and likewise your faith is fruitless and can accomplish nothing. They're of no value And the second thing he says here, verse 15, yes, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ, whom he did not raise up, if in fact the dead do not rise. So he's saying here, we're false witnesses if Christ is not alive. Thus, if Jesus was not alive, they would be false witnesses because they're teaching God did something that God did not, in fact, actually do, making them false teachers. False teachers who falsely represent God, and if they're falsely representing God, they can't be good men, they must be wicked men. And here we encounter something very prevalent in our culture, a false view of God, a false view of Jesus, and a false view of the Bible. And it's this idea. The Bible is a pretty good book, full of a lot of helpful advice. And likewise, Jesus is a pretty cool dude. He said some nice, good things, like don't judge and love people. That's right on. He's a pretty good guy. And that's a prevalent view in our culture. But what Paul is saying here is that that is a position that cannot be held with a straight face. It's a position that's impossible to maintain and is logically incoherent. All of the Bible is God's word and good or none of it is God's word and therefore none of it is good. Jesus is all fully God and exactly who he said he is or he is a liar. and none of him is good. You can't pick and choose what you like and don't like. What Paul is saying here is how can the Bible be good news? How can they be teachers of good news if it proclaims lies? The Bible is not a self-help book, and Christianity is not a system of good advice. It is either the good news of God for salvation, or it is wicked. You can't pick and choose what you like and don't like. It would not be wise to look at a liar and say, that is a good source of advice. It has to be good news or not. A few months ago, I got an email saying there was good news for me. And as I read the email, I got more excited and more happier. And by the time I got to the end, the good news in my heart was just overflowing with joy. Because this person had emailed me, and it was a widow of an oil tycoon in Saudi Arabia who had died. I was getting $4.2 million. All I had to do was give them my social, my address, and my birth date. How easy is that? I expect the check should be here any day now and my financial worries will be over. Now, of course, that's a scam. But is it logical to say the person who sent that email is a credible source of financial advice? No, that's ridiculous. And likewise, to say, yeah, the Bible's mostly true but not completely true, and then to say it's a good source of advice is logically incoherent. To say Jesus is a good man, but not who he said he was, is logically incoherent. See what Paul's saying here in this verse is, if they're wrong, it's not that they're good men who are just simply mistaken in this area. He says we are false teachers, and if we're false teachers, that means we're wicked men. Mockers of God, liars. Now look at the third result. He restates again the proposition, verse 16. In other words, if Jesus is dead, they're still in their sins. That's a huge statement. Paul is saying, if Jesus is dead and you're trusting in him, you're going to hell. They're going to be judged for their sins and suffer under the holy wrath of God. Now, why would Paul say that? That's not very sensitive. It's not very nice. Well, it's because Paul is speaking the truth. The Bible makes it clear that every single human being is a sinner, born a sinner. Multiple passages demonstrate this Romans 3 10 There is none righteous. No, not one. There is none who understands there is none who seeks after God They have all turned aside. They have together become unprofitable There is none who does good. No, not one You're on in that chapter we read for all have sinned all all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and And so because of that, all stand guilty before a holy and righteous God. They will face the wrath and the judgment of God, and the result is death. This Jesus himself states in John 8, 21. If we say, or I'm sorry, this is 1 John 1, 8 before that. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. Likewise, Jesus says in John 8 21, I am going away and you will seek me and look at that word will die in your sins. I thought Jesus was just a nice guy. No, he's telling the truth. You will die in your sins. If you do not trust in me is what Jesus is saying. Earlier in John chapter 3 verse 36, we read he who does not believe the son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him. In Romans 6, 23, the wages of sin is death. Now, why would Paul say that if Jesus did not rise from the grave, their faith is their faith is futile and they are still in their sins? Well, because Jesus is the only answer for our sins. Only Christ is the answer for our sins. Only Jesus could pay the price. Ephesians 2, 4-5. But God, who is rich in mercy because of his great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. Notice there the union of alive and Christ together. By grace you have been saved. Likewise, Peter would write in 1 Peter who himself, speaking of Jesus, bore our sins in his own body on the tree that we having died to sin might live for righteousness by whose stripes you were healed. Likewise, We read in Colossians 2, and you being dead in your trespass and the uncircumcision of your flesh, he has made alive together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And he has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. You see, Jesus is the only one who can take away our sins, but if Jesus is still dead, he has not taken away