Yesterday I shared some thoughts about this year’s Gospel lesson for the Sixth Sunday of Easter, John 16:23-33. I pointed out that believing that Jesus is your Savior has implications for you here and now, not just for the future.

I know that there are some preachers who put a lot of emphasis on how God wants you to be blessed here on earth, and in the process neglect the message that God sent Jesus to save you for eternity. Others stress the message of the life to come in heaven while ignoring the here and now. It should not be one or the other, but a both/and proclamation.

Jesus said, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10). Our new life in Christ is something we have now, not just in the future. “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

Will it be better in the life to come? Certainly. That is why Paul said, “I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far” (Philippians 1:23).

However, we live now with the confidence we have because of what Jesus did through His life and death and resurrection. “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Peter 1:3).

We live in that hope here and now, but we also know that this is not all there is. “If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men” (1 Corinthians 15:19).

Psalm 67 gives us an insight into how God’s Old Testament people lived in hope. They believed in the promise of God’s salvation. Yes, they had been saved from Egypt, but they knew God promised an even greater salvation in the coming Messiah.

Psalm 67 (NIV84)
For the director of music. With stringed instruments. A psalm. A song.

¹May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face shine upon us, Selah
²that your ways may be known on earth, your salvation among all nations.
³May the peoples praise you, O God; may all the peoples praise you.
⁴May the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you rule the peoples justly and guide the nations of the earth. Selah
⁵May the peoples praise you, O God; may all the peoples praise you.
⁶Then the land will yield its harvest, and God, our God, will bless us.
⁷God will bless us, and all the ends of the earth will fear him.

Note how the psalmist rejoices in the blessings God’s people enjoy here on earth. But this comes from the knowledge of an even greater blessing, the coming rescue that would be accomplished by Christ.

They were looking forward to that. We know it has already happened. We have heard the message of Jesus living without sin for us. We know He offered His life in our place as the payment for sin. He promised that everyone who believes in Him will have forgiveness. And His victory over death assures us that He has conquered death for us, so that we might have life to the full now and life to the full forever.