Real Hope: HOPESample

Hope in the Midst of Hopelessness

1 Peter has been described as ‘The Letter of Hope’, despite that it was written to the Christians surrounded by hopelessness as they suffered unthinkable persecution by Nero’s Roman Empire. History shows Nero as a real ‘piece of work’. If you want to make your toes curl, Google him, but here’s a snippet of what this madman was doing to the small (but growing) Christian community at the time.

Always leaning towards the theatrical, he came up with some real show-stoppers to entertain the masses. For example, he had some sewed up in animal skins, and then allowed them to be savaged to death by wild dogs. Many were nailed to crosses, often upside down in an act of mockery. Also, others dressed in shirts made stiff with wax, fixed to posts, were set on fire in his gardens and roadways to illuminate the city by night. Into this environment of persecution, Peter writes his first letter full of God’s powerful and life-changing hope. In the first seven verses alone we unearth five powerful truths about the hope that only God can give us. A hope that is real and deep and lasting no matter what we’re going through.

• God CHOSE us! – vv1–2
• God will always show us MERCY! – v3
• Our SALVATION is secured! – v4
• God’s POWER will always protect us! – v5
• God is preparing us for ETERNITY! vv6–7

Just like believers of that time, today we too have these truths to give us hope when the circumstances around us may seem utterly hopeless.

Written by ROBBIE PARKIN