Jesus offers hope for now and eternity

Luke 8:54 states: But he took her by the hand and said, “My child, get up!”

These words are from the lips of Jesus. At these compassionate words, “My child, get up!” a little 12 year old girl, the daughter of Jarius is raised back to life again. In the most difficult and darkest hour in your life there is hope if you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ.

You can come heavy hearted and weary to Jesus for he is the God of hope.

Most people will say they have hope. I hope for a mild winter. I hope to get a new car in 2016. On and on go my earthly hopes. But when Jesus is your hope it is an eternal hope. Hope now and beyond this earthly life.

The little 12-year-old girl would have died again. So must we all die and leave this earthly scene. So the important question which each of us must consider.

When you die where will you spend eternity? Where are you hoping to go when you die?

Therefore consider: there is a man of hope, and a people of hope:

Jesus is the man of hope. He is the incarnate son of God. He came and lived among us. He is Immanuel, God with us. In the darkness the light has shone, in the fullness of time Jesus came. For the son of Man came to seek and save what was lost.

If you are lost today you are without hope. Lost in sin and in rebellion against God. The word of God makes it very clear that there is no hope for the wicked:

“When a wicked man dies, his hope perishes; all he expected from his power comes to nothing.” Prov 11:7

Those who have long lists of awards and accomplishments can not take them with them when they die. We took nothing into this world when we were born and we will take nothing with us when we leave. But if we have Jesus the man of hope we will have Him and will be with Him.

So we can have an eternal hope today as we trust in Jesus Christ who died on the cross for sinners and was raised on the third and is now seated at the right hand of God in heaven. Jesus said that he would come again and take us to be with him where he is. Now this is hope!

For the man of hope has a people of hope. Jesus came and proclaimed the kingdom of God.

This is not an earthly kingdom but an eternal kingdom. The people of Hope have saving faith in Jesus. Then this world is not your home you are just passing through, for your citizenship is in heaven.

If you are saved by the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, you can consider yourself as a person of hope.

The Apostle Peter wrote these most hopeful words. “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade - kept in heaven for you,”1 Peter 1:3-4

The little 12 year old girl is a picture of hope for us. Jesus gave that girl life and hope. Jesus is the hope of Israel and hope for all who would turn from their sin and look to Him. Look to Jesus and live, with an eternal hope. Hope which is now and forever.