A LIVING HOPE

A Martin

1 Peter 1: 3-5

This scripture came to mind as our brother was speaking. Peter, in writing to believers in the Lord Jesus, says that we have “a living hope”. Is that not a precious thing? What is our hope? Many have hope as a kind of wishfulness, hoping that something might happen, but we have “a living hope”. When we read about hope in the Bible, it means absolute assurance as to the future.  That is the meaning of hope in the Scriptures, assurance as to the future. And we have “a living hope”. Our sister had “a living hope”, and everyone who has a link with the Lord Jesus must have “a living hope”, because the day is soon coming when we are actually going to see Him face to face. What will it be to see Him, to see our Lord Jesus face to face! Wonderful prospect that we have! And it is an eternal prospect, not something that can be taken away from us. Eternal relationships will abide; they must abide; and they will never come to an end. Is that not blessed? We have this “living hope”.

And what is the “living hope”? The “living hope” is Himself; It is the Person; It is our Lord Jesus Christ. We have often been reminded that we do not exactly await just an event when He comes, but we await Himself. He is our Hope, and He is living now on high, and our sister has gone to be with Him in paradise. Is that not precious? What a portion she has, to enjoy, without interruption, the richness of His love constantly, and nothing of nature can intrude on that!  Nothing connected with time can intrude on that. Nothing! She knows His love and she enjoys that love without interruption. Is that not blessed? That is her portion.

We have been begotten to this “living hope”; and it has been secured “through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from among the dead”. When the Lord Jesus went into death, the power of death was broken. He went in as One upon whom death had no claim and the power of death was broken, but the evidence of that for us, and the triumph of it, is in the fact that He was raised, that He came out of death. The same Jesus manifested Himself in resurrection at the end of the gospels. He demonstrated to His disciples that He was the same blessed One whom they knew, and that He had come out of death victoriously. The fact that the Lord Jesus has been raised has secured the “living hope” for us. Is that not blessed, beloved, that He has been the way of death and resurrection? In the experiences of our lives, it is wonderful to remember that the Lord Jesus has been that way before, distinctly and uniquely, but He has been that way, and that includes the fact that He has been into death. Now He has come out of death. Death could not hold Him, and He has come out, and He has thereby made a way through for us, for every one of His own, so that the believer truly sees death as the way into what is absolutely blessed. Is that not wonderful?

And soon our sister will be given a body, a body of glory. At the moment she does not have that. Our brother is going to undertake the final committal service for our sister in the condition of flesh and blood - when she is buried, but soon she will have a body of glory, a body that is capable of housing and displaying the work of God that has taken place in her. That work will go through into eternity, and our sister's identity will go through.  Our sister will have a body that is capable of expressing, in glory, all that has been worked out in her in time, and this is true of every saint, every person, who has faith in the Lord Jesus.

Well, what is reserved for us, beloved, is an inheritance in the heavenlies, “an incorruptible and undefiled and unfading inheritance”. Is that not a contrast to what we see around? Things begin to fade, then they become defiled, then finally they become corrupt. What we have is “an incorruptible and undefiled and unfading inheritance, reserved in the heavens for you”. Peter is addressing believers here and he is saying, 'This is reserved for you'. You have an inheritance in the heavenlies; we might almost say, it has your name on it. Everyone who has their faith in the Lord Jesus and belongs to Him, has an inheritance that is reserved for them. Our sister has her inheritance. She will enter into it fully soon when the Lord Jesus comes and she will hear His voice and be raised. We will hear that voice, beloved! Every one of His own will hear that voice and we will see His face. What a sight that will be! May it be “a living hope” in our hearts for His Name's sake!

Word at the burial of Miss Rachel Pugh, Maidstone

6th Oct 2022