A Message Of Hope For Good Friday, Resurrection Day And Beyond

A message of Hope | Good Friday | Resurrection Day

During the next week, we will celebrate two of the key founding events of Christianity. The Good Friday and the Easter / Resurrection Sunday. What makes these two events special?

Paul established several churches during his three missionary journeys. Out of all of them, one Church really stood out. This is the Thessalonian Church. The Thessalonian church flourished and stood as a model despite organised persecution. They thrived despite the physical absence of the founding leaders. Paul was there only for a few weeks. He was persecuted and chased away soon after the church was established. They thrived among idol worshippers. The culture of Thessalonica was seeped in the Greco-Roman culture of Polytheism, Idol worship, immorality social injustice etc. Despite all that, they became an evangelistic church. “The Word of the Lord sounded forth” from this congregation.

My studies reveal that the main reason why this church became a model church is because they exemplified the pillars of Christian faith, namely Faith, Hope and Love. Today we are going to look into the aspect of Hope that the Thessalonian Church had, and hope that we have. Our hope is based on the two events celebrated next week and the third event that is yet to come.

Let us look at the first event that gives us hope.

When our God created the universe, He did an amazing Job. He created it as a perfect place where sin was non-existent. When God created Adam and Eve, there was no sin, but they had the freewill. Adam had the ability not to sin. So they were a situation what we could call as not-able-to-sin. But they chose otherwise, even though they had the ability not to sin. They chose to disobey God, sinned, and thereby corrupted the whole mankind. Because of their disobedience, humanity went into the second stage of the continuum that we could call as Total depravity, or to use the terminology in the language of sin, not-able-not-to-sin. Human beings lost the ability not to sin. That was the condition of humanity till Jesus’s work of salvation on the cross. When Jesus took all our sins and died on the cross, God’s grace became available to us, and we gained the ability to not sin. We came to the third stage of the continuum we can call as able-not-to-sin. God’s grace working through faith in Jesus Christ enables believers to resist sin and live according to God’s will. Paul reminds us through this letter about who we are. 1 Thessalonians 5:4-5 says “But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. 5 You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness”. That is the first hope and assurance that we have. That our sins, past present and future are all nailed to the cross.

But what if the history had stopped at the cross? If we had only Good Friday, if we had only the death and burial of Jesus Christ, if the story had ended there? I have done a study on John 17 comparing that chapter to a will of a dying man. He left some exciting inheritance to those who believe in Him. But, would we have been as excited about His will that He wrote in John 17, if the story ended with His death on the cross? Would we have been excited about the inheritance described in John 17:24 (NKJV) Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world. Would that inheritance meant anything to us, if all that Jesus did was to stay put in the tomb? Would we have been excited about the will then?

Let us take the example of Peter and his response to the declaration by Jesus about his own imminent suffering and death. This is described in Matthew 16: 13-22. Jesus asks His disciples a question. Who do you think I am? I can imagine Peter probably putting up his hand in excitement just like a school student who knew the answer to the question that the teacher asked. Peter gives the right answer, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Peter gets praised for the correct answer. And then Peter gets a huge reward. A reward in the form of a really big promise. And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. 19 And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” Matthew 16:18-19, NKJV). It is natural to assume that Peter felt good about the promise. Wow what a promise, what a reward. I am going to be the gate keeper of heaven. Who wouldn’t be excited at that promise. But then things take a very different turn. Jesus starts telling them that He is going to die. Just imagine Peter’s condition. He has just been promised a great position, and then the person who promised is saying He is going to die. Peter was all willing to accept the glory that came with the promise, but was not really ready for the suffering and death that came packaged with that promise. Jesus was promising him Great things like building the Church on him, and giving him the keys to heaven, and giving him authority to bind or let lose people for heaven while on earth. Peter could not fathom a dead person being able to do this. Peter wanted the promise to be fulfilled, but not the suffering and death part that was associated with the same.