Our Blessed Hope for Christmas
Our hopes are fulfilled in the coming of Christ and causes us to look forward to His second coming.
Christmas Hope
31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name JESUS. 32 He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. 33 And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.”
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, 5 who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
Many Christians living in the so-called free world would think twice about voluntarily living in a country where they are deprived of religious liberty and face discrimination, abuse and even penalties if they step outside strict laws. The prospect of suffering is one that we do not face willingly. A person who goes to the hospital to face a major operation, with its accompanying pain and inconvenience, often does so with apprehension. It may be helpful to assure the patient that the painful experience will last a comparatively short time and that a full cure can be confidently expected at the end of it all. Fortified by faith in the word of the surgeon the patient can face the trial ahead with hope for the future and even with a certain relief and happiness.
To be a Christian in Peter’s time meant facing uncertain and unpleasant experiences from the surrounding world. A person might well hesitate to join a Christian group for fear of the consequences or quietly opt out because the demands were too great. One of Peter’s aims in his letter, then, was to encourage his readers by giving them grounds for solid hope in the ultimate future so that they might face the immediate future with equanimity, courage and even joy. Right at the beginning of the letter he sets this mood in what is, so far as its form is concerned, an expression of thanks to God.