Isaiah 3-4
Galatians 6
“Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” Romans 5:5, NKJV
On the night before Jesus’s crucifixion, He shared a meal with His disciples. It was not just any meal, it was the Passover that commemorated God rescuing His people from slavery in Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm; it was a meal of great joy and celebration. It was also during this meal that Jesus reminded His disciples that He was going to die. Jesus said, “But the hand of Him who is going to betray Me is with Mine on the table. The Son of Man will go as it has been decreed” (Luke 22:21-22). Jesus was ready to submit His life into the hands of the enemy, knowing that His death would bring restoration to the world and reconciliation for the broken relationship between God and humanity.
Throughout His earthly ministry, Jesus had been preparing His disciples for His departure. He encouraged, equipped and shaped them to carry on the work of the kingdom. From Jesus’s teaching, it is clear that He invited His disciples, as well as us, to be animated in our life as followers by fixing our eyes and always having an ear for how the story ends. There will come a day of judgment where God will make a final end to sin, death and hell; the final restoration of all things is the ultimate hope to which Scripture points.
But in the moment when Jesus shared the news of His going, the disciples were understandably despaired, grieved and troubled. To encourage them, Jesus said, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in Me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with Me that you also may be where I am” (John 14:1-3). This is the hope that is meant to animate our life.
Scriptures will tell us over and over again that in Jesus we have an eternal hope, that we have been born again into a living hope and that we are invited to embody this hope for the sake of our world. For hope is what our world desperately needs. Hope in our world often means nothing more than wishful thinking, but biblically hope is utter certainty. Why? Because it is rooted in the faithfulness of God.
May we hold firming onto the hope that we have in Christ’s return.
O Lord, the hope I have in You is not wishful thinking, but a certainty that You are coming back and You will make all things new. You are the hope that this world desperately needs. Thank You, Lord.
Galatians 6
“Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” Romans 5:5, NKJV
On the night before Jesus’s crucifixion, He shared a meal with His disciples. It was not just any meal, it was the Passover that commemorated God rescuing His people from slavery in Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm; it was a meal of great joy and celebration. It was also during this meal that Jesus reminded His disciples that He was going to die. Jesus said, “But the hand of Him who is going to betray Me is with Mine on the table. The Son of Man will go as it has been decreed” (Luke 22:21-22). Jesus was ready to submit His life into the hands of the enemy, knowing that His death would bring restoration to the world and reconciliation for the broken relationship between God and humanity.
Throughout His earthly ministry, Jesus had been preparing His disciples for His departure. He encouraged, equipped and shaped them to carry on the work of the kingdom. From Jesus’s teaching, it is clear that He invited His disciples, as well as us, to be animated in our life as followers by fixing our eyes and always having an ear for how the story ends. There will come a day of judgment where God will make a final end to sin, death and hell; the final restoration of all things is the ultimate hope to which Scripture points.
But in the moment when Jesus shared the news of His going, the disciples were understandably despaired, grieved and troubled. To encourage them, Jesus said, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in Me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with Me that you also may be where I am” (John 14:1-3). This is the hope that is meant to animate our life.
Scriptures will tell us over and over again that in Jesus we have an eternal hope, that we have been born again into a living hope and that we are invited to embody this hope for the sake of our world. For hope is what our world desperately needs. Hope in our world often means nothing more than wishful thinking, but biblically hope is utter certainty. Why? Because it is rooted in the faithfulness of God.
May we hold firming onto the hope that we have in Christ’s return.
O Lord, the hope I have in You is not wishful thinking, but a certainty that You are coming back and You will make all things new. You are the hope that this world desperately needs. Thank You, Lord.
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