Hope Came To Life
John 11:25
Our prayer today is that hope would come to life in each of our hearts today.
Maybe you, today, are more like the original Disciples than you might’ve thought. The original Disciples had hung all their hope on this New Messiah – Jesus. They’d left everything they had, pinning all their hope on the bright future they saw in him. But… they didn’t know what we know today about Jesus. Even up to the very end, they thought Jesus was going to free the Nation of Israel from Rome. They thought Jesus was going to bring great social and political change.
Even though Jesus had made it clear that his mission was much larger than the current circumstance that Israel faced. They still didn’t really hear it, and they didn’t really get it. They were still “hoping for the best.”
But then, in a mere five days from the Triumphal Entry to the Cross, every single thing went wrong. Their world and their hope was systematically crushed by some unseen enemy. Something was dismantling their lives right before their eyes.
As each of those last five days passed, the Disciples felt like someone was playing giant Jenga with their lives. You know – where someone is pulling out one piece of your life at a time until, at last, it all comes tumbling down.
And finally, after the Last Supper, when Jesus and the Disciples had walked to the Garden of Gethsemane, it was like someone had pulled the final piece from their giant Jenga lives. And in just hours, it seemed that their lives had completely collapsed.
And they all ran, scared to death, leaving Jesus to face the beating, and the mocking, and the flogging, and the Cross… alone.
The Disciples didn’t understand because they couldn’t see the big picture, and can we really blame them? How are we at seeing the big picture? How are we at seeing the big picture right now in the crisis we find ourselves in? In the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic? How are we doing seeing the big picture of what God is doing to bring hope in the midst of this crisis?
And so, knowing that the Disciples felt hopeless, maybe we can understand a little better when we read about them not even going to the tomb on the third day. Jesus had told them he was going to be crucified. That he was going to die, but that he would rise again on the third day. But the Disciples were so distraught and so hopeless that they didn’t even mark the calendar and go to the tomb, just in case. And when the women who did go to the tomb came back and told the Disciples, it’s clear that the Disciples didn’t really believe it. They were hopeless, and they were helpless. Their lives had been completely unraveled. Nothing was the same. Everything was displaced, out of order. They didn’t know what to do next. They were so distraught that even the empty tomb didn’t initially light the fire of hope inside them.
And maybe you are in a very similar place today. Maybe the fear, and anxiety, and uncertainty of all that is around us right now is dismantling your hope like someone is playing giant Jenga with your life and losing. Maybe you feel like the tower of your life is about to come crashing to the floor if just one wrong piece gets moved.
Please hear me when I say, the Disciples only THOUGHT that their hope was dead. They thought that their hope was dead; they felt like their hope was dead. In fact, their hope was about to come alive. Sometimes when we think hope is lost, we are actually on the verge of seeing hope come to life. And God wants to do that in your life today. If you are feeling hopeless in the midst of the fear and the anxiety of the pandemic, God wants to bring the most hope into your life. He wants to undergird you, shore you up. He wants to give you confident hope in the midst of the trials that you may be in. When we think hope is lost, often, God is actually on the verge of making hope come to life in our own hearts.
That happened in John Chapter 11. This is the chapter just before the Triumphal Entry that began the week leading to the Cross. In John Chapter 11, Lazarus, who was a dear friend to Jesus, had died. And the sisters of Lazarus – Mary and Martha – believed that Jesus could heal their brother, and so, they sent for him. But Jesus did not come, and their brother died. Mary and Martha had lost all hope at that moment. When Jesus finally did come, Martha went out to meet him. And in John 11:21 we read,
John 11:21 (NLT)
21 Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died.
Jesus, I was counting on you to do what I thought you would do. If only you had done what I asked. If only you had made it work out the way I thought it should work out. But now… you let my brother die, and he was your friend, how could you allow this to happen?
Martha THOUGHT all hope was gone when actually all hope was about to come to life. In John 11:23 Jesus says to Martha,
John 11:23 (NLT)
23 . . . “Your brother will rise again.”
And then Martha instinctively gives Jesus the “Sunday School answer” (the answer we’ve been taught, but not necessarily what we feel).
John 11:24 (NLT)
24 “Yes,” Martha said, “he will rise when everyone else rises, at the last day.”
