How an Empty Grave Gives a Full Joy

In Romans 8:28-30 we learn two promises that provide Christians with a joy that cannot be taken away (John 16:22). Because of the resurrection of Jesus, 1.) your bad things will turn out for good, and 2.) the best is yet to come. Bad things turning out for good doesn't mean bad things are somehow reclassified as good. It does mean that if the worst thing to ever happen in the world – the execution and death of the Son of God – worked out for good, then Christians can be assured all of their bad things will turn out for good too. And knowing the best is yet to come means all the good things in this life are gifts, not gods. All of the joys, delights, pleasures, and loves of this life are precious gifts from God given as a taste, an appetizer, of an eternal and glorious life to come. A life so glorious that "the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us” (Rom. 8:18).