1 Peter 1:3 NASB
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
All Christians became new creations because of the resurrection of Christ, and our union with Him and His resurrection. Through our union with the resurrected Jesus, we were birthed into a living hope because His life is now our life, and therefore our story is now His story, and there is nothing we will ever face in this fallen world that the risen Christ isn’t excessively adequate for. We get to live in perpetual hope because of Him who has taken over our lives, which are sanctified in Him, and our daily stories are now unfolding according to the “It is written” narrative. He is now in control of the script that governs our past, present, and future, and the One who is writing the script is already prepared to be more than adequate for all the adventures, and drama that the script allows. We simply get to be the body through which He lives his life in resurrection power, as we restfully abide in joyful hope (the confident expectation, and anticipation of victory) of His all sufficiency.
Hebrews says that hope is the anchor of the soul, and Proverbs tells us that hope deferred makes the heart grow sick; so is it any wonder, that one of the great targets of the enemy’s assault against us is to steal our hope. The Christian life is a life of faith, and faith is the substance of things hoped for. Without a heart posture of living hope, there will be no life of faith that manifests the glory of Christ in the daily details of living.
I love what Revelation 4:1 – 2 says, “In the midst of these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven, and the first voice which I had heard, like the sound of a trumpet speaking with me, said, Come up here and I will show you what must take place in the midst of these things.” Immediately I was in the spirit; and behold, a throne was standing in heaven, and One sitting on the throne.
I believe that Jesus, sitting on the throne, was inviting John into hope. Jesus wanted John to look into the chaos ignore this box happening on the earth, in John’s prophetic vision, through heaven’s eyes. Jesus wanted John to see what heaven was saying about “what must take place” in the midst of these things. God is a God of hope, and no matter what God sees He always sees into the darkness with hope. If there is a single area in your life where you don’t have hope, then you can be certain that your perception of that area does not involve heavens perspective of reality. There are only two kind of wisdom’s in this world that governs our thinking according to James, “that which comes from above, and that which is earthly, fleshly and demonic,” therefore any perspective that doesn’t include hope has been formed by the serpent. Remember the narrative of 1 Peter 1:3, “born from above INTO a living hope, BECAUSE of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead.” The One who sits on the throne and sees into the chaos of this fallen world with the eyes of heavens hope, is that One that you and I are in union with, and we are seated in Him the heavenlies. John’s testimony of how Jesus approached everything, and how He saw everything, is recorded in John 3:31 – 32, “He who comes from above as above all, he who is of the earth is from the earth and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all. What He has seen and heard, that He bears witness;”
Because Jesus lived out his life on the earth in union with His Father, He saw everything from heavens perspective. No matter what was happening around Him, He believed He was above it. Jesus never lived his life “under the circumstances,” and because we are in Christ, neither should we. Through our union with the resurrected Jesus, we are walking on this earth as those who “come from above,” or “come from heaven,” and therefore we can face all things knowing that we can DO all things in and through Christ who strengthens us.. Jesus never felt threatened by anything, but He knew that the devil lived threatened by Him. There is an old saying about athletes who are extremely muscular and physically sculptured like Hercules, but play their sport as if they were Barney Fife, “They look like Tarzan, but they play like Jane.” When the enemy sees us, he sees someone in union with the resurrected Jesus, but when he sees us give in t to hopelessness and fear, then he knows, that we don’t know who we are, and though we may look like Tarzan, he knows, he is dealing with Jane and doesn’t need to be threatened by us. The enemy can do nothing with the believer who knows who they are in union with the resurrected Christ, and being plunged into a living hope because of that union, live a life of rejoicing hope.