Living Hope

We are living in a very unsettling time. We have witnessed the rise of terrorism on a global scale that seems to be escalating with no end in sight and no solution confronting it. At home, we are seeing the country deeply divided over issues ranging from racial and moral ideologies to political philosophies. Can anything bring us together? Is there any leadership with real answers?

With much hand-wringing and head-shaking, we wonder if there is any hope at all, although, of course, we have been promised hope and change. Still, we don’t see much to make us hopeful. Should we just believe in hope? But what does that mean? Just wishing things would get better is a fool’s errand. We need something solid on which to hang our hope.

The apostle Peter wrote to suffering churches in Asia Minor near the end of the first century to encourage them with hope that they already possessed. This hope was the gift of the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ. Moved with mercy, He caused them “to be born again to a living hope” (1 Peter 1:3). This is more than hope; it is living hope because it is the work of the living God. Peter likes to use that term, living—living hope, living stones, and living Word. It is this term that makes all the difference, for it defines hope in the framework of, not just possibility, but reality. That reality is assured because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

The resurrection of Christ is an irrefutable fact of history. More than five hundred eyewitnesses saw the risen Lord after his crucifixion, which solidly supports the claim (I Cor. 15:3-8). Skeptics could have interviewed witnesses still living when Paul made his assertion.

To the persecuted saints in Peter’s audience, the resurrection of Jesus Christ formed the solid foundation of their hope. Those who were martyred would not die in vain, for like Jesus, they too would be raised again to “an inheritance imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven” for them (1 Pet. 1:5). This inheritance was guarded by nothing less than the power of God through their faith until its unveiling in the last time (v. 6). Note, however, that the hope outlined here does not immediately fix things for these people living in difficult straits. Nevertheless, it comforts, guides, and fills them with inexpressible joy as they wait for Jesus to return (vv. 6-9).

The bottom line is the realization that nothing is out of God’s control and that all that happens, good and evil, is directed by His certain hand to fulfill His purposes in the earth. God is a just God, and all injustice will be settled before the Judge (1 Pet. 2:23). This life is a brief staging area for eternity, and everyone is either part of the company of those sheltered in Christ’s salvation (1 Pet. 3:18) or those who “will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead” (1 Pet. 4:5). In which company are you?