Life, Peace, and Hope
The other morning, the Lord spoke three words to me: life, peace, and hope. That led me to look at Scriptures that describe Jesus as being our life, our peace, and our hope. Let’s see how these three aspects of Jesus work together for us.
Jesus Our Life
When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. Colossians 3:4 (KJV)
Jesus Our Peace
For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; Ephesians 2:14 (KJV)
Jesus Our Hope
Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the commandment of God our Saviour, and Lord Jesus Christ, which is our hope; I Timothy 1:1 (KJV)
If we look at the Greek meaning of each of these three words, we’ll get a much better idea of who Jesus is and how He is at work in our lives.
Life is the Greek word zoe, which is life as God has it. it is the life that God has in Himself. It is eternal life; the God kind of life. We see in Scripture that God is life. God is eternal, therefore His life is eternal. His source of life comes from within Himself, because it is who and what He is- life.
Peace is the Greek word eirene, which means peace, to join, prosperity, quietness, rest. It describes harmonious relationships and contentment. This is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew word shalom and speaks of wholeness and completeness. It is a calm inner peace, regardless of outward circumstance. it empowers you to act in a calm, godly manner. Our peace and contentment are in God because God is our peace.
Hope is the Greek word elpis, which means favorable and confident expectation, the happy anticipation of good. We have hope because hope springs forth from God.
Jesus, who is God, is life (John 1:1-3, 14). He came to give us eternal life (John 14:6): the God life, the God kind of life. This means that the God life, zoe, brings us eternal life. This happens when we receive Jesus and continue in Him. Also as we receive Christ, peace comes to our hearts because we now have peace with God, which gives us the peace of God. As we abide in, or live in, Jesus, we draw life from Him, which gives us all we need to live and be at peace. This life of God that is full of peace overcomes everrything that would try to defeat and destroy us. This peace keeps us strong spiritually, gives us a sound mind and emotions, and provides a healthy body. This is wholeness- nothing missing and nothing broken in us or our lives. As we daily receive a new supply of God’s life; of God Himself, we walk in newness of Life, with peace and undisturbed composure.
Jesus is also our Hope, and He gives us hope. No matter what is going on in life, there’s a peace that reassures us that everything is going to be all right and everything will work out for our good. Through this hope, we have a favorable and confident expectation that things will be as God said they would be for us in His written Word. We anticipate good things from God.
We receive Jesus, our Life, Who gives us all we need to live healthy, happy, and prosperous. He is also our Peace, which keeps us and leads us through it all to our Hope. That hope is Jesus and that hope is that one day soon we will be united with Him as His bride forever. We are experiencing and will yet experience Jesus as our life, our peace, and our hope for all eternity!
