This life here and now for Christians has afflictions, suffering, and even persecution. Yes, the world hates us as it hates Christ. But we have the hope of heaven because Christ was raised from the dead. This is a great comfort in suffering. Here’s how Lutheran Reformer Tilemann Hesshus explained it in some comments on 1 Corinthians 15:12-19:
If Christ has not been raised, then he was not the victor over sin and Satan. Nor was he the true Messiah, since Scripture promised that the Messiah would rise from the dead. Nor has he freed you from sin and death. Thus it necessarily follows that you still remain in your sins—which is the utmost calamity—if the dead do not rise. Moreover, those who sleep in Christ would then perish. The Corinthians were receiving great comfort from Christ, that those who would fall asleep in Christ would be blessed, since he would preserve them into eternal life and glory. Now, Paul says, should you accept that wicked error of the Sadducees, then all hope for the blessing of these things is lost; they have not slept happily in Christ Jesus. Indeed, he says, not only do you lose your hope in the blessing of the dead, but the entire faith of Christians will be condemned as complete folly.
For there is no human group or sect in the world that has faced so much hatred, such diverse dangers, so many calamities, and such dreadful punishments on account of their religious devotion than we Christians, as the history of the church, and especially the history of the apostles and martyrs, demonstrates. The world can endure all sorts of different sects, errors, blasphemies, and wicked deeds, but it cannot endure Christians. It harbors extreme hatred for those who sincerely profess the truth of Christ; it detests those apostles as katharmata kai peripsmata (trash and dirt). Isaiah was executed by the sword. Jeremiah was stoned to death in Egypt. Paul was beheaded. Polycarp was burned to death. Ignatius was torn to pieces by wild animals. Blandina was laid out on a red-hot iron grate. The world was so madly cruel against the Christians that the tyrants and executioners exhausted themselves as they invented new ways to kill and torture the Christians.
And so, if there is no resurrection of the dead and no blessedness remains after this life, then Christians would certainly be the most miserable, ill-starred, and even foolish of all human beings—Christians, I say, who should be the wisest and happiest of all people, because they alone are enlightened by the light of the divine Word. They are governed by the command of the Holy Spirit; they alone practice true worship of God; and they are nurtured by God’s mercy more than all the people in the whole world.…
Therefore it is necessary that another life and the resurrection of the dead await us so that God might fulfill according to his promises the true life that, though postponed to the saints in this life, is found in the resurrection of the dead and the next life. And so, in this manner, Paul teaches here that godly people are afflicted in this life with all kinds of difficulties and often experience sadness, so that such suffering of his innocent people might shine forth as a testimony of the future resurrection of the dead and the life to come.
Shane Lems Covenant Presbyterian Church (OPC) Hammond, WI, 54015
The Reformed Reader Blog 