"I know the Lord is always with me. I will not be shaken, for he is right beside me. No wonder my heart is glad, and I rejoice. My body rests in safety. For you will not leave my soul among the dead or allow your holy one to rot in the grave. You will show me the way of life, granting me the the joy of your presence and the pleasures of living with you forever." These verses are referenced by Peter in his sermon on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:25-28) and Paul in a sermon in the synagogue at Antioch of Pisidia (Acts 13:35). In both cases the apostles were applying the reference to the resurrection of Jesus. We can anticipate living in the presence and pleasures of God forever because the resurrected Messiah gives us hope and assurance for our own resurrection:
"Just as everyone dies because we all belong to Adam, everyone who belongs to Christ will be given new life. But there is an order to this resurrection: Christ was raised as the first of the harvest; then all who belong to Christ will be raised when he comes back" (I Corinthians 15:22-23). It's interesting that Peter quotes these verses on the day of Pentecost when the powerful presence of God was experienced by the disciples when the Holy Spirit came upon them. The presence of God in our lives by the Holy Spirit links our present life with resurrection and future life:
"And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us" (Romans 8:23). The indwelling Holy Spirit, the presence of God with us, is but a prelude to a future glorious life where we live fully in God's presence in resurrection bodies and we will enjoy the pleasures of living with God forever!
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