The Hope Of Heaven

Jesus tells us, “In this world you will have tribulation.” (John 16:33). You do not have to live in this world long to know how true those words are. Some of us are in the middle of a hard season right now. Some of us have just come out of one. And others may be walking into one without even knowing it. 

So what gets you through those moments when your life seems to be falling apart? What do you hope for when nothing seems to be working? 

Suffering and trials have a unique way of showing us what we are hoping for. They pull back the curtain and reveal if we are truly leaning on Christ or whether we have replaced Him with something temporary and too weak to sustain us through tribulation. 

So what hope can we have through trials and suffering? Where can we find a hope that is actually strong enough to sustain you through tribulation?

1 Peter gives us the answer. Peter is writing to Christians who are suffering and “grieved by various trials,”. He reminds them that their ultimate hope is not found in what this life can give in the here-and-now, but in the future that Christ has secured for them in heaven. He writes, “According to God’s [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.” (1 Peter 1:3-4).

Brothers/Sisters, this is the only hope that can help us endure every trial we go through. This hope is not a last resort for us Christians when everything else fails. It should be our first and final hope. For the world can only hope in what this life can give. The temporary, the fragile, the circumstantial. Hopes that can be easily taken away, ruined by betrayal, or suffocated by grief. 

Beloved, this is not your hope. Your hope is a living, imperishable, unfading, undefiled hope. One that is kept in heaven for you, secured by Jesus Himself. 

So brothers/sisters, when you are tempted beyond despair, lift your eyes to Christ and to the glory He has secured for you. Do not place your hopes in the things of this world, even in good gifts, for they all are passing away. But even good gifts can make terrible saviors. 

Instead, hope in heaven where God will dwell with His people, wipe away every tear. Look to heaven where there will be no more death, no more pain, no more suffering, and no more sin (Revelation 21:3-4). This future hope of heaven is why Paul calls our present sufferings a “light momentary affliction”. For it is preparing us for “an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.” (2 Corinthians 4:17). In other words, brother/sister, the sufferings and trials you are going through, as real and painful as they may be, are not even worth comparing to what awaits us in heaven. 

Therefore, my exhortation to you this morning is to set your hope fully on heaven, because only the hope of heaven is strong enough to carry you through the sufferings of this life. Make this your first and final hope, not the passing comforts of this world.