Philippians 1:21-23 (CB)

For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better.

Paul here refers to what will happen to him when he dies. Before the final “day of Christ Jesus” (v. 6), those who die go to joyful fellowship with Christ (cf. Luke 23:43). Believers do not cease to exist at death in order to be re-created again from scratch later; rather, they go to be with Christ spiritually, which is “better by far” than being beset by sin and suffering. But that is still not God’s final purpose: ultimately, at the final resurrection of all believers, God will restore fellowship between believers and Christ that is both physical and undisturbed by the effects of the fall. What a future and living hope! What a Savior!