Pasalamatan natin ang Diyos at Ama ng ating Panginoong Jesu-Cristo. Dahil sa laki ng habag niya sa atin, tayo’y binigyan niya ng isang panibagong buhay sa pamamagitan ng muling pagkabuhay ni Jesu-Cristo mula sa libingan at ito ang nagbigay sa atin ng isang buháy na pag-asa. Makakamit natin ang isang kayamanang di masisira, walang kapintasan, at di kukupas na inihanda ng Diyos sa langit para sa inyo.

1 Pedro 1:3–4

Where is your hope built on? Nasa security ba ng trabaho mo or your life savings? On your good health, thanks to a healthy diet and regular exercise? On a charismatic leader and his grandiose promises? On the amazing advancements in science and technology? 

In the hymn The Solid Rock, composer Edward Mote declares, “My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness; I dare not trust the sweetest frame, But wholly lean on Jesus’ name. On Christ the solid Rock I stand; all other ground is sinking sand.”

The Solid Rock speaks of the Christian hope — the ultimate hope that has already come to life in Jesus of Nazareth. Nung nagsimula si Jesus ng Kanyang earthly ministry, He proclaimed, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15, ESV).

Christ came to earth to save sinners from sin and its eternal punishment and lead them to eternal life (John 3:16). But His mission is beyond that. He came to usher in the Kingdom of God, to establish God’s rule on earth, and to prepare His followers to reign with Him forever in God’s New Creation. That New Creation is the glorious new heaven and new earth where God will dwell with everyone whose Savior and Lord is Jesus.

We can anticipate this wonderful future because of Jesus’ resurrection. Through Christ’s resurrection from the dead, everyone who entrusts their lives to Him becomes “born again to a living hope” (1 Peter 1:3, ESV). That living hope is “an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you” (1 Peter 1:4, ESV).

Where is your hope built on? May it be on Jesus. Because “all other ground is sinking sand.”