Martha didn’t get it. And maybe we don’t get it. And maybe we think, yeah sure, maybe there’s a heaven up there. Maybe someday I’ll go there, but I need Jesus now. I need hope now. And this is kind of my feeling of what Martha was feeling, Like, yeah Jesus, heaven and all that. But my brother is dead now. What are you going to do now? You’re not doing anything for me now.
But then, Jesus says something that is critically important for us to hear.
John 11:25 (NLT)
25 Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life . . .
Don’t miss it.
Jesus is trying so hard to help Martha get a hold of hope coming alive in her own heart.
Jesus is not saying to Martha, I can bring you the hope of new life (the Resurrection life). Jesus is saying, I EXIST AS the hope of new life. I EXIST AS the Resurrection life.
Guys, Jesus Christ is the Source of new life, and he is the Source of true hope. When John is introducing Jesus in John Chapter 1, we read this.
John 1:4 (ESV)
4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men.
IN Jesus Christ is life, and IN Jesus Christ is the hope of new life.
The point is: Jesus is the SOURCE through which we receive ALL the promises of God.
2 Corinthians 1:20 (ESV)
20 For all the promises of God find their Yes in [Jesus]. That is why it is through [Jesus] that we utter our Amen (our Yes) to God for his glory.
All the promises of God find their fulfillment (their yes) in Jesus Christ. You find a promise in the Bible, and you look up to God and ask for that promise, and God says you can have that and all my promises through Jesus Christ (he is the Source). And then, when we put our faith in Jesus Christ as the Source, we say Amen – meaning we agree with God.
Guys, we need the promises of God right now. We need them all, and the promises of God are sufficient for these times… and for any time.
But, how can you get the promises of God without getting the Source? It’s like trying to get a drink without any water. It’s like trying to breathe without any air.
The Bible says JESUS is the Source of ALL of God’s promises, and today we need God’s promises, and we need real hope. And that hope can come to life in your heart today. We need hope that goes beyond the circumstances of today. We need eternal hope, and that hope came alive the moment Jesus rose from the dead. It’s an eternal hope. And it’s a hope that will carry us through today, and it’s a hope that will reserve eternal life for us someday.
Here’s why. When Jesus rose from the dead, he conquered the curse of sin this world is under. And he conquered the fallen-ness of this world, which is where all sickness comes from. Not only did Jesus conquer sin and the effects of sin on this world. But he also conquered death, which is a result of sin in the world. He also conquered the grave – meaning that through faith in Jesus Christ, you and I can bypass the grave. We can go straight from this temporal life right into eternal life in heaven.
I know so many people that are afraid of dying. In Christ, the promise of God that is yes and amen in him is that we will bypass the grave, straightaway, with no pauses. No temporary interment. To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord, 2 Corinthians 5:8 says. (Check it).
And not only all that, but Jesus also conquered the enemy of your soul – the devil – and his principalities and powers; they are conquered on your behalf. Christ is victorious over them, and you are victorious in Christ. And I could go on and on.
When Jesus rose from the grave, hope came alive for us! When Jesus Christ rose from the grave, hope came alive for you. Because Jesus conquered every enemy and every trial in this life, every circumstance, illness, sickness, in this life on our behalf.
The Bible says this. When we put our faith in Jesus Christ (Romans 6 says), we become so identified with Jesus that what he has done – we have done in him. And his conquering of sin becomes our conquering of sin. His conquering of death becomes our conquering. His conquering of the grave becomes our conquering of the grave. His victory over the enemy becomes our victory over the enemy, which gives us the ultimate victory over anything we face in this world. And because of our identification through faith with all that Jesus Christ has done, that gives us real hope. That is hope coming alive. And it came alive on that Resurrection morning, and it can come alive in your life today.
Let me remind you, hope in the Bible is not like “hoping you win the lottery.” It’s not wishful thinking.
The definition of hope in the Bible is: “a confident expectation, based on solid certainty.” It is not “I hope” as in “I wish.” It is “I hope” as in “I know.” “This is my confident expectation based on the solid certainty of God.”
The hope that came alive for us on the Resurrection morning is a hope that says, “I know with confident certainty that in Christ I have ultimate victory over any circumstance – any situation in this life.”
