Finally tonight: the promises fulfilled and why we miss the Christians who are taken from us but they wouldn't want to come back.

The Lord Jesus Christ tells believers in Him that though they may die, yet shall they live. To the unbeliever it is a paradox, but to the believer it is a promise.

The promise is an assurance that His perfect life provides the gift of righteousness through grace, that His atoning death is the perfect sacrifice to pay for sin and that His resurrection is the perfect victory over death and the grave.

The promise of Christ removes fear and erases doubt; it turns the unknown into the certain and replaces anxiety over death with the peaceful anticipation of paradise.

It is impossible to lay aside our longing for those we have lost. No matter the circumstances, we often miss most those whose company we can no longer enjoy. We selfishly want them with us as we continue in this world.

But absent from their bodies, the Bible promises that believers are present with the Lord. And in His presence His promises are fulfilled.