Our Living Hope

Everyone needs hope.  Hope provides an inner motivation to keep us moving on.  Yet what type of hope do we have?  Many see hope as some wishful desire, a dream, an illusion - it is not real.  When such hope fades, many give up.  Australia has one of the highest youth suicide rates in the world.  Because these kids lost hope.

What are we Christians placing our hope on?  Is there reality in our hope?  How can we be sure?  Ours is not some desperate clinging on to a faded dream, a dead hope.  But it is a living hope, founded on reality.  The epistle of 1 Peter was written in a time of much persecution by Apostle Peter to remind the Christians of the greater and better hope that they have in God. 

1 Peter 1:3–5 (NIV) ³ Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, ⁴ and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, ⁵ who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.

A hope that will help them live their lives with purpose and with dignity.  In the same way, if you truly understand the hope you have in Christ, you too will begin to live your lives with purpose and dignity.

In this article, I hope to help us better understand the foundation for our living hope.  We will consider 5 aspects. 

GOD: MERCIFUL GIVER OF LIVING HOPE

1 Peter 1:3a (NIV) Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us…

What can we understand from these words?

God is the only source of living hope. "…he has given us…"

You are only able to give what you have.  God gives living hope, so He must have living hope available.  The Bible is very clear that God is the only source of living hope.  Salvation is to be found only in God.  Acts 4:12 (NIV) Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”

Some other faiths may claim there are different ways to salvation.  But the Bible is very distinct in claiming there is no other way.  There is only one key to open the door to salvation and that is through Jesus alone. John 14:6 (NIV) Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 

We must realize that God is the source.  If we want eternal hope, we must go to the source.

God is the merciful giver. "In His great mercy…"

We have heard before that God is a giver.  God loves to give.  Yet He does not give indiscriminately. He does not give out of a whim or fancy. God is not like us who may give out of a whim because we just felt like it.  It reminds me of an old TV advertisement for women's perfume called Impulse!  A beautiful young woman wears this perfume and walks pass a dashing young man.  He smells a waft of the Impulse perfume and moved to impulsively buy the unknown woman a bunch of flowers!

God does not give wastefully.  For God's giving is principled, it is considered. 

God does not give wastefully.  For God's giving is principled, it is considered.  So when God gives to us who are undeserving, it wasn't because He just happened to feel like it at some moment of generosity in eternity.  Rather it was principled, it was considered. 

God exercised mercy and provided an opportunity for hope for each one of us.

Now God knew how desperately depraved we were.  God knew how utterly stuck we were in our sins.  God knew we were all absolutely deserving of judgment.  Yet God exercised mercy and provided an opportunity for hope for each one of us.

In the days of the Revolutionary War there lived at Ephrata, Pennsylvania, a Baptist pastor by the name of Peter Miller who enjoyed the friendship of General Washington. There also dwelt in that town one Michael Wittman, an evil-minded man who did all in his power to abuse and oppose this pastor. One day Michael Wittman was involved in treason and was arrested and sentenced to death. The old preacher started out on foot and walked the whole seventy miles to Philadelphia to plead for this man's life. He was admitted into Washington's presence and at once begged for the life of the traitor. Washington said, "No, Peter, I cannot grant you the life of your friend." The preacher exclaimed, "He is not my friend--he is the bitterest enemy I have." Washington cried, "What? You've walked seventy miles to save the life of an enemy? That puts the matter in a different light. I will grant the pardon." And he did. And Peter Miller took Michael Wittman from the very shadow of death back to his own home in Ephrata--no longer as an enemy, but as a friend.  --James S. Hewett, Illustrations Unlimited (Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc, 1988), p. 345.

No matter how undeserving we are, God's mercy is greater. 

Rev Peter Miller exercised mercy like God!  No matter how undeserving we are, God's mercy is greater.  No matter how deep the hole we are in, God's merciful arm is long enough to pull us out!  God's mercy is great!  I have experienced many times how merciful God is to me.  Let us be thankful to God who is the merciful giver of living hope! 

NEW BIRTH: THE ENTRANCE TO LIVING HOPE

1 Peter 1:3 (NIV) …In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope…

As mentioned previously, God mercifully offered us salvation.  Yet in return we need to respond to accept this gift of salvation.  How do we respond?  Acts 20:21(NIV) I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus.