our sins. dead man can't save Paul states this in Romans 6 Knowing that Christ having been raised from the dead Dies no more death no longer has dominion over him for the death that he died He died to sin once for all but the life he lives he lives to God Likewise Hebrews 2 14 through 15 says this, in as much then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, he himself likewise shared in the same, speaking of Christ, that through death he might destroy him who had the power of death, that is the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. You see, the only way that the devil is destroyed, the only way that sin is destroyed is if Jesus rose from the grave. if he's alive. Because if he's not, if he's still dead, we can't say death has been conquered. Tom Schreiner says this kind of wrapping all this together, he says. They are not forgiven before God, but condemned since Christ's death on their behalf obviously was not effective if he is still in the grave. So the question is that we all have to face, are you dead in sins and heading towards judgment? Or have you put your faith in Christ and are heading towards life? There's only two routes. There's no scenic routes. There's one or the other. We are all going one place or the other. Read again Romans 6 23 the wages of sin is death But the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus That's the good news. That's the gospel There's either one of two places you're going death because of sin not being paid for or Life in Christ Jesus because you're trusting in Christ. He has taken your sins from you That's the gift God says it's a gift. It's a gift to you. Will you receive it? Or will you continue to try to earn your way to God and hopelessly fail over and over and over and over again? Jesus in John 3 said this, for God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. How do you have everlasting life? Believing in Jesus. It's as simple as that. Believing in Christ, living for Him. Well, we see the final result here. If Christ is dead, look at verse 18. Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. This term fallen asleep is interestingly only used of those who trust in Christ. And this word perished means to face the judgment, the final judgment, to be found guilty and condemned to hell. What Paul is saying here is if Jesus is dead, then those who died trusting in him are now in hell. They have perished. Why? Because if Christ is still dead, their sins have not been forgiven. Paul wrote in Romans 8 11, but if the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his spirit who dwells in you See this life only comes if Christ is alive Consider again John 3 16 for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. That's where the hope is. Well, Paul sums up everything he said of what if Christ is dead in verse 19. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are. Of all men. The most pitiable. In other words, if Christ is dead and Christ is not alive, we who trust in Christ should be pitied. Should be mocked. Should be seen as just so simple minded and hopelessly confused. Been living a meaningless life. Living a fairy tale life. It's not true. Paul says, if you believe Jesus is alive and have been following him when he is in fact still in the grave, you should be pitied. You see, Christianity stands or falls with the resurrection. You can't say, yeah, I think Jesus was a good guy. He was a teacher. Unfortunately, he suffered under some wicked men and he's dead now, but we can still follow his teachings. No, Paul says you should be pitied if you're following the teaching of a dead man Who said he could save? The resurrection is the foundation of Christianity. It is a bedrock of salvation. I like what Stephen um says and and Summarizing all of this. He says this the resurrection the truth on which everything else hinges without it Christian ministry is pointless personal faith is ineffective God's character is called into question Christians are still in need of salvation and any sense of future hope is removed and our present experience is meaningless it's meaningless if Christ is dead But let's look at the flip side because that's where Paul is going to take us. What if what if what if Jesus is alive? Paul turns another direction in verse 20. He says but now Christ is risen from the dead and has become the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep for since by man came death by man also came the resurrection of the dead for as in Adam all die even so in Christ all shall be made alive but each one in his own order Christ the first fruits afterward those who are Christ's at his coming Now here it's interesting. He doesn't just kind of propose it. He says no Jesus is alive. This is emphatic language This is most assuredly true and he says if it's not true all of those people I talked about at the beginning of this chapter can come forward and say this is not true and But they affirm it's true. Jesus is alive. And Paul is saying Jesus has been physically raised from the dead. And therefore, all who trust in him will in time also be physically raised from the dead. Paul states Jesus's resurrection, he uses this term first fruits. He is the first fruit. of those who have risen from the dead forever and thus all who trust in him will rise as well. And so what we see here is that the resurrection of Christ is the very beginning of a massive resurrection. It's God's greater plan to resurrect all who are dead and all who trust. Christ Jesus Paul is saying here is the first of countless others to follow an innumerable number Paul then goes on to compare Adam and Jesus in 21 and 22 Adam was man's representative and he brought