The good news about Jesus is often spoken of as the ‘hope’ of the gospel. It’s not a ‘hope-so’ or a ‘hope-ful’. Hope is the promise from God of eternal life gifted to all who place their faith in Jesus Christ.

The Bible speaks of the hope ‘that God has called you to’ (Ephesians 1:18), and the hope ‘laid up for you in heaven’ (Colossians 1:5). This is the ‘assurance of hope until the end’ (Hebrews 6:11).

Imagine a world without the hope of the gospel!

A world where there is no life after death. What we have now is as good as it gets. The best approach we can have to life is ‘to make the most of it’. That is the ‘hope’ of the atheist, and perhaps the default ‘hope’ of the agnostic.

The Christian and the non-believer have this much in  common: their ‘hopes’ are temporary.

For the non-believer, life will conclude with a full-stop. Death triumphs. The accumulation of life’s work will be brought to a conclusion with a eulogy and a ’hope-so’ that the lost one ‘lives on up there’!

The Christian’s hope is temporary too, because at death it makes way for the resurrection to eternal life. The casket is not the conclusion. Hope is realized in the new life.

Just as Jesus himself has risen from the dead, so his resurrection is the path and promise to all who die trusting in him.

Imagine a world without the hope of the gospel. My prayer is that you won’t have to. There is a certain hope received through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.