Our Hope is Alive/Monday, August 31, 2009
by Dr. Paul Chappell
"In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre. And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it. His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow: And for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead men. And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay."
Matthew 28:1-6
Our hope is alive today because of the empty tomb.
George Bernard Shaw, while a great writer and playwright, was well-known as an atheist in his day. His writings contain an undertone of rebellion against God and rejection of Scriptural teaching. He championed the socialistic and humanistic causes of his day. Yet at the end of his life, as he looked back on all he had fought for, he had this to say: "The science to which I pinned my faith is bankrupt. Its counsels, which should have established the millennium, led, instead, directly to the suicide of Europe. I believed them once. In their name I helped to destroy the faith of millions of worshippers in the temples of a thousand creeds. And now they look at me and witness the great tragedy of an atheist who has lost his faith."
Shaw's hope for Europe had been placed in a dying and corrupt belief, and Shaw realized that his life had been spent in vain. He had hope in his atheistic beliefs. He had hope that his view of the world was correct. But as he came to the end of his life, he realized his hope was misplaced.
With the world events that surround us daily, life almost seems without hope. World leaders becoming more hostile, the economy's downturn, and the downplay of our alliance with Israel are all reasons some people have become worried. But as Christians, we have hope even in the darkest of times.
Look at verse six from our passage today, "And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay." Christ died on Calvary for our sins, but He conquered the grave and arose three days later.
Our God is alive! Other religions point to a leader, but also point to his grave. Our leader, the Lord Jesus Christ, has an empty tomb, proving His ability to conquer even death. There is no circumstance, activity, change of events, or sudden disaster that takes God by surprise. He has control over all and has the ability to conquer any situation that comes up.
Our hope is alive today because of the empty tomb. No matter how dark things become, how bleak a situation looks, or how troubling the times are, we can remain hopeful because our home is not here on earth but with Christ in Heaven.
That cool, crisp morning that Christ rose from the grave was the same morning our hope became alive. Because our God is alive, we know He is in control of everything. We know His promises are true, and we know that He is coming again to take us home to Heaven one day.
Where is your hope? Is it in a national leader, a global system, or a certain belief? The only hope that is alive today is hope in Jesus Christ. No other hope will be able to withstand the darkest of days in your life. Take time today to remember your hope in God. Remember the next time someone complains about the events in the world that your hope lies with an unchanging, immovable, all-powerful God who has everything under His control.
