PRAISE HIM FOR A CERTAIN HOPE

Who remembers Monty Hall? He emceed the popular game show, Let’s Make a Deal, back in olden times from the earl 1960’s to the mid to later 1970’s. Contestants competed for the chance to make choices between prizes behind curtains and boxes. If they chose well, they may get a dream vacation or a brand new car. If they chose poorly, they may get a year’s supply of spam or a pet goat. Most times the prize they hoped for was not behind the chosen door.

There is one certain hope I know we have and that is in Jesus Christ. The early Christians lived for that assured hope. This certain hope especially rang true for Peter. As a close friend of Jesus, Peter had failed to stick with Him when it came time to acknowledge Jesus. Peter had moved to the inner circle to the outskirts of it all. In Mark 16: 7, the angel tells the women at the empty tomb to go “.. tell his disciples and Peter, 'He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.” The hope…”just as He told you.”

Put yourself in Peter’s place…and we call easily can. ..as in our own ways we have failed to stick with Jesus. But imagine you are Peter, and you have done what Peter has done, but now you hear that not only is Jesus alive, but He wants to see him and include him. It is no coincidence that Peter begins in 1 Peter 1: 3 talking about his living hope in the living Jesus….the certain hope! “3Praise be to the God and Father of our LORD Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,”

Peter’s life changed that Sunday morning!! For that matter, all of our lives did. Peter wanted to himself and exhorts everyone else to rejoice in and praise God for the power of Jesus over sin and death. In heaven we have our inheritance in Christ Jesus…1 Peter 1: 4 …” 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you,” If we choose the prize, that is the empty tomb, it is the best, most wise choice of prizes we can ever know or have. The certain hope is behind the door that is the empty tomb!!!! His buried body began to breathe. Our Lion of Judah roared the grave has no claim on me. Jesus, Yours is the victory!

Our certain and living hope is in the resurrection of Christ. Put your trust in this prize. You have a great inheritance waiting.

“Hope is called the anchor of the soul (Hebrews 6: 19), because it gives stability to the Christian life. But hope is not simply a ‘wish” (I wish that such-and-such would take place); rather, it is that which latches on to the certainty of the promises of the future that God has made.” –RC Sproil