Our Hope in Christ

“For the Law made nothing perfect, and on the other hand there is a bringing in of a better hope, through which we draw near to God.”  Hebrews 7:19

Men and women have many false hopes in this world, one of which is that they can earn heaven by good works. Even though God’s law is a perfect law, it can never make a person fit for heaven, because no one can keep the law perfectly. There is better hope, however, and that hope is “the hope of salvation” (1 Thess. 5:8), “which is Christ in you” (Col. 1:27).

This “hope that is in you” (1 Pet. 3:15), is indeed a wonderful hope. In addition to the one in our text (“better”), there are three other adjectives in the New Testament relative to our Christian hope.   
   
First, it is called a “good hope.” “Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father, who has loved us and given us eternal comfort and good hope by grace” (2 Thess. 2:16).

Next, it is a “blessed hope.” “Instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus” (Titus 2:12-13).

Finally, it is a “living hope.” “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Pet.1:3).

It is true, of course, that our hope is centered on the eternal future, for “If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied” (1 Cor. 15:19). Nevertheless, the proved resurrection of Christ makes it a good hope, a blessed hope, and a living hope.