If, says the Apostle Paul, in this present life we have a hope
resting on Christ, and nothing more, we are more to be pitied than
all the rest of the world (1 Cor. 15:19). The idea is that if this
hope in Christ which the believer has is a delusive hope, with
no prospect of fulfillment in the future, the Christian is indeed
in a sad state. He has chosen a life of self-denial; he will not
indulge in the pleasures of the world, and if there are no pleasures
in the darkness into which he is about to enter, then he has
miscalculated, he has chosen a life that shall end in self-obliteration.
If he has no home to go to, no God to welcome him, no King to say,
"Well done, exchange mortality for life," then he is indeed in a
pitiable plight. But such is not the case. The hope of the Christian
enters beyond the vail, into the very presence of God Himself, and
endures throughout all the eternities.