If by any means… it doesn’t matter, Paul says in Philippians 3. If by any means I may attain to the resurrection of the dead… The path doesn’t matter because I know I’ve already won. My victory is already secure, and I have hope because of what Jesus Christ has done for me.
And, on top of that, I have eternal life secured and waiting for me as soon as I leave here. That is the ultimate hope that came alive for us that Resurrection morning.
Hebrews 6:19 is the verse we started this church on. It’s the verse that we prayed into the spiritual foundation of this community.
Hebrews 6:19 (NKJV)
19 This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast . . .
And you can have this hope today. The confident hope of victory in Jesus Christ can come alive in your life today! You can receive it by God’s grace and through your faith alone (that’s what the Bible says).
Ephesians 2:8–10 (NLT)
8 God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God.
9 Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.
Please, please, don’t ever say, “Well, I’ve been a pretty good person. I think God will let me in.” Please. I don’t know what the biggest lie of the devil is, but that has to be one of the biggest. No one can boast of salvation because no one can earn salvation.
Look at verse 10.
10 For we are God’s masterpiece. The word is POIEMA in the Greek. His poem. His work of art. We are God’s work of art. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.
Jesus says to you and to me today what he said to his friend Martha.
“I AM the Resurrection and the Life”
“I AM the hope of NEW LIFE – now, and forever.”
And that new life includes all of God’s promises today and eternal life… someday.
Let’s finish by going back to the text in John 11 about Martha and her brother Lazarus. We only read part of John 11:25. We’ll start there and read through verse 27(a).
John 11:25–27 (NLT)
25 Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying.
26 Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never ever die.
Listen, please. I’m not making light, but I’m telling you. The virus might take my body, but it can’t take my life because my life is secure in Jesus Christ. It is eternal life, and he has beat illness and death, and the grave once and for all, on my behalf and on your behalf.
26 Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never ever die. Do you believe this, Martha?”
27 “Yes, Lord,” she told him . . .
Do you believe this? If you haven’t believed, do you sense the need to believe now? Is God drawing you to himself, that you would say in your heart right now, “I do believe”? “I believe that God’s Word is true. I believe that Jesus is who he says he is.”
If you haven’t before today, I pray you would now.
And so, after this incredible exchange, Jesus and Martha head to the tomb (of Lazarus), and on the way John 11:35 says, Jesus wept.
Maybe because his friends still didn’t quite get that he truly was the Resurrection and the Life, and when Jesus gets to the tomb, he has them roll the stone away. And he calls out in John 11:43,
John 11:43 (NKJV)
43 . . . “Lazarus, come forth!”
And Lazarus came forth! But he was still bound by his grave clothes, and hope is coming to life, but Jesus isn’t done because Lazarus is still wrapped in the grave clothes. Can you imagine for me please, what’s got you wrapped up today? What has you in shackles today? What sin, what anxiety, what fear, what depression, what anger, what lust, what has you chained up today like in dead man’s wrappings?
And then, my favorite verse in this text is the end of verse 44.
John 11:44 (NKJV)
44 . . . “Loose him, and let him go.”
I love that! “Loose that man.” Unbind him. Set him free from what shackles him on this earth. Remove the shackles of death. Free him from death’s grip – right now. LET HIM GO!!! Set that man free!!
Tell me, can you hear the voice of the Savior calling you out of your dead man’s clothes today, calling you to come forth into new, resurrection life? Can you hear the voice of the Savior in your own life? Maybe you’re back in the back of the tomb, and it’s echoing. And he cries out to you, “Come forth!” And if you will, then he will say, “Loose them, and let them free. Unbind them, unshackle them, and set them free from what’s bound them up.”
Don’t you want to hear that today? That’s the hope that Jesus Christ rose from the dead to offer you and me today. And if you will receive Jesus Christ as your Savior today, put your full faith and trust in him as your Lord, then he will free you from death’s grip. Jesus will free you from the shackles of this world. Hope will come alive in your heart. Hope to get through this difficulty, hope to get through the rest of this temporal life, and hope to join him in eternal life.
And he will be the Source of all of God’s promises in your life, the Source of all of your blessings. Hope came to life on that Resurrection morning, and hope can come to life in your heart, today.
