Hope for a New Year

At last year’s Frankfurt Book Fair, Dr Hubertus Schenkel, chairman of the fair’s supervisory board, paid tribute to “Jesus Christ on the one hand, and Harry Potter on the other.” Spiritual advice was in demand, he said, particularly in the US and especially after September 11. In fact, anything bringing insight and meaning to life is doing well, from the Bible to “how-to guides on keeping the peace in the family,” he added.

1 In the light of such events as the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center towers, the bombing in Bali and war in the Middle East, what hope does Jesus offer?
(John 14:27 ) “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”

2 For those who are struggling with life’s burdens, what does Jesus promise?
(Matthew 11:28-30) “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
“God rarely is found in the midst of noise and restlessness,” Mother Teresa observed. Instead, “He is the friend of silence.”

3 What has Jesus for those who are weighed down with guilt?
(Ephesians 1:7) “In him [Jesus] we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace.”

4 What kind of life has Jesus come to give us?
(John 10:10) “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”

Jesus: future hope
5 What promise did Jesus give to His disciples before He went back to heaven?
(John 14:1-3) “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me.”

6 What is God going to make new?
(Revelation 21:1) “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away.”
God’s dwelling place will be with humankind, on a renewed world and “he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God” (verse 3).

7 What will be different about this place?
(Revelation 21:4) “There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

Jesus: present and future security
8 What do we receive when we accept Jesus as our Saviour?
(John 3:16) “Whoever believes . . . shall not perish but have eternal life.”

9 Where is our “citizenship” when we accept Jesus as our Saviour?
(Philippians 3:20) “In heaven. And we eagerly await a Saviour from there, the Lord Jesus Christ.”
When we accept Jesus as our Saviour and commit our lives to Him, we receive eternal life as citizens of heaven. We “are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow-citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household” (Ephesians 2:19).

10 What guarantee does Jesus give to us that still applies today?
(John 6:37) “Whoever comes to me I will never drive away.”

Jesus: a lasting legacy
Historian Paul Johnson says, “It was in 1882 that the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche made his celebrated and dire pronouncement: God is dead.

“But Christianity is alive and well in the minds and hearts of countless believers. Today the world of six billion people counts its years and conducts its annual cycle of events in memory of this crucified failure.
“Jesus touched on the kindness and compassion within us and in doing so founded what is arguably the most influential of all religions. Whatever fresh evils arise in our midst, Christ’s message contains the means to overcome them.

“Perhaps the greatest merit of Christianity is that it provides us with a key to this final mystery. It offers an antidote to the fear death arouses in us, a firm promise of another world beyond and the means to enter it. That is the lasting legacy left by the man born 2000 years ago, a legacy that has not diminished in all those years and which carries us with faith and hope—into the future” (Reader’s Digest, December 1999).

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