I Can Face Tomorrow: He Holds My Tomorrow
EASTER SUNDAY
April 4, 2021

There is hope for today and hope for tomorrow because of Jesus. That is the message of this weekend isn’t it?

On Friday, I talked about how the message of the Cross is one of meaning, belonging, purpose, and significance. I talked about how by what Jesus did by going to the Cross and dying on it for our sin and brokenness, we have the opportunity to find forgiveness. We have the opportunity to find healing. Our relationship with God that was broken could be restored. No longer would we have to walk around in darkness, but we could be welcomed in to belonging as a child of God. We can have hope because we can have spiritual wholeness.

Today I want to share with you a message of confidence. Because Jesus lives, because He beat the power of death by raising from it on the 3rd day proving that He is all powerful and able to do all things, we can find comfort in knowing that our God is all powerful and that nothing can hold Him back. We can face tomorrow! We can confidently look at our lives today and every day beyond, knowing that he holds our today and our tomorrow in His hands and that nothing is too big for Him.

I don’t know about you, but this wasn’t the Easter I was planning for. As late as early this past week, I had a bit of a different idea where I was going to land today. Our lives are already complicated, difficult, and in many ways stressful. The last year, between all our personal stuff, and then a pandemic and lockdowns, it has not been easy since last Easter. Then this week, lockdown 3.0 hit. Are you getting tired like I am?

I want to briefly share with you three ways in which Jesus coming back from the grave gives us, in the face of all the struggles we are facing, hope for today, tomorrow, and beyond.

1) The promise of a life to come
ROM 6:23, 1 Pt 1:3-4, John 14:1-3, Rev 21:3-4
Jesus died and came back to life again so that we too could have a chance to die to our old selves that were plagued with sin and brokenness. And just as Christ was raised from the dead into a new life, we get to also be raised into a new life. It is a life where we are not only walking in a new and restored relationship with God as His children, but it is a life that looks forward to a life yet to come where we will, in eternity, be with Jesus in Heaven. And it is a place where there is no more sickness, no more death, no more crying, no more pain.

What does this mean? As bad as things get here, as stressful as your week, month, or year has been, as much as you may dread the week that is ahead, and as hard as the road is that you are walking on, this life isn’t it. There is so much more. As easy as it might be, don’t be discouraged in your situation now because this life is filled with troubles. But for those who have become part of God’s family, we have the future hope of Heaven that can not in any way be destroyed, stolen, or taken from us. We can face tomorrow because we know that there is a tomorrow coming that is worth waiting for.

2) The promise of inner peace today
John 16:33
The message is this: life will not always be easy. There will be things that are hard, painful, and stressful on a daily basis. There will be things that happen in your life that wont be fair. There will be things that you will be upset about. There will be conflict. There will be a lot of unpleasant things as a part of this life. And some things will be much harder than others to endure.

But we can have true peace because Jesus, by His coming back to life again truly overcame the world. He showed the ultimate display of power. He proved He was indeed God. And when we put our trust in Jesus, we know that we can have peace, knowing that the same Jesus who beat the power of death by coming back to life again is walking with us through whatever we now face. And as we experience the peace that comes from walking with Jesus through everything, knowing that He has overcome everything including death itself, we can face not only today but tomorrow with confidence because we are not alone.

3) The promise of unfailing love
The amazing thing today is that the love of God that comes through what Jesus did in dying and rising back to life cannot be stolen from us. Because Jesus has overcome the world and all of its darkness, His love can endure through the darkest of days, even when we don’t feel it. His love never gives up on us. And His love cannot be stolen away from us.

I want to, as I wrap up, leave you with the words of Romans 8:37-39, re-written a bit for our present lives:

37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,[k] neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation including financial problems, friendship troubles, church conflicts, fighting with the kids, marriage struggles, work stress, health concerns, and even COVID 19 and its many lockdowns will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

And to that, I say AMEN.