Maybe you, today, are more like the original Disciples than you might’ve thought. The original Disciples had hung all their hope on this New Messiah – Jesus. They’d left everything they had, pinning all their hope on the bright future they saw in him. But… they didn’t know what we know today about Jesus. Even up to the very end, they thought Jesus was going to free the Nation of Israel from Rome. They thought Jesus was going to bring great social and political change.
Even though Jesus had made it clear that his mission was much larger than the current circumstance that Israel faced. They still didn’t really hear it, and they didn’t really get it. They were still “hoping for the best.”
But then, in a mere five days from the Triumphal Entry to the Cross, every single thing went wrong. Their world and their hope was systematically crushed by some unseen enemy. Something was dismantling their lives right before their eyes.
As each of those last five days passed, the Disciples felt like someone was playing giant Jenga with their lives. You know – where someone is pulling out one piece of your life at a time until, at last, it all comes tumbling down.
And finally, after the Last Supper, when Jesus and the Disciples had walked to the Garden of Gethsemane, it was like someone had pulled the final piece from their giant Jenga lives. And in just hours, it seemed that their lives had completely collapsed.
And they all ran, scared to death, leaving Jesus to face the beating, and the mocking, and the flogging, and the Cross… alone.
The Disciples didn’t understand because they couldn’t see the big picture, and can we really blame them? How are we at seeing the big picture? How are we at seeing the big picture right now in the crisis we find ourselves in? In the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic? How are we doing seeing the big picture of what God is doing to bring hope in the midst of this crisis?
And so, knowing that the Disciples felt hopeless, maybe we can understand a little better when we read about them not even going to the tomb on the third day. Jesus had told them he was going to be crucified. That he was going to die, but that he would rise again on the third day. But the Disciples were so distraught and so hopeless that they didn’t even mark the calendar and go to the tomb, just in case. And when the women who did go to the tomb came back and told the Disciples, it’s clear that the Disciples didn’t really believe it. They were hopeless, and they were helpless. Their lives had been completely unraveled. Nothing was the same. Everything was displaced, out of order. They didn’t know what to do next. They were so distraught that even the empty tomb didn’t initially light the fire of hope inside them.
And maybe you are in a very similar place today. Maybe the fear, and anxiety, and uncertainty of all that is around us right now is dismantling your hope like someone is playing giant Jenga with your life and losing. Maybe you feel like the tower of your life is about to come crashing to the floor if just one wrong piece gets moved.
Please hear me when I say, the Disciples only THOUGHT that their hope was dead. They thought that their hope was dead; they felt like their hope was dead. In fact, their hope was about to come alive. Sometimes when we think hope is lost, we are actually on the verge of seeing hope come to life. And God wants to do that in your life today. If you are feeling hopeless in the midst of the fear and the anxiety of the pandemic, God wants to bring the most hope into your life. He wants to undergird you, shore you up. He wants to give you confident hope in the midst of the trials that you may be in. When we think hope is lost, often, God is actually on the verge of making hope come to life in our own hearts.
That happened in John Chapter 11. This is the chapter just before the Triumphal Entry that began the week leading to the Cross. In John Chapter 11, Lazarus, who was a dear friend to Jesus, had died. And the sisters of Lazarus – Mary and Martha – believed that Jesus could heal their brother, and so, they sent for him. But Jesus did not come, and their brother died. Mary and Martha had lost all hope at that moment. When Jesus finally did come, Martha went out to meet him. And in John 11:21 we read,
John 11:21 (NLT)
21 Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died.
Jesus, I was counting on you to do what I thought you would do. If only you had done what I asked. If only you had made it work out the way I thought it should work out. But now… you let my brother die, and he was your friend, how could you allow this to happen?
Martha THOUGHT all hope was gone when actually all hope was about to come to life. In John 11:23 Jesus says to Martha,
John 11:23 (NLT)
23 . . . “Your brother will rise again.”
And then Martha instinctively gives Jesus the “Sunday School answer” (the answer we’ve been taught, but not necessarily what we feel).
John 11:24 (NLT)
24 “Yes,” Martha said, “he will rise when everyone else rises, at the last day.”