What is repentance?  The Greek word for repentance is metanoia.  It means to have a change of mind or heart.  Really it means to change from following ourselves to following God.  When we repent and place our trust in Jesus, something happens.  There is a new birth in our lives!  Repentance and trust in Jesus brings a new birth. Jesus spoke about this.  John 3:3-5 (NIV) … “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.” ⁴ “How can a man be born when he is old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb to be born!” ⁵ Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. 

Jesus was talking about the work of the Holy Spirit who brings about a transformation that occurs in our hearts.  It is like we started afresh.  It is a new birth! One moment we were dead in our sins.  But when we repent and place our trust upon Jesus, God comes in and brings about the new birth.  If you truly got saved, you begin to discover your perspectives change! 

Unless we are truly born again, we have no hope!

By being born again, we now are born into God's family and into His Kingdom.  Regardless of our past, we now have a new start.  A new life with God!  We now have true hope! This new birth is the entrance into the living hope.  This is the key.  Unless we are truly born again, we have no hope!

When we have truly experienced God's hope, we understand why we should share that with others!  Let’s bring this hope to our families, friends, and colleagues.  So they too may experience a living hope.

RESURRECTION: REASON FOR LIVING HOPE

1 Peter 1:3 (NIV) …In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead…

The resurrection of Christ gives us true hope on 2 major counts.

Evidence of living hope

One of main elements of the living hope we have is that Jesus Himself is alive!  That is why there is no grave of Jesus, no dead body to be found.  All other founders of great faiths have a grave, but not Jesus! The Bible records how it happened.  Jesus body was guarded by a troop of elite Roman soldiers, placed in a sealed tomb with a large rock closing the entrance.  Yet the body disappeared!

That is why our hope is a living hope.  It is not a dead hope!  Imagine if someone told you that a cure has being discovered for all kinds of cancer by a scientist.  And you are so excited you want to meet this scientist.  And your friend tells you that he died last month from cancer! What sort of hope is that?

Jesus alive is prove of our hope! 

That is why the resurrection is so fundamental to the Christian faith.  Jesus alive is prove of our hope!  It proves our hope is founded on reality!  That is why we should not be deceived by the fictional works of Dan Brown who invented the Da Vinci Code story.  It has sought to masquerade as truth when it is little more than a colourful tale designed to confuse the facts with fiction.

Instead, we should look at books such as Josh McDowell "Evidence That Demands a Verdict" which looks at the facts.  Josh McDowell was a high-flying student, a student president in his university.  He thought Christianity was garbage.  That Christians were walking idiots.  He imagined that if Christians had a brain cell, it would die of loneliness.  You can imagine he was rather proud and arrogant.  So when some Christian challenged him to prove the resurrection was not true.  He went ahead to prove them wrong.  But the more facts he dug up, the stronger became the case for the resurrection. In the end he accepted Christ and wrote this book!    

Now, not only is the resurrection evidence of our living hope.  It is also the basis.

Basis for living hope

In v3 it says, "through the resurrection…" we now have a living hope.  It provides us the basis for hope.  Why?  Because the resurrection of Jesus blazed for us the route to heaven.  Because those of us who have committed ourselves to Him will share in this new life.  We will participate fully in the glorious new nature in the future. Rom 6:5 (NIV) If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection - as mentioned earlier.

if Jesus has overcome death, then it will not overcome us as well. 

You see, if Jesus has overcome death, then it will not overcome us as well.  Death has lost its sting. Now the resurrection of Jesus from the dead refers to the fact that He has risen from the dead and was given a glorious new body!  The difference between what Jesus experienced and that of others who were brought back to life through prayer is that Jesus has a glorified body! 

A body that has been transformed so that it is eternal, it cannot die.  A glorious body, not the deteriorating body we have now.  1 Cor 15:42-43 (TLB) …our earthly bodies which die and decay are different from the bodies we shall have when we come back to life again, for they will never die. ⁴³ The bodies we have now embarrass us, for they become sick and die; but they will be full of glory when we come back to life again. 

