Hope! What is it, where does it come from and is it more than wishful thinking? Hope is defined as, “A feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen.” Fair enough! For someone to hope that the Kansas City Royals will return to glory one day is a reasonable expectation or desire. For any teenager, living in a middle income family, to hope for her parents to go in debt so that she can drive around in a shiny new car is also, (although, perhaps less reasonable) a hope, a desire or expectation. Adults might hope to win the lottery or land a fascinating job working few hours, while earning a large income.There are certainly an infinite number of “hopes” that humans might “expect” or “desire,” but is this what is properly meant when anyone says something like, “I hope one day to see grandma, who passed away several years go?” or “I hope that my child will one day know what it is like to live healthy, free from the burden of his disability?” or even more potent, “I hope to be delivered from my addiction to vanity and pride?” or “I hope to be welcomed by God into His Kingdom?”
So, hope is certainly an expectation and desire, but the difference from an “uncertain” hope and a “certain” hope is the authority undergirding the hope. Hoping for a favorite team to win, or to cash in after winning the lottery is uncertain, because the authority supporting these hopes is limp and ultimately powerless. These “hopes” could certainly be realized, but if they are, it has much more to do with what might be called “luck” or “good fortune” than absolute certainty. One would be a fool to wager his most valued asset, say his soul, in hopes of seeing this transient dream come true.
Ah, but there is such a hope that comes from a superior authority that rules over all other authorities, even that great fearful authority known as death. One passage from Scripture that shines a light on this truth comes from I Peter 1:3-5, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. (ESV)
The authority that Peter refers to, which undergirds a hope far superior to winning teams, or winning lotteries, is a hope that is defined as a new birth, which is “imperishable...undefiled...unfading...ready to be revealed in the last time.” Peter is convinced that the greatest hope imaginable, is the hope of a reality that has begun by faith, and will be fully realized, fully materialized, at the Second Coming of Christ. This is a hope that a life defined as everlasting, perfect, unfading, never degenerating, is available by faith for anyone who wants it. The authority that undergirds and supports this amazing hope is, “the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead...” As Peter writes, “...he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead...” This blessed reality, namely, that Jesus Christ died because of the sins of the world, but was raised because of God’s power in Him being greater than death and because of God’s willingness to save the world through Christ, is the authority undergirding the hope of all who desire to live in holiness for ever and ever starting at the moment one places their faith, their hope, in Christ.
It was Peter’s intent to use the words of this great hope to stimulate believers in Christ toward an even greater intimacy with God resulting in an even greater devotion to God. May it be so for all who and and all who are hoping the beautiful name of Christ. This world is in the throws of death; death which has convinced so many that it is the final authority. What a tragedy that so many are still without hope, when so many claim to possess the hope of Christ. Come on, church! Are we demonstrating to our world the hope that we possess in Christ Jesus?
Hoping in the One Hope worth Hoping in,
Pastor Gibbs