Martha didn’t get it. And maybe we don’t get it. And maybe we think, yeah sure, maybe there’s a heaven up there. Maybe someday I’ll go there, but I need Jesus now. I need hope now. And this is kind of my feeling of what Martha was feeling, Like, yeah Jesus, heaven and all that. But my brother is dead now. What are you going to do now? You’re not doing anything for me now.
But then, Jesus says something that is critically important for us to hear.
John 11:25 (NLT)
25 Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life . . .
Don’t miss it.
Jesus is trying so hard to help Martha get a hold of hope coming alive in her own heart.
Jesus is not saying to Martha, I can bring you the hope of new life (the Resurrection life). Jesus is saying, I EXIST AS the hope of new life. I EXIST AS the Resurrection life.
Guys, Jesus Christ is the Source of new life, and he is the Source of true hope. When John is introducing Jesus in John Chapter 1, we read this.
John 1:4 (ESV)
4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men.
IN Jesus Christ is life, and IN Jesus Christ is the hope of new life.
The point is: Jesus is the SOURCE through which we receive ALL the promises of God.
2 Corinthians 1:20 (ESV)
20 For all the promises of God find their Yes in [Jesus]. That is why it is through [Jesus] that we utter our Amen (our Yes) to God for his glory.
All the promises of God find their fulfillment (their yes) in Jesus Christ. You find a promise in the Bible, and you look up to God and ask for that promise, and God says you can have that and all my promises through Jesus Christ (he is the Source). And then, when we put our faith in Jesus Christ as the Source, we say Amen – meaning we agree with God.
Guys, we need the promises of God right now. We need them all, and the promises of God are sufficient for these times… and for any time.
But, how can you get the promises of God without getting the Source? It’s like trying to get a drink without any water. It’s like trying to breathe without any air.
The Bible says JESUS is the Source of ALL of God’s promises, and today we need God’s promises, and we need real hope. And that hope can come to life in your heart today. We need hope that goes beyond the circumstances of today. We need eternal hope, and that hope came alive the moment Jesus rose from the dead. It’s an eternal hope. And it’s a hope that will carry us through today, and it’s a hope that will reserve eternal life for us someday.
Here’s why. When Jesus rose from the dead, he conquered the curse of sin this world is under. And he conquered the fallen-ness of this world, which is where all sickness comes from. Not only did Jesus conquer sin and the effects of sin on this world. But he also conquered death, which is a result of sin in the world. He also conquered the grave – meaning that through faith in Jesus Christ, you and I can bypass the grave. We can go straight from this temporal life right into eternal life in heaven.
I know so many people that are afraid of dying. In Christ, the promise of God that is yes and amen in him is that we will bypass the grave, straightaway, with no pauses. No temporary interment. To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord, 2 Corinthians 5:8 says. (Check it).
And not only all that, but Jesus also conquered the enemy of your soul – the devil – and his principalities and powers; they are conquered on your behalf. Christ is victorious over them, and you are victorious in Christ. And I could go on and on.
When Jesus rose from the grave, hope came alive for us! When Jesus Christ rose from the grave, hope came alive for you. Because Jesus conquered every enemy and every trial in this life, every circumstance, illness, sickness, in this life on our behalf.
The Bible says this. When we put our faith in Jesus Christ (Romans 6 says), we become so identified with Jesus that what he has done – we have done in him. And his conquering of sin becomes our conquering of sin. His conquering of death becomes our conquering. His conquering of the grave becomes our conquering of the grave. His victory over the enemy becomes our victory over the enemy, which gives us the ultimate victory over anything we face in this world. And because of our identification through faith with all that Jesus Christ has done, that gives us real hope. That is hope coming alive. And it came alive on that Resurrection morning, and it can come alive in your life today.
Let me remind you, hope in the Bible is not like “hoping you win the lottery.” It’s not wishful thinking.
The definition of hope in the Bible is: “a confident expectation, based on solid certainty.” It is not “I hope” as in “I wish.” It is “I hope” as in “I know.” “This is my confident expectation based on the solid certainty of God.”
The hope that came alive for us on the Resurrection morning is a hope that says, “I know with confident certainty that in Christ I have ultimate victory over any circumstance – any situation in this life.”
