Easter is about hope. As Christians, we have the hope of eternal life because Jesus Christ was raised from the dead. Peter says that we have been born again to a living hope! Our hope is alive because our Savior Who died for our sins is alive and one day will return to take us to be with Him forever!
The hope we have is not a “hope so” or “maybe so” or “I wish” kind of hope. We often speak of hope in these terms. The hope we have from God through Christ’s resurrection is the certain expectation that we will receive all that He has promised us. In Titus 1:2 we read this: “in hope of eternal life which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began.” Peter says a couple things that demonstrate the certainty of our hope. First, we have an inheritance reserved for us in heaven that is incorruptible, undefiled and does not fade away. Second, God is not only reserving a heavenly inheritance for us, He is preserving us for the inheritance! We are being kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. We rejoice in this wonderful salvation – that we are eternally secure in Christ. But we will also have trials. Those trials, like those related to the coronavirus, we can endure in the present because of the hope we have for the future!

Questions for John 1 Peter 1:3-9

1. What does it mean to bless God?
2. What does it mean to be begotten again?
3. What does it mean that we were born again to an inheritance?
4. Why does Peter call our hope a “living” hope?
5. How is hope related to the resurrection of Jesus? See 1Cor.15:17-18
6. How is the hope we have in Christ different from the kind of hope we sometimes use – like in the statement, I hope it doesn’t rain tomorrow?
7. How can Peter say our trials are only “for a little while?”
8. What do the words “if need be” indicate?
9. Why does God bring trials into our lives? (vs.7)
10. What is “the salvation of your souls” in verse 10?