death into creation because he rebelled against God However, Christ came from God fully God fully man and was our second Adam in a sense our representative and he brought life to all who trust in him and Paul saying here every human being will die that is the result of sin and But everyone who trusts in Christ will be made alive with Christ. That is the result of the cross. That is the result of the resurrection. Paul goes into much greater detail in this in Romans chapter five. We can read part of it this morning. He says, therefore, as through one man's offense, judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation. Even so, through one man's righteous act, the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. For as by one man's disobedience, many were made sinners. So also by one man's obedience, many will be made righteous. Paul in verse 23 then speaks of order. Look at verse 23, each one in his own order, Christ of firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ's at his coming. Then comes the end. when he delivers the kingdom to God, the father, when he puts an end to all rule and authority and power for he must reign till he has put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that will be destroyed is death. What Paul is saying is there is a day coming because Jesus is alive There is a day coming when those who trust in him will be bodily resurrected as well They will be joined with Christ in a physical resurrection from the grave Their souls have been with God in heaven for the from the time of their death but at Christ's return they will be reunited with their physical bodies and Then we read will come the end when Jesus will deliver the kingdom to God the Father and so right now Christ is reigning over all Christ is King reigning over all of creation We read this in Hebrews 1 8 but to the Sun he says your throne Oh God is forever and ever a scepter of righteousness is a scepter of your kingdom Christ is reigning He's alive And right now he is ruling. And look at what he is in process of doing. Verse 24. When he puts an end to all rule and all authority and all power, this means he's stripping power and authority and rule. From the forces of this world. And the forces of the enemy. And he writes, the last enemy that will be put away and destroyed forever is death. Verse 26, the last enemy that will be destroyed is death. And it's, now here's the connection Paul's making. It's only if death is defeated that the resurrection can take place. It's only if death is defeated that those who are Christ's can be physically resurrected to reign with Christ forever, because if death is not defeated, then those who Christ brings to life are just gonna die again, and therefore there's this endless cycle to history, but history is coming to an end, and that's the end that God has ordained and set, and that end can only come if death is defeated. Because if it's not defeated, the cycle just goes on and on and on. And so we could put it this way. The final defeat of death ushers in the end. So Christ is a first fruit, he's alive, he has been resurrected, he reigns. He is ruling. And there's a day coming when all the powers that be, whether they're spiritual power, whether they're the physical powers here that we interact with all the time, all will be subjected to Christ. This is why Paul wrote in Philippians chapter 2 therefore God has highly exalted him speaking of Jesus and given him the name which is above every name that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of those in heaven and of those on earth and of those under the earth that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father all will bow the knee some joyfully Because they've trusted in Christ and others, not so joyfully, as they face the judgment. But notice how Paul ends Philippians 2, 9 through 11, to the glory of God the Father. And notice how he ends his argument here in 1 Corinthians 15, verse 28. Now when all things are made subject to him, then the Son himself will also be subject to him, who put all things under him, That God may be all in all. That God would be glorified. This is all God's glorious plan. That God is working everything for his glory. There's no higher description Paul could have used. That God may be all in all. When Jesus hands over the kingdom, The purposes of God will be fulfilled in history, and God will be exalted in all of his glory forever, and all will worship him and their Savior forever. All will praise God and God the Son, and all will see that God is the creator God, that God is the one and only God, that God is the true God. And all of this is possible. Paul is saying here, because Jesus is alive. And if Jesus is not alive, none of this is happening. There is no end of history. There is no coming kingdom. There is no time when God is gonna reign and be all in all, if Jesus is dead. But Paul says he's alive. And because he's alive, this is what's coming. he's gonna put all the enemies of God under his feet, up into the very last one, death. And when that happens, all who trust in him will be raised to eternal life with him. This is Paul's argument here. And friends, we need to grasp this, and we need to grasp this wholeheartedly. Let's put this in to now the context that we live in right now. It is so tempting to see the powers of this world as being the ones in control. It is so tempting to see the rulers of the world as the ones who really have power. It is so tempting to see corrupt governments as the ultimate enemy that we deal with. It is so tempting to wring our hands in despair about the state of the world. The last two years, far too many Christians spend way too much time watching