If by any means… it doesn’t matter, Paul says in Philippians 3. If by any means I may attain to the resurrection of the dead… The path doesn’t matter because I know I’ve already won. My victory is already secure, and I have hope because of what Jesus Christ has done for me.
And, on top of that, I have eternal life secured and waiting for me as soon as I leave here. That is the ultimate hope that came alive for us that Resurrection morning.
Hebrews 6:19 is the verse we started this church on. It’s the verse that we prayed into the spiritual foundation of this community.
Hebrews 6:19 (NKJV)
19 This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast . . .
And you can have this hope today. The confident hope of victory in Jesus Christ can come alive in your life today! You can receive it by God’s grace and through your faith alone (that’s what the Bible says).
Ephesians 2:8–10 (NLT)
8 God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God.
9 Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.
Please, please, don’t ever say, “Well, I’ve been a pretty good person. I think God will let me in.” Please. I don’t know what the biggest lie of the devil is, but that has to be one of the biggest. No one can boast of salvation because no one can earn salvation.
Look at verse 10.
10 For we are God’s masterpiece. The word is POIEMA in the Greek. His poem. His work of art. We are God’s work of art. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.
Jesus says to you and to me today what he said to his friend Martha.
“I AM the Resurrection and the Life”
“I AM the hope of NEW LIFE – now, and forever.”
And that new life includes all of God’s promises today and eternal life… someday.
Let’s finish by going back to the text in John 11 about Martha and her brother Lazarus. We only read part of John 11:25. We’ll start there and read through verse 27(a).
John 11:25–27 (NLT)
25 Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying.
26 Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never ever die.
Listen, please. I’m not making light, but I’m telling you. The virus might take my body, but it can’t take my life because my life is secure in Jesus Christ. It is eternal life, and he has beat illness and death, and the grave once and for all, on my behalf and on your behalf.
26 Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never ever die. Do you believe this, Martha?”
27 “Yes, Lord,” she told him . . .
Do you believe this? If you haven’t believed, do you sense the need to believe now? Is God drawing you to himself, that you would say in your heart right now, “I do believe”? “I believe that God’s Word is true. I believe that Jesus is who he says he is.”
If you haven’t before today, I pray you would now.
And so, after this incredible exchange, Jesus and Martha head to the tomb (of Lazarus), and on the way John 11:35 says, Jesus wept.
Maybe because his friends still didn’t quite get that he truly was the Resurrection and the Life, and when Jesus gets to the tomb, he has them roll the stone away. And he calls out in John 11:43,
John 11:43 (NKJV)
43 . . . “Lazarus, come forth!”
And Lazarus came forth! But he was still bound by his grave clothes, and hope is coming to life, but Jesus isn’t done because Lazarus is still wrapped in the grave clothes. Can you imagine for me please, what’s got you wrapped up today? What has you in shackles today? What sin, what anxiety, what fear, what depression, what anger, what lust, what has you chained up today like in dead man’s wrappings?
And then, my favorite verse in this text is the end of verse 44.
John 11:44 (NKJV)
44 . . . “Loose him, and let him go.”
I love that! “Loose that man.” Unbind him. Set him free from what shackles him on this earth. Remove the shackles of death. Free him from death’s grip – right now. LET HIM GO!!! Set that man free!!
Tell me, can you hear the voice of the Savior calling you out of your dead man’s clothes today, calling you to come forth into new, resurrection life? Can you hear the voice of the Savior in your own life? Maybe you’re back in the back of the tomb, and it’s echoing. And he cries out to you, “Come forth!” And if you will, then he will say, “Loose them, and let them free. Unbind them, unshackle them, and set them free from what’s bound them up.”
Don’t you want to hear that today? That’s the hope that Jesus Christ rose from the dead to offer you and me today. And if you will receive Jesus Christ as your Savior today, put your full faith and trust in him as your Lord, then he will free you from death’s grip. Jesus will free you from the shackles of this world. Hope will come alive in your heart. Hope to get through this difficulty, hope to get through the rest of this temporal life, and hope to join him in eternal life.
And he will be the Source of all of God’s promises in your life, the Source of all of your blessings. Hope came to life on that Resurrection morning, and hope can come to life in your heart, today.