As winter turns to spring, what are you hoping for? To get the vaccine, the end of restrictions, to get back to work, to take a holiday?
These glimpses of normality have been dangled in front of us for months like the proverbial carrot. The waiting has led to frustration, despair, and often a sense of hopelessness. But, perhaps that’s the point. Perhaps, among all the other lessons to learn from this pandemic, God wants to reorient our hope – for us to see the ultimate fruitlessness of earth-bound hope and long for something better.
Hebrews 11:16 talks of our eternal inheritance as ‘a better country’ and it will certainly be that. No more tears, separation, pain and death in the new heavens and the new earth (Rev. 21:1-5). At the moment we live in a fragile world. Our health, finances, assumptions and routines have been shaken like never before. But, we are heading for an eternal kingdom which cannot be shaken (Heb. 12:28).
New life with Christ in this eternal kingdom is ‘the hope set before us’ (Heb. 6:18). It’s a hope we can cling to in dark days, it is a hope we can literally stake our lives on. Why? Because Jesus is already in God’s presence and is praying us home. He offered Himself as the perfect sacrifice for sin and then ascended into heaven, into the inner sanctuary. There, He anchors our salvation, securing it forever. Jesus’ death and resurrection blaze a trail for us and are the guarantee that we too will be raised to new life. As the writer to the Hebrews says: ‘We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, where our forerunner, Jesus, has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest for ever, in the order of Melchizedek’ (Heb. 6:19-20).
What will be the best thing about this ‘better country’? Jesus. We will be with the Lord forever – delighting in His love and basking in His glory. I’m looking forward to no more tears, pain or worry, but all that will pale in comparison to being with Him, ‘Christ Jesus our hope’ (1 Tim. 1:1). We can place all of our hopes for life and death on Christ. In fact, He’s the only safe place to put our hope – He’ll never disappoint us, never stop loving us, never leave us, and never stop working within us. He will guard and keep our hope in this life and be our abiding joy throughout eternity.
Soon, many of our earthly hopes will be realised – we’ll be able to meet up with friends, go on holiday, and hug our grandchildren. I can’t wait! But if life does start to feel a little less fragile, let’s not get complacent again, investing ultimate hope in people, places and things (that can’t deliver), when it should only ever be reserved for Christ. Let’s keep our eyes fixed on the glorious hope set before us.
‘May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit’ (Rom. 15:13).
