Living Hope

1PE 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy has begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

I love the fact that the believer has hope. This hope is given to us a gift from our heavenly Father. The grounds of the hope is because of his abundant mercy. It is in His mercy that we find hope. It begins with the hope of salvation that is found in the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.
We can also see the character of that hope. It is a lively hope. This means that it is living and full of life. That in itself causes it to be bright, active, and filled with joy. It springs up like a fountain and it is continually fresh when we draw from it. The hope of unjust men dies... When a wicked man dies, his expectation will perish, and the hope of the unjust perishes. Proverbs 11:7 Hitler would be a prime example. He saw all that he had hoped to build fall apart around him. When there was no hope left for him he committed suicide. Our hope will never perish. The difference for us is the means by which we were begotten into the hope… the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Why does that bring hope? It is because we have a risen savior. Because our savior has risen we have a different life. “For our life is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ”: (PHI 3:20) and we are looking for Him, who is our hope. Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ. (TIT 2:13)
Because I have a risen Savior I can trust every word He says because He said He would be killed but also He would rise again. If he didn't He is a liar and can't be trusted. But He did rise and I can trust his words. Jesus said, “I am the way the truth and the life and no man comes to the father but by me.” (John14:26) The Bible says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. (John 3:16-17) I can trust in the hope that I have in Him.
This means that I have access to the throne of God. EPH 2:18 says that: ...through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father. EPH 3:12 says that we have... boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him. HEB.4:16 tells us to… come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.
It also means I am rescued from the wrath to come. Paul wrote: For they themselves declare concerning us what manner of entry we had to you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come. (1 Thes. 1:9-10 ) He also said in the same letter, “For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. (1 Thes. 4:14-16)
This is the hope we live in. Walk daily in that hope!