Three reasons to have hope

“I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe.” (Ephesians 1:17-19)

In 1721, 18 year-old Jonathan Edwards, one of the most brilliant American minds as well as one of the most influential preachers, preached a sermon that addressed the question, “What is our hope in Christ?” His answer, in good preacher form, was in three points: our bad things will turn out for our good, our good things will never be taken away, and the best is yet to come. I want to briefly address these three reasons for our hope.

The first reason for our hope is that God works all things together for good for those who love him (Romans 8:28-29). Even the death of a loved one or a crippling illness can be used by God, if we submit to Him, in order to conform us to the image of His Son, as His fatherly discipline to train us for deeper godliness and greater joy. Furthermore, we know that God can use our suffering so that we might bring comfort and salvation to others (2 Corinthians 1:3-5). This hope is a firm foundation, that God can use even the worst things that Satan or this life throws at us for our sanctification and for the salvation of others. This is why we can rejoice in our sufferings – not because of our sufferings but in our sufferings - because we know that God does not waste suffering, but uses it for our good and for the salvation of others.

The second reason for our hope is that our good things can never be taken away from us. When we come to faith in Christ, God gives us His Holy Spirit to live in us, a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance, which is kept in heaven for us (1 Peter 1:3-4). We know that this world is wasting away. Your health, your looks, your relationships, your status – all of it is going to eventually fade or die away. But we also know that we can never lose the good things we have in Christ: our adoption as His children, the forgiveness of our sins, the promise of eternal life, and His healing and transforming love. Nothing in all of this world can separate us from Him (Romans 8:38-39).

And the third reason for our hope is that the best is yet to come. The Biblical writers grasp for language to describe what it will be like on that day when we are with God. We read in Revelation about a world with no more suffering, where we will see God and experience the healing and intimacy that comes from His presence. We read images of wedding feasts and streets of gold. But the truth is that as Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 2:9, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him.” And as he wrote in Romans 8:18, “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.” This is the ultimate hope we have, that in the light of eternity, the sufferings we experience in this world will only enhance our joy on that day. All that you thought you had lost in this world will be yours in abundance forever – the beauty, the intimacy, the health, the significance, the love, the peace, and the joy.

Brothers and sisters, I pray that you would know this hope to which He has called you!