When the Apostles Peter and Paul penned the Bible verses above, it was during the golden age of the Roman Empire. Rome had reached its zenith of power, peace, and prosperity. But if you scratched beneath the surface, you could see it was also a time of intense hopelessness. “Eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we die” was one popular philosophy; while another taught, “Since there is little joy in life, and soon we will die, all we can do is persevere and do the best we can.” While different philosophies, they share a common theme: “There is no hope! Hope is dead!”
Yet into that world came Peter and Paul, and many others, proclaiming how hope had come alive! What happened to turn hope around? The only thing that could. God came into the world. God was born, a baby in a manger. God became a flesh-and-blood man. The God-man, Jesus, lived a sinless life so God could cover all sinful people with a robe of righteousness. God was nailed to a cross, where He bled and died to pay the penalty for all sin. He took the curse of sin—which had destroyed all hope—and sealed it away in His tomb forever.
Giovanni Francesco Romanelli (1610-1662) – St John and St Peter at the Empty Tomb of Christ
Yet it was impossible for death to hold Him. You can take the God of hope and put Him in a grave, but you cannot keep Him down for long. Jesus came alive, and so did hope! As Paul says in our Romans verse, He gave the world a hope which does not disappoint. As Peter says in his first epistle, He brought the world a hope which cannot perish, spoil, or fade away.
Someone once described our Easter hope this way: “Easter means that the worst things are never the last things!” Hope in Jesus does not mean that we won’t have to face hard and heart-breaking situations in this life. But it does mean that, as believers in Christ, God is always there for us, and our lives will not end in sorrow and pain. For the risen Jesus has triumphed over death and hell! Peter, tradition holds, was crucified upside down for preaching the Gospel. But that was not the last chapter of his life’s story. Now Peter has an inheritance in heaven beyond the reach of change and decay. Paul may have been beheaded for his faith in Jesus, but that was not the end of the road for him either. His path did not run into a dead end of disappointment! As he writes: “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.” (Romans 8:18 NIV84)
Look around. In many ways our world today is a mirror image of the world two thousand years ago. It’s a fallen world, aching with despair and hopelessness. But that’s not true for those who, by faith, know Jesus as their risen Savior. Because of Him we have hope, hope to keep our hearts brave in the face of life’s many struggles, and our eyes looking up with joyful expectation as we await the life that knows no tears. In the words of a new favorite hymn, “This joyful Easter-tide, away with sin and sorrow! . . . Had Christ, who once was slain, not burst his three-day prison, our faith had been in vain. But now is Christ arisen, arisen, arisen; but now is Christ arisen!”
With Peter and Paul let’s tell one and all of the one hope that can never disappoint or fade away!
“In his great mercy he has given us 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.” (1 Peter 1:3-4 NIV84)
“And hope does not disappoint us.” (Romans 5:5 NIV84)
is pastor of Gethsemane Lutheran Church in Saginaw, Michigan, and president of the Church of the Lutheran Confession.