Good News

This is a really sad world we live in. There is heartache and pain everywhere. There are diseases and death surrounding us. Bad news everywhere. Earthquakes, floods, terror attacks, revenge killings, planes falling and disappearing. Terrifying things that make us wonder if we shall survive today. The world is full of unfairness and injustice. Things that make us shake our heads in disbelief or cry our eyes red. And just as you recover from one thing, another one hits you and hits you hard. It is like troubles are never born on their own. They are born as twins or triplets. Septuplets even. And they travel as such. When it rains, it pours.

I was asked to preach this Sunday and I agreed after some hesitation. I told my father that I was going to preach and asked him to pray for me (in great part because I had nothing to preach about) and he told me, "Yes, tell them the good news." And I started thinking about that. Good news. That is what the Word is about. A day or two later, my Daily Bible App shared Isaiah 61:1-2 - The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; Jesus reads these verses in Luke 4:18-19 in reference to himself. That is what He came to do. Then a Facebook friend quoted someone saying how powerful it is to preach the goodness of the Lord. Because that is what the Bible is about. The whole Bible points towards Christ and Christ proclaimed in Luke 4 that He was anointed to bring GOOD NEWS.

It is refreshing to receive good news especially in the midst of bad news. If we look at what Isaiah and Jesus said, Jesus’ ministry is directed to people who are suffering; the poor, the brokenhearted, captives, those who are bound, those who mourn. In John 16:33, Jesus sums it up by saying, “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace.  In the world you will have  tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”  

The Amplified Bible puts it like this, “I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have [perfect] peace and confidence. In the world you have tribulation and trials and distress and frustration; but be of good cheer [take courage; be confident, certain, undaunted]! For I have overcome the world. [I have deprived it of power to harm you and have conquered it for you.] This is why it is important to read scripture as a whole because if you just read the part that promises tribulation, then we’d all be really sad Christians. Or maybe not Christians at all. The Amplified Bible says we’ll have tribulation and trials and distress and frustration. Not and/or. Just ‘and’. And these are Jesus’ words. Jesus said we’re to expect all this. So if your life reflects this, well, Jesus said it would. And it is no different from what everyone in the world goes through. However (say it like Ian the Judge) the verse doesn’t end there! Praise God that it doesn’t. (If I was a ‘charismatic preacher’ I would now be marching to and fro on the stage/altar and waving my white ‘kerchief and the keyboard player would be playing suitable eeehh, sounds.) It doesn’t end there and neither do we need to stop there (keyboard player goes ‘dooongg’) there is still hope (dong doongg) there is still more to look forward to (doong) because He HAS OVERCOME THE WORLD (DONG DONG DOOOOOOOONG). HALLELUYAAAH!

Okay, let me be serious. Christ tells us to be of good cheer, to take courage, to be confident, certain and undaunted in the face of tribulation, trials, distress and frustration. Why and how? Because Christ has overcome the world. He has deprived it of the power to harm us and he conquered it for us. Paul says in Romans 8:35 -38 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”  No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. That is the certainty that we have. Christ showed us His love for us by dying for us. By his death, he overcame the world as he promised in John 16.

Hope. That is what God gives throughout the Bible. Lamentations 3:21-24 But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; 23 they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.” One expects Lamentations to be a sad book, and it is, but it is also filled with hope. Expectation that because of God’s love, then a better day is coming. It means that we can move on knowing that we are not alone even in suffering. We know that we have the advantage of His love; His promise that nothing can separate us from his conquering love.