Jesus Christ, My Living Hope

Easter Sunday | April 5, 2026

The Flashlight with a Dead Hope

Dear brothers and sisters, imagine a man who walked a mountain path every night. He carried a flashlight passed down through generations in his family. It was a sturdy, high-end brand, wrapped in a beautiful leather case. From the outside, it looked perfect. Yet, strangely, this man constantly lost his way. He tripped over stones and stumbled in the dark.

One day, a passerby asked him, "You have such a magnificent flashlight; why do you keep falling?" The man replied, "Because it has no batteries."

How are the batteries in your spiritual flashlight today? A flashlight or a camera, no matter how expensive the brand or how precious the family heirloom, is useless without power. Many of us are living our faith with "Dead Hope"—a flashlight that looks good on the outside but flickers or remains dark because it lacks the internal power of the Resurrection.

Among all the seasons of the church, Easter is the pinnacle of the Christian calendar. As John MacArthur said, "The Resurrection is not just a part of Christianity; it is Christianity itself." It is the battery of our faith. This Easter is particularly precious to me as it is my family's last service here with you. As I prayed, "Lord, what is Your final word for us?" He put the lyrics of the song Living Hope in my heart:

"In the silence, the breathing begins / Then came the morning that felt like no other / The Lion of Judah roared with a declaration / Death is defeated, Jesus is my Living Hope!"

Today, I pray that through this Word, God’s hope will be restored, Jesus’ hope will be realized, and our "Dead Hope" will be replaced by the "Living Hope" of Jesus Christ, lighting up our lives brilliantly once again.

 

1. God’s Hope: The Heart for Fellowship

What is God’s hope? To understand the hope of a perfect God, we must look at who He is. A.W. Tozer said that He is self-existent, self-sufficient, and immutable. He lacks nothing. So, what could such a magnificent God possibly want from us? He does not need us to complete His kingdom or provide Him with anything. His only hope, His singular desire, was Fellowship with His creation.

(1 John 1:3) > "We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ."

God, who is love, wanted to both give and receive love. But that hope was shattered by human sin. Even when He gave the Law to Moses, humans turned His hope into despair. That is when Jesus Christ, who was equal with God, volunteered to come down. He came as the Lamb to restore that broken intimacy.

When people in Ephesus heard about this invisible, only God who became a servant, they were shocked. To them, the Cross was foolishness. But as 1 Corinthians 1:18 says:

"For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God."

The Cross is foolishness to the world, but to us, it is the very power of God. It is the 'Resurrection Battery' that recharges our dying hope. And this incredible power began with a birth like no other—not a life lived for survival, but a life lived for sacrifice.

 

2. Jesus’ Hope: Restoring the relationship through His obedience

What is Jesus’ hope? Most people live to survive. But Jesus was born to die. He traded the "active voice" of the Creator for the "passive voice" of a helpless infant in a stone manger. Why stone? Because that was where priests inspected sacrificial lambs for blemishes. From birth, Jesus was marked as our sacrifice. John the Baptist said “Behold, the lamb who takes away the sin of the world!”

This journey led to the Passover meal, where He declared Himself the Lamb whose blood would save many. Then, in Gethsemane, He wrestled: "Not my will, but Yours be done." Why was He so distressed? In the book Death Embraces the Resurrection by Ho-Kyung Kim explains that Jesus’ mission was to endure up until the very end of death. Everything after that was in God’s hands.

The Bible records the Resurrection in the passive voice: He was raised by God. It does not say that Jesus raised himself, but he was raised by God.

(Acts 2:24) > "But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him."

This means Jesus surrendered so completely that He allowed the Father to be the one to act. Because He went through the "passive" agony of death, He can now "actively" weep with us in our pain and give us strength through the Holy Spirit. He turned the silence of the tomb into the roar of the Lion of Judah.

 

 

3. Our Hope: The Torch of the Heavenly Citizen

Jesus fulfilled His mission. Now, the torch of hope has been passed to us. God wants our fellowship; Jesus wants our faith. Eugene Peterson calls the Resurrection "the event where death conquered death." It frees us from the "death" of our desires, lies, and spiritual emptiness.

John MacArthur reminds us that the Resurrection is Validation, Vindication, and Affirmation. It proves who Jesus is, that His sacrifice worked, and that we will rise too!

Think of the disciples. In Gethsemane, they were terrified. But later, they faced martyrdom with joy. Were they stronger than Jesus? No! It is because they saw the Risen Christ. They tasted heaven and became "Heavenly Citizens." They realized that death was no longer a wall, but a door.

We see this process of belief in the Bible. Mary Magdalene initially thought someone had stolen the body, saying to the supposed gardener, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him" (John 20:15). But when she saw Him, her Dead Hope became Living Hope. John saw the empty linen cloths and believed (John 20:8). Even among the priests who tried to hide the truth, many eventually turned to faith:

(Acts 6:7) > "And the word of God continued to increase... and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith."

This torch has been passed to our grandparents, our parents, and now to us. This hope allows us to overcome loneliness, sorrow, and the fear of loss.

 

History, Mystery, or Present?

As I prepare to leave this ministry and move my family, I have felt the sting of transition and the "death" of a season. But I have seen, in your lives and in mine, how the Jesus who conquered death breaks through every darkness.

There is a famous saying: "Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift—that’s why it’s called the 'present'."

So I ask you today: Is the Resurrection just a History—a cold fact from 2,000 years ago? Is it still a confusing Mystery—something you can't quite grasp? Or is it your Present—the gift of a "Living Hope" that is breathing new life into you right now?

Do not walk through life with a "Dead Hope" flashlight that has no power. Today, let the Father breathe His Resurrection life into your soul. Take the torch of the Living Hope and let it change your choices and your path.

"The joint heir of promise / You breathed Your breath into me / Death is defeated / Jesus is my Living Hope!"

May you live this week not in the shadow of the tomb, but in the light of the empty grave.

Jesus Christ, our Living Hope! Amen.