Gifts of Hope

Last week Peter’s words reminded us to hold on to hope, even in the midst of trials.

Our faith, the treasure of having been brought back to God, and Christ living in us give us great hope in uncertain times. We focused on the idea of valuable treasure. God’s Word is part of that treasure; we could dig deeper into

1 Peter 1:5-7 and discover even greater riches.

“Though you have not seen Him, you love Him; and even though you do not see Him now, you believe in Him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls” (1 Peter 1:8-9).

When I first read verses 8 and 9, key words struck me as “gifts” of the hope God has given us.

• love
• faith
• joy
• salvation

 How is our hope in God a gift?

Love

“We love because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19)

• Any love we have for God comes from God as a gift to us.
• We not only love Jesus, we delight in Him.¹

How and why can we delight in Jesus?

Faith

Our relationship with Jesus is based on faith, for we have not yet seen Him personally.

This belief is all-encompassing: we believe

• Jesus came as fully man to teach us about God.
• Jesus is fully God, Messiah sent from God.

We rest and stand on these truths.

Our faith gives us great joy.

• This joy is inexpressible.
• It is full of glory—excellent, splendid, glorious.²

 How would you describe the joy of faith?

Do we consider our faith as something excellent, splendid, and full of glory?

• God does.
• Last week we read that our faith is “of greater worth than gold” and will “result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed” (1 Peter 1:7).

The end result or outcome of our faith is salvation.

• This gift of salvation is deliverance from sin and its spiritual consequences as we are now joined with Christ.³
• Our spiritual and immortal nature, and rational and natural mind, now have eternal life in Christ.⁴

Joy

Part of what gives us joy too great to express (verse 8) is that God will continue to reveal Himself in all His glory to us as we seek.

The Old Testament prophets are an example of God’s revelation in action as a result of diligent searching.

Salvation

“Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when He predicted the sufferings of the Messiah and the glories that would follow” (1 Peter 1:10-11).

• The prophets inquired earnestly of God, seeking Him in order to know His plan for salvation.
• They wanted to understand more about God’s “divine grace and favor [that would be] bestowed in and through Jesus and the gospel [message].”⁵
• The NIV translation reminds us God’s Spirit has always been active in His people, even before the time of Christ.
• The Spirit of Christ led the prophets to inquire and investigate specifically what person would come (NASB and NIV translations).
• The word “time” is the Greek kairós, which means a period of opportunity (within the greater passing of time, or chrónos) or opportune time. Here it refers to the set time for the coming of Messiah.

“But when the set time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship” (Galatians 4:4-5).

• The Spirit of Christ showed the prophets future hidden things, that Messiah would suffer and then enter His royal majesty as Messiah.⁶

How or when have you searched intently for God?

How has God revealed Himself to you?

 

All wrapped up in the gift of hope.

In the context of James’ encouragement to endure trials and temptations, he included these words of hope:

“Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all He created” (James 1:17-18).

In the midst of a life of sin that brings only death and separation from God, we can accept God’s gift of new birth into a living hope, eternal life with God.

This hope allows God’s good gifts to overflow in our lives:

• love
• faith
• joy
• salvation

 

Which of these gifts would you like to have more evident in your life?

Which of these gifts will you tell someone about this week?

 

1 Spiros Zodhiates Th.D., The Complete Word Study Dictionary New Testament (Chattanooga, Tennessee: AMG Publishers, 1992), 65

2 Ibid., 481

3 Ibid., 1360

4 Ibid., 1494

5 Ibid., 1470

6 Ibid., 412, 479