In our final post answering the big questions of suffering, Brianna McClean considers how Christian hope impacts how we suffer.
Imagine you’re watching a movie for the first time. You are on the edge of your seat. The suspense is palpable. What’s going to happen?
When you watch the movie a second time, something is different. You notice different things. Perhaps you feel less worried about the fate of your favourite characters.
What’s changed? You know the ending.
The end of the story matters.
Today, we’re going to talk about the end of God’s story and see if it changes how we see our lives now.
Over the last few months, we have been thinking about suffering. We’ve asked big questions:
- How can a good God allow suffering?
- Am I suffering because of my sin?
- What is God doing with my suffering?
In the Bible, there is one thing which ties the answers to all these questions together. The Christian’s answer to suffering relies on something that will happen.
A Happy Ending
The Bible promises a happy ending – the happiest ending imaginable.
‘’God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.’’
Revelation 21:3–4
One day, there will be no more suffering. God is going to rid the world of sin. The whole world will live by God’s good design. And, that means no more suffering.
This has always been God’s plan. From the moment that Adam and Eve turned away from him and ushered in sin and suffering, God had a rescue plan.
Titus 1: 2 says, ‘the hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, (has) promised before the beginning of time’.
For the Christian, this means three important things:
1. Suffering is not what God wants
God wants something better for his people; the joy of living rightly with him in a world with no suffering.
2. Suffering is not permanent
If you trust the Bible, you can be sure that suffering will not last.
3. God is bigger than our suffering
He gets to decide when it ends—and it will end, through God’s rescue plan.
A Guaranteed Ending
This hope is not the kind you need to cross your fingers for. It isn’t a vague hope or a promise we’re waiting to see fulfilled. When Jesus died and rose again, it was guaranteed. We can know that God’s rescue plan will happen—because it has happened.
The reason for suffering is sin. We all turn away from God and rule our own lives. This broken relationship with God is the source of suffering. Jesus died to take the punishment we deserve and fix our relationship with God. When he rose from the dead, he proved that he is more powerful than suffering.
God’s rescue plan is Jesus—his life, death and resurrection. 1 John 5:11 says, ‘God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son’.
If Jesus really did die and rise again, then we can be sure that God’s final plan for the world will happen. Through Jesus, God has secured the future. The only thing we need to do is believe him, and trust in Jesus as our rescuer. The suffering-free world to come is going to be filled with people who trust in what Jesus has done.
Eager for the Ending
This hope, secured in Christ, changes everything. When you know the ending, the rest of the story falls into place.
This doesn’t mean that our current suffering doesn’t matter or isn’t real. But it does mean that suffering will not get the final say.
One day, ‘there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain’. By trusting in Jesus, eternal life is ours—free from suffering. That is an ending worth being excited about.
‘’I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed.”
Romans 8:18-19
Living Now, Knowing the End
Remember what it was like to watch that movie for the second time, once you knew the ending? The second time you watched the movie, you were less anxious about the fate of the characters. You knew that in the end, they got a happy ending.
That’s a bit what it’s like to live now, knowing what will happen. It changes how we see reality.
As a follower of Jesus, you have a happy ending ahead of you. You don’t need to worry about the future. While your moment-by-moment happiness will fluctuate, you can be sure that your future happiness is secure.
This truth allows you to endure whatever hardship comes your way—and hard times will come your way!— with peace, joy, and contentment.
We know that because of Jesus’s victory, suffering will not have the last word, God will. At the end of time, God will bring sin and suffering to an end and ‘make all things new’. And that makes all the difference to how we experience suffering today.