We read about this “living hope” in 1 Peter 1:3-5. What is living hope? It is hope with assurance that its object will come to pass without question; it is a confidence that its end is absolutely certain! It is God’s guarantee to us that He will give us “a future and a hope”, or as the King James Version says, “to give you an expected end” Jeremiah 29:11. This is a “living hope” because it is rooted in a Living Redeemer and His Life Filled Word, Jesus, who was dead but is now “alive forevermore” Revelation 1:18. This hope is in Him and centers on the New Birth which was made possible by Him. Hear the words of Peter saying God “has begotten us again to a living hope…” As a new baby is given a new life from its inception from the father, so God the Father gives new life, “And you He made alive who were dead in trespasses and sins” Ephesians 2:1, at the moment His Spirit enters in upon receiving Jesus as Savior and Lord. In 1 Peter 1:23, Peter goes on to explain that this new birth “is not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever.” The life received from our physical parents is doomed to perish from its inception because of the sin of “the first man Adam”; the life we receive at the new spiritual birth is eternal because “The last Adam (Jesus) “became a life giving spirit” 1 Corinthians 15:45. This new life is guaranteed eternal as long as we continue to live in Christ; this is our living hope, that “if we died (to sin) with Christ,…we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more…Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord” Romans 6:8-11. This hope culminates with “an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you” 1 Peter 1:4-5. Yes, it is eternal life in God’s presence and the splendor of the “new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells” 2 Peter 3:13.
A living hope
By Rose Hill
Because of the mercy God is giving,
We have a hope that is really living.
It is an inheritance that won’t decay,
Reserved in heaven until that day.
When it will be revealed in the last hour,
Because we are kept through faith in God’s power.
Unless otherwise stated Scripture quotations are from the New King James Version copyright …1982 by Thomas Nelson co. Used by permission.