Your Future is Bright!
By Jeff Cranston
Maybe no one has said this to you in a while: Your future is incredibly bright! How can I say this amidst a global pandemic with its masks and lockdowns? How can I say this amidst rising gas prices, civil unrest, and foundations being destroyed, if not shaken?
Those things may pale in comparison to personal issues you’ve faced this past year: family issues, challenging children, loveless marriages, a lost job, an unfulfilled promise, the loss of a loved one. I don’t know the pressures you face, but I know that for some people now, life doesn’t seem incredibly bright. However, I can tell you, based on what the Bible tells us, your future is incredibly bright. Read 1 Peter 1:3–9.
Simon, better known as Peter, was one of Jesus’ best friends. Not only was he a part of the Lord’s inner circle, but he was also at the center of many of the Gospels’ stories. We can’t be certain of his personality type, but we do have some hints. Peter was someone who got caught up in the excitement of the moment, and he wanted everyone else to feel that way too. He was bold, original, but also a little unfocused. And Peter failed! Epically failed. If you talked to Peter about his biggest regret, he’d have to admit that at the moment when it really mattered, he denied Jesus, not just once, but three times. He became a broken man. He lost hope in Jesus and in himself.
Fast-forward 30 years to when he wrote the words that you just read. Peter had become a key leader in the church. But not only that, he was filled with hope, even when facing adversity. As Peter wrote these words, he and other followers of Jesus were at the margins of society. They were maligned, falsely accused and ostracized. They were:
… abused by overbearing bosses (1 Peter 2:18),
… threatened by unbelieving spouses (1 Peter 3:1, 6), and,
… ridiculed by skeptical neighbors and associates (1 Peter 4:14).
On the horizon loomed the possibility of a much more violent form of persecution (1 Peter 4:12–18). Within a short time, some of them would be imprisoned and martyred. Nero would accuse Christians like them for not only setting the fire in Rome but also of hatred against humanity. Peter himself would be crucified upside-down.
However, Peter had hope. What made the difference? The resurrection of Jesus gave Peter living hope. And here’s what it means for us: The resurrection of Jesus gives us an incredibly bright future!
In 1 Peter 1:3-5, Peter wrote:
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. “
Peter says that we’ve been born again to a “living hope.” Notice a couple of things:
It’s living. It has a life of its own. It’s growing and increasing in strength, just like living things do. Whatever this is, it’s something that’s living and breathing. It’s pulsing with life.
It’s hope. Usually, when we talk about hope, we’re talking about a desire for a future thing that we’re not sure we’ll attain.
“I hope I get good grades.”
“I hope that promotion comes through.”
“I hope we’ll get pregnant.”
“I hope COVID is nearing an end.”
“I hope my kids turn out all right.”
And we cross our fingers and hope, biting our fingernails all the while. But that’s not what Peter means. Based upon 1 Peter, hope is something in the future that is guaranteed to happen, based on something that’s already happened in the past.
Let me try to make the connection. In 1 Peter 1:3, Peter says:
“ … according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead … ”
Peter bases our hope on something that’s happened in the past: the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Two thousand years ago, a group of women came to the tomb of Jesus to anoint His dead body with oil. Nobody expected that they would find anything except for a dead body. Instead, they found an empty tomb, and later they encountered the risen Jesus. If one person encountered a dead person who came back to life, you’d doubt their sanity. You’d treat it just like you’d treat an Elvis sighting. You wouldn’t take it seriously. But more than 500 people encountered the risen Jesus over a period of 40 days. Whatever happened was so powerful that it changed a bunch of skeptics and failures like Peter into fearless witnesses.
Charles Colson, Richard Nixon’s right-hand man during Watergate, was in prison when he became a Christian. Reflecting on the resurrection of Jesus, he said this:
“I know the resurrection is a fact, and Watergate proved it to me. How? Because 12 men testified they had seen Jesus raised from the dead, then they proclaimed that truth for 40 years, never once denying it. Every one was beaten, tortured, stoned and put in prison. They would not have endured that if it weren’t true. Watergate embroiled 12 of the most powerful men in the world—and they couldn’t keep a lie for three weeks. You’re telling me 12 apostles could keep a lie for 40 years? Absolutely impossible.”
The resurrection of Jesus Christ happened. Our living hope isn’t based on a wish or a myth. It’s based on a historical fact. We don’t follow Jesus for no reason. His early disciples certainly didn’t. They followed Jesus because He rose from the dead just as He said He would.
Look at the evidence! I love how one person put it: “The evidence for Jesus’ resurrection is so strong that nobody would question it except for two things: First, it is a very unusual event. And second, if you believe it happened, you have to change the way you live.”
On the basis of what happened in the past, Peter says we have a hope—a living hope—for the future. If the resurrection is true, Peter says, we have confidence in the “inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time” (1 Peter 1:4-5).
Your future is incredibly bright! How can you have this confidence? A few reasons:
Jesus has shown that He has a track record of keeping promises. He told us that He would rise again, and He did. He told us that He’s giving us an inheritance, and He will.
The same power that raised Jesus from the dead is at work protecting you. Peter says you’re being guarded by the Holy Spirit—the same Holy Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead (Ephesians 1:19-20).
Your future is as sure as the resurrection. That’s what gave Peter hope. Peter was about as hopeless as anyone has ever been. He’d watched his entire faith system collapse. Then he encountered the risen Jesus, and it changed everything. Peter the skeptic became Peter the unstoppable.
How this hope helps you now
In 1 Peter 1:6-7, Peter writes:
“In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”
When you feel like you can’t escape the overwhelming grief of your actions and consequences, you can find freedom in Christ. Life wasn’t easy for those reading Peter’s letter. But their future hope, based on the reality of the resurrection, allowed them to have joy even in the middle of suffering. This means that whatever is happening now, you can endure it. Not only can you endure it, but you can endure it with joy—not a joy that lives in denial, but a joy that sees the big picture and brings hope to today. You can have a living hope even in the middle of trials.
Thanks to the resurrection of Christ, your future is incredibly bright! Why? Because Jesus lived the perfect life that we should have lived and died the perfect death that we deserved. We only have to receive such mercy with the empty hand of faith. Jesus rose again, and you can have hope for your future.
And here’s the cool thing: Anyone can get in on this. Since it is all mercy, no one deserves it, and yet it is available to all. Since the gospel is all grace and mercy, it can be for anyone. Run to the empty tomb. Run with all of your doubts and questions. But run. And be prepared to meet the risen Jesus, who will change everything.
Jeff Cranston is the lead pastor of LowCountry Community Church in Bluffton, South Carolina.
