after that, he was seen by over five hundred brothers all at once, the majority of whom survive to this day, though some have died;
then Jesus said to them, "Have no fear! Go and tell my brothers to leave for Galilee; they shall see me there."
Go you and tell his disciples and Peter, 'He precedes you to Galilee; you shall see him there, as he told you.'"
Of course David, after serving God's purpose in his own generation, died and was laid beside his fathers; he suffered decay,
asking, "Where is His promised advent? Since the day our fathers fell asleep, things remain exactly as they were from the beginning of creation."
More than that: those who have slept the sleep of death in Christ have perished after all.
Then he knelt down and cried aloud, "Lord, let not this sin stand against them!" With these words he slept the sleep of death.
For we tell you, as the Lord has told us, that we the living, who survive till the Lord comes, are by no means to take precedence of those who have fallen asleep.
We would like you, brothers, to understand about those who are asleep in death. You must not grieve for them, like the rest of men who have no hope.
But it is not so! Christ did rise from the dead, he was the first to be reaped of those who sleep in death.