There’s plenty of bad news around. But what good news are you hoping for?
We don’t expect to wake up one morning to find that this world has been transformed into some kind of paradise because of the actions of mankind. But we still have hopes for our broken world this side of the new heavens and new earth. What are you hoping for?
It might be something out there in the world: Like an end to COVID, being able to travel and see your family without the uncertainty of the last few years.
Or you might be hoping for good news closer to home. There’s illness you’d love to be gone. Or ongoing conflict you want to be over.
So, what good news are you waiting for?
At the start of Daniel 9, God tells us what good news Daniel was waiting for. His prayer (v4-19) is a plea that the great and awesome, promise-keeping God would forgive sins and remove shame, not because anyone deserves that but because of His great mercy. The good news Daniel was waiting for was the end of sin and its consequences.
At the end of Daniel 9, God gives Daniel the good news he had been waiting for: Jesus, God’s Anointed One, will be put to death to put an end to sin and its consequences.
There’s so much that we can hope for. But no matter what our hopes are, what God promises to Daniel is just what we need: the end to sin that Jesus brings.
So, why do we need this good news?
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