the news, wringing their hands and saying, oh my gosh, can you believe how bad it is now? What is this demonstrating? Well, unfortunately, it's a demonstration of our failure to take these things to heart. What we have is an intellectual agreement of these facts, but not a functional agreement of these facts. In other words, we can articulate them, we can say, yes, I believe that, and then as we go on and live our lives, we demonstrate that we really don't believe it that much. Because, oh my gosh, did you see the next article on Fox News? The fact that Christ rules, the fact that Christ reigns, the fact that Christ is stripping all of the powers and authorities, much of which we can't even see, of their authority, and is in the process of handing over the kingdom to God the Father, should explode into our lives. We don't live for the governments of this world. We live for Christ. Authority all rule all power Paul saying is going to be subjected to Christ and rendered powerless Every Empire every president every City Council every school board every dictator Every senator All stripped of their power subjected to Christ and ruled by Christ because Christ is alive and well and reigning at the right hand of God the Father. And so the question we have to ask is this, does your view of the world coincide with God's view of the world? Does it? I found myself saying this to many people, it seems like, over the last two years. If you can't have the joy in Christ, living as a Christian in Afghanistan or China, if you can't have joy there, then there's something wrong. See, we have, I think, been exposed over the last couple years as Christians of how much hope we actually do put in people. and how much hope we actually do put in governments. Christ reigns. It's only Jesus who conquered death. It's only Jesus who gives life to all who trust in him. See, the Bible says there's a day coming when Christ will physically return. The end will come and we will be with God, our creator. What does that look like? Well, Revelation 21 speaks of this saying, behold, at the end, the tabernacle of God is with men and he will dwell with them and they shall be his people. And God himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away. Then he who sat on the throne said, behold, I make all things new. Now friends, there is no government or ruler or president in the world, no matter how conservative they are, who can say, I defeated death. No one. can say, I can wipe away tears forever. None of them can say, I make all things new. I love what Al Mohler said this week, speaking on the resurrection. He said, Christians need to recognize there is no government on earth, there is no earthly power that will ever be able to wipe away every tear that only comes in the kingdom of Christ. Amen. It does. And so because of the resurrection of Christ, this is our future. This is our hope for those who trust in Christ. Now, what if the resurrection isn't true? Well, Paul has told us, then everything is in vain. We might as well leave here, enjoy some quiche and donuts, and never, ever, ever come back in these doors again. What is the point? Here's what you should do if Jesus is dead. Go out and find the best government you can, put all your hope there, and live the best you can in self-preservation and self-protection mode, because that's all you got. But if the resurrection is true, and it is, Paul says, then you can abandon despair. can have eternal peace, you can have eternal joy, you can have eternal hope because Jesus is alive. I love what David Garland says about the resurrection. He says this, resurrection means endless hope, but no resurrection means hopeless end. So where's your hope? Is it endless or hopeless? What you believe about Jesus makes all the difference in the world. See, there's coming a day when death will be destroyed. All rulers, all powers, all authority stripped of their power, emptied of their power under the feet of Christ. And we will be bodily raised from the dead to meet our God who passionately loves us. And he will usher us into his kingdom. He'll forever wipe away our tears. And we will experience all things made new and never ever face death again. First Corinthians 15 is a long chapter. But no wonder he ends it with this. Oh, death, where's your sting? Oh, Hades, where is your victory? But thanks be to God who gives us a victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Let's pray. God, we praise you that we serve a risen Savior. And Lord, as Paul has laid out for us, if these things are just not true, we should walk out of here and never, ever, ever, ever come back again. Why would we sit and take advice and counsel from someone who's a liar? But Lord, we believe these things are true. There's mysteries here. There's things we cannot fully wrap our heads around. And thus we are called to live by faith. That's why your word says it is impossible to please you apart from faith. And so Father, we ask that you would grow our faith, that you would strengthen our faith. And Father, we praise you that these truths are true. And Lord, I ask that you would help these truths to not just be in our minds, that we would not just intellectually understand them, but that they would permeate into every aspect of our lives. And that these truths of the gospel and the resurrected Savior reigning in heaven would drive the way that we think, that drive the way that we speak, and drive the way that we act. And Father, we praise you for the promise that you have made us, that you will wipe away every tear, and that you will make all things new. And so Father, help us to hold fast to that truth. And we pray these things in Jesus' name, amen.