As we enter into what is commonly known as Holy Week, we do so with great anticipation. After Jesus entered Jerusalem to the shouts of “Hosanna! Blessed is He Who comes in the name of the Lord,” it was the fulfillment of hope for the Jewish people. They were hoping for the Messiah. Sadly, as a whole, they rejected Him. Rejection of Christ then, as well as now, means the loss of hope beyond this life.
We who are in Christ know that there are only two possibilities after we leave this life: heaven or hell. God created them both. Those who have faith in Christ have the hope of heaven; those who are lost have no hope and are doomed to experience the eternal hopelessness of hell. It may be that one of the greatest torments in hell will be the realization that the pain will never cease.
Bu what is this hope of which we speak? People use the word as a synonym for a wish or a desire. We hope to visit friends or family soon; we hope to get a tax refund; we hope to break 90 on the golf course.
But for the Christian, hope is not a wish, it’s a reality. In the biblical sense of the word hope is fact not yet realized. God has promised it and He will fulfill that promise. In the spiritual sense, hope is the Christian character that gives us a confident attitude toward the future and provides us with the proper motivation to expend our energy in living like Christ to the best of our ability.
Hebrews 6:19-20 says, “We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, where Jesus, who went before us, has entered on our behalf.” Our hope is grounded firmly in Christ Jesus Who has entered the heavenly Holy of Holies on our behalf, acting as our great High Priest and forever making intercession for us. He is our sure and steady Anchor.
Peter adds in 1 Peter 1:3-6 that we have been given a “new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, 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. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.” Jesus Christ is the foundation of our hope, and since He is unshakable, our hope is secure.
If you don’t know that hope, look to Christ today. He is the only way to eternal hope, and that message is why this ministry is here……that you may know – the hope of eternal life.
1 John 5:13
That You May Know Ministries 