It is because of the message of Easter that we can find hope in a world that so often seems without hope. Hope is one of the greatest needs of our day. So many people have lost hope. Hope of ever finding real love. Hope of discovering meaning and purpose in life. Hope that you can make it through your problems. Hope of being healed of past pain. Yet the Bible, the greatest book ever written, is full of references to hope (Romans 15:13; Isaiah 40:31).
The Easter message is the ultimate message of hope for it shows us how we can experience the new beginnings of Easter Sunday after the darkness of Good Friday. The disciples of Jesus knew the resurrection really happened because they were eye witnesses. They were there. They had seen Jesus crucified and buried in a guarded tomb. They were in deep grief and totally disorientated by an evil turn of events that they did not expect. They thought that everything was all over and that Jesus was just like every other person who lives and eventually dies. But then they actually saw Christ up and walking again and they and hundreds of others knew then for sure that He was like no other man. This was no myth or make believe, as countless people through the ages have discovered for themselves.
One of those disciples was a man who was convinced he had messed up after he had denied that he even knew Jesus. Maybe you can identify with Peter. One moment of failure, one moment where you lost concentration when driving, one moment of unfaithfulness, one angry conversation can leave a mark on a person that is hard to erase. People may even have forgiven you, but you can’t forgive yourself. You carry a feeling of self-condemnation.
Yet amidst his sense of hopelessness, the risen Jesus appeared to Peter and he was totally forgiven and restored, just as you can be. Many years later, after Peter had first discovered the empty grave of the crucified Jesus, he was still overwhelmed by the reality of the resurrection. And he wrote in 1 Peter 1:3-4 to a rapidly growing Christian church that was facing great persecution:
‘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, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you.’ From these words we can see that:
1. We can hope again because of God’s great love (Ephesians 2:4-7)
2. We can hope again because God can give you a new start (Romans 4:24-25; Romans 6:4; Psalm 30:3; Isaiah 62:2; Ezekiel 18:31; Matthew 9:17; John 13:34; 2 Corinthians 5:17)
3. We can hope again because the hope of God is for all times
3.1 We can have hope in this life
3.2. We can have hope for the life to come (Colossians 2:14-15; Revelation 1:17-18; John 14:19; John 11:25-26)
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Peter, like all the apostles, was overwhelmed by the love and mercy of God. This is also known as grace; the receiving of favour that we do not deserve. The apostle Paul, who once was a blaspheming and violent enemy of Christians, also wrote of this great grace (Ephesians 2:4-7). Many imagine that God is against people. But it says He ‘is rich in mercy.’ In fact, the riches of God’s grace are ‘incomparable.’ God is full of kindness towards us because there is nothing that we can do to earn his favour. God’s love is love is for all people everywhere, no matter what you have done. God’s mercy was extended to Peter, to Paul and to the ex-slave trader John Newton, who called it Amazing Grace in his famous hymn. And God’s grace, mercy and love is extended also to you and to me. God never writes us off. He never gives up on us. As Jesus showed in the story of the rebellious Prodigal son, God has the most incredible patience. God has not given up on you. It’s not too late to come home to Him and receive the free gift of God’s great love.
As Jesus said to the religious leader Nicodemus we can and must be born again in our hearts and spirits. That can happen because Jesus died so that we can live. On the Cross he paid the price of our sin (Romans 4:24-25; Romans 6:4). This means you can have a fresh start. Through Jesus’ death God’s only son took all our past, our sin, our guilt, our shame on the cross. And through our faith in his resurrection, we too can receive the power to live a new and better life. All through the Bible we see God is a God of the new (Psalm 30:3; Isaiah 62:2; Ezekiel 18:31; Matthew 9:17; John 13:34; 2 Corinthians 5:17). Today God can make things new in your life. You really can see total turnaround in your life. You can be radically changed from the inside out. Your self-image can change. Your depression can leave. Your attitude to life can change. Your family can change. You can change.
This living hope is always available to you in any situation. It will never wear out.
- We can have hope in this life: Jesus experienced betrayal, violent attacks, abandonment, injustice, suffering, pain and death. Jesus experienced every form of bitter human experience, which is why the Bible says He is able to understand us and help us. How many husbands and wives have also been betrayed? How many children and families have been abandoned? How many have been unjustly treated in life and suffered sickness, pain and loss? Well you are not without hope because we can know the presence and power of Jesus to help us and heal us.
- We can have hope for the life to come: This ‘living hope’ is ‘through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. On earth Jesus showed his authority over sickness, evil spirits and even storms. But it was in his death that he showed his ultimate authority. Death, the final enemy, was put to death through Christ’s death and resurrection. The death of Christ was the moment that the thick curtain in Jerusalem’s temple separating sinful people from a holy God was miraculously torn in two from top to bottom. In the very moment when Satan’s kingdom of evil had done it worst, Christ completed what He came to do, giving sinful people access to a holy God through the shedding of His blood. The Cross was where Christ took on the powers of evil & undid their power for all time (Colossians 2:14-15; Revelation 1:17-18). For sure death is painful but the sting as the apostle Paul wrote has been taken out. Death has been swallowed up in victory. So, you don’t have to fear death anymore. You can have a genuine confidence over your future (John 14:19; John 11:25-26). For sure death is painful but the sting has been taken out. When you die and are buried or cremated it’s not the end. For the Christian, death it’s the beginning of a wonderful new life in Christ’s presence. What happened 2000 years ago with the resurrection of Jesus then has real-time, real-life consequences for us today.
Simply put, since Jesus came back from death you also can come back in life. Your suffering and sadness do not have to determine the rest of your life. Your past failure and sin does not have to define your future. We can all have a total new start in life. We can have a new identity as a Christian. No matter what holds you back, no matter how you have failed, no matter who or what has messed you up, you can have a second chance through the truth and triumph of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It really is time for you to hope again. Jesus said (John 11:25–26). ‘I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?" Today everyone has an opportunity to say I believe.