In resurrecting Jesus, God has demonstrated that death is not the end for us too!  For we too will join with Jesus and be given a resurrected body!  That is why I am not afraid to die! On my tombstone epitaph could be written, "Wilson is not here. Look for him in heaven."

Instead of fear, we approach death with certainty.  Certainty of entering a glorious new phase instead.  For us, death in merely the beginning of something better!

INHERITANCE: PRIZE OF LIVING HOPE

1 Peter 1:4a (NIV) and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade.

We have an incredible inheritance awaiting us in heaven. A part of that inheritance is the glorious new body we will receive.  We will also receive crowns of glory which will reflect our faithfulness in God's service. In fact, the Bible declares that we are joint heirs with Christ!  Rom 8:17 (NIV) Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co–heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

We will share in Christ's glory and His inheritance! This is an incredible promise.  Imagine if we were joint heirs with King Charles III.  Our heavenly inheritance is immeasurably more.  This inheritance will never perish - it is permanent, assured, guaranteed for us.  It will not spoil or be corrupted - in other words it will remain morally pure.  It will not fade or wither up.  Matt 6:19-21 (NIV) ¹⁹ "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. ²⁰ But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. ²¹ For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

Our inheritance is kept in the trust bank of heaven.  No one can steal it from us.  But we could give it away like Esau. Heb 12:16 (NIV) See that no one is sexually immoral, or is godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son. 

Hence, don't short-change yourself.  Don’t forfeit your inheritance.  Don't give it away to gratify yourself with some pleasures and short-term gain. Live your life with a dignity befitting a child of God! Live your life with purpose because there will be great rewards in heaven awaiting you. I have determined to live my life for God and resolved never to throw into jeopardy the inheritance that awaits me!

GOD'S POWER: KEEPING OUR LIVING HOPE

1 Pet 1:4-5 (NIV) ⁴ …This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, ⁵ who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.

How can keep our hopes alive in our hearts?  We need to realize firstly, that we are:

Protected by God's power

We are assured that our inheritance is personally kept by God's awesome power.  No one can steal it, spoil it and delay it.  No force on earth or heaven can touch it!  God's power is also available to keep the hope in our hearts! Heb 10:23 (NIV) Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.

How is this hope kept alive in our hearts?  It is through faith!

Accessed by our faith

Do you just have wishful thinking, or do you know that God is able to sustain you through any difficulty, any temptation, any trial, any success, any failure.  When we have full expectation or assurance or saving faith, we literally tap into the actual power that keeps our faith.

God is able to sustain you through any difficulty, any temptation, any trial, any success, any failure. 

Imagine like drowning in the ocean and having a life buoy thrown to us.  We can suppose it can save us, rationalise it can save us, believe it can save us, but unless we stop struggling we can’t embrace the buoy. And its only when we have embraced the buoy that we can be dragged to safety!  So too with salvation.  It is when we actually embrace God’s promise and totally rely on Him that we start to truly step into the grace that really sets us free.

Many of Satan’s schemes are to turn our trust away from God and either onto ourselves or onto something or somebody else.

Many of Satan’s schemes are to turn our trust away from God and either onto ourselves or onto something or somebody else. This is exactly what we have to be careful of. It is when we “let go” of our total dependence on God, that we open our self for trouble. We must take responsibility to exercise faith and trust in God! Then we can remain in God's protection.  Psa 94:22(NIV) But the LORD has become my fortress, and my God the rock in whom I take refuge.

The fortress of God is available for us, but Christians walk out without realising they had walked out! Should you ever feel like losing your grip?  Turn to God and trust Him!

CONCLUSION

We have a sure and living hope.  Its source is found in God Himself.  While He shows us mercy, we must respond in repentance and faith to enter this living hope. The reason why we have such an assurance of the living hope is because Jesus has demonstrated it by being resurrected from the dead.  His resurrection shows we too will overcome death as well, by the power of God.  God has guaranteed us have an incredible inheritance - do not give it away!

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 Copyright©️2025 by Wilson Lim & Lai Ling Lim. All rights reserved. Materials are free to be distributed in whole or part as long as proper acknowledgement is given to the author and not sold for profit.