The Letter to the Hebrews tells us that, in the Old Testament, God spoke in many ways, but that he has spoken in a unique and definitive way through his Son Jesus, for whom and through whom God created the world. Jesus is the glory and image of God and the sustainer of the universe by his word of power. He atones for sin by means of his perfect offering of himself, and he is seated in the place of authoritative judgment at the right hand of God. God the Father commands his angels to worship Jesus. We do well to echo the angels as they worship, “With the angelic host proclaim, “Christ is born in
Why all this fuss about Jesus? Quite simply, Jesus Christ is our one and only hope. I am not offering a one-dimensional claim here. I am offering a multi-dimensional and all-encompassing claim. Jesus is our one and only hope in every dimension worth mentioning.
1. The God-dimension. The most basic questions in life are these: Does God exist? If God exists, how powerful is God? If God exists and is powerful, is God worthy of our trust, love, obedience, and worship? How can we know that we know that we know about God? The most basic and most profound answers to these God questions are given in Jesus. As John writes in the preamble to his Gospel, “No one has ever seen God, but the one of a kind divine Son has made him known.” Jesus the divine Son gives us unique and dependable evidence, evidence that human beings like us have seen with their eyes and touched with their hands, evidence that God exists, that God reigns over all, that God is love, that God is holy, that God is worthy of our total devotion. I do not know of any other avenue by which we can know nearly so much about God and know it so reliably. By definition, we can only have one best hope, and, in the God dimension, Jesus is our one best hope, our one and only hope.
2. The human purpose dimension. When I was young, it was fashionable for young people to travel and dabble and experiment to try to find out who they were and what they were going to do with their lives. What is the purpose of human life in general and of my life in particular? In the scriptures, God has revealed a great deal on that topic, and, in Jesus Christ, God has brought all that into clear focus. The scriptures tell us in many times and in many ways that our human purpose is to be children and servants of God and to live for God’s glory. As the Letter to the Hebrews says, Jesus is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature; he is the very picture not only of who God is, but also of who we can become. The New Testament assures us that Jesus is both the Royal Son and Suffering Servant of God. If we want to find ourselves, we will best do so not by dabbling in this and that, but by being immersed in his life, death, and resurrection, by exploring the deep mysteries of his self-giving, redeeming, and ultimately victorious love, and through him to discover the disciplines of becoming children and servants of God, the people we were created to be. In the human purpose dimension, Jesus is our one best hope, our one and only hope.
3. The human dilemma dimension. The problem is that we have rebelled against God, we have decided to take matters into our own hands, believing and doing what is right in our own eyes. Our moral or spiritual shortcuts have made a great mess of our lives and world. God cannot tolerate our sin forever, but neither can God abandon his love for us. So Jesus came to bring God’s love and holiness together in a way that rescues us from our sin, dying on the cross to show us both the great cost of our sin and the great payment he has made to cover the cost. Then he offers to clothe those of us who believe in him with his own righteousness while he restores us by degrees into his image as children of God. In all of human history, there has never been one other sufficient resolution of the human dilemma. Jesus is the only game in town. In the human dilemma dimension, Jesus is our own best hope, our one and only hope.
4. The social dimension. Sin is not just an individual problem, but it gets institutionalized in the ways we organize our lives together. We have many cultural, consumer, vocational, and electoral choices, but most of the choices amount to, “Whose set of perks do we pad?” Jesus did not get into supporting one set of social elites over a competing set of social elites. He did not support synagogue elites versus temple elites, or vice versa, He did not support national liberationist elites versus imperialist elites, or vice versa. He did not support liberal Pharisaic elites versus conservative Pharisaic elites or vice versa. He instead structured his disciples into mutually supportive communities of hope, embodying redeeming and reconciling love in their daily relationships. The rest of the culture was seeking to climb one ladder or another to power, privilege, and prosperity. Jesus’ disciples were seeking instead to empower children and servants of God to lead fruitful lives for the glory of God. Even the best church is infected with sin, but churches built as communities of hope can help us hold our own against the dominant forces of our cultural institutions so that the lives we lead are more meaningful and satisfying. In the social dimension, Jesus is our one best hope, our one and only hope.
We could go on listing dimension after dimension in which Jesus gives us our only hope, not least the eternal dimension in which Jesus is our only hope to enter the perfect and everlasting new heaven and new earth. But, for any dimension of our lives, the point is that we begin to see and claim the hope. Do you want to see and claim the hope? Focus on Jesus. Believe his gospel. Be baptized into him. Let him be your Savior and your Lord. Let him teach you to see all of your life in a new way, through his eyes. He offers you a hope for a lifetime, our one best hope, our one and only hope.
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