Romans 15:12-13
And again Isaiah says,
“The root of Jesse will come,
even he who arises to rule the Gentiles;
in him will the Gentiles hope.”
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.
Hope is often spoken of as desire. Our hopes are our dreams, the things for which we want and wish. But the word for hope used here carries with it a deeper connotation, an insinuation of expected certainty. This hope is no mere longing or aspiration; it’s an inevitable assurance. This is a definite hope. And this is the hope of Christmas.
Hope that our past sins can be wiped away, that they won’t haunt us forever.
Hope that our present circumstances are being used for our good and for God’s glory.
Hope that our future is with him, in a world made right, with sin, shame, sickness, and death long forgotten.
Christmas should remind us of the abundance of hope that we have. And it should remind us that our hope is not in anything of this world, but in the God of inexhaustible, unconquerable hope.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
- 1 Peter 1:3-5
