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"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable, undefiled, and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time." (bold and italics are mine) 1 Peter 1:3-5
Hope can be a tricky word, depending on the language you speak. In modern English, we tend to mix up the verb and noun forms. The former is defined as "a desire for something to happen" while the latter is defined as "a feeling of expectation and desire for something to happen". 1 Peter of course, was originally written in Greek the word is transliterated is "elpis" which is defined as "to anticipate with pleasure". So we see then, it is not a willy nilly hope like when we say, "I hope it does not rain". It is a hope with expectation, not anxiety. It is a hope that is a certain expectation, like when you are a kid and your parents said they bought airline tickets and made Disney reservations for March. We got excited because we knew we were going. We didn't mope and say, well, I sure hope we make it.
As Christians, our hope is Jesus Christ Himself as we are "in Him". The object of our hope is rooted in faith in Him and it is clear that our Great Hope is to be resurrected in a new body as He now has and then to with with Him and the resurrected people of God for ever! We are certain of this because the Scriptures tell us this truth over and over, including this passage. Peter tells us plainly that this is our inheritance and that it is "imperishable, undefiled, in three different ways it is permanent;
First, it is in Greek "aphthartos", meaning "imperishable", "amiantos" or pure and unstained, and "amarantos", meaning unfading or eternal. So here we have an eternal inheritance as Christians that is pure, immortal and eternal. It cannot be stained nor can it be removed from our account nor can it be changed. This is great news! This should cause us to have hope, a trusting and pleasurable hope like a kid looking forward to the vacation Dad and Mom promised him. He knows Dad and Mom are good for their word and he knows they've purchased the tickets. God is far more trustworthy than any Dad and Mom and we know Jesus Christ paid for all our sins, He paid it all on the cross. God Himself paid our ticket and put down an earnest deposit by His Holy Spirit on our soul as Believers Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 1:22.
In these troubled and confused times, we grapple for things to put our hope in. I know, I often have hung on the latest news on the virus or political dramas only to be let down, freaked out, angry, or depressed. We need to look up in pleasurable expectation to our Great High Priest, Jesus, and rejoice. He is coming back and when He does, He will judge all wickedness, right all wrongs, banish all lies, and ever shall we be with Him in the Kingdom.
May God bless you, keep you, cause Him to shine His face upon you, and grant you peace.
Keith
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