“And His name will be the hope of all the world.” Matthew 12:21
When I was a teenager, I had a great hope of becoming a rock star. I thought nothing could be better than playing music, getting paid for it, and having fans. The band I was in was pretty good, but I wouldn’t say we were Rock Star status by any stretch of the imagination. Looking back on that season, a season in which I was not walking with Christ, I can see that I had hope in a lot of things. I had hope in certain relationships. Hope in sports. Hope in my band. Hope in my YouTube channel. Hope in a future career as a firefighter. But I didn’t have hope in the one thing I should have had hope in - God. It was only after everything I had hope in came crashing down that I realized I felt hopeless.
Have you ever been let down by false hopes? I think we have all been there at some point or another. We are creatures wired for trust in God and hope is a byproduct of that. We were created with a great capacity to depend on God and to be constantly encouraged by the hope that a trusting relationship with Him brings. Separated from God, we seek out into this world and invest our hope in something we “hope” will pay off. Proverbs 13:12 reminds us, “Hope deferred makes the heart sick.” It is a sickening feeling to have your hopes crushed.
People all throughout the world put their hope in careers, money, a new home, a new relationship, false gods, you name it. We are searching high and low in this world for hope. This simple verse reminds us that Jesus is the hope of all the world. He is not the hope of some, or a few, but the whole world. What Jesus did on the cross matters for your life whether you realize it or not. Jesus is the only way to be restored to a relationship with God (Jn. 14:6). And this hope Jesus gives is not a wishy-washy hope. This is a certain hope. Jesus’ finished work of the cross has the power to restore you to God and secure your eternal future with God forever. This is a relationship with God that starts now and never ends. God is a never-ending source of hope.
God’s Word tells us plainly, the hope we are looking for is found in Jesus Christ. He is the hope of the whole world. Where do you place your 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.” Romans 15:13