You love him even though you have never seen him. Though you do not see him now, you trust him; and you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy. The reward for trusting him will be the salvation of your souls.

1 Peter 1:8-9

Peter was writing to believers just like us. They had never seen Jesus Christ. They had only heard from Peter and possibly other eyewitnesses of the risen Lord.

We who believe are in the same scenario. Although we haven’t heard by listening to eyewitnesses directly, we do have their words captured in the most reliable ancient set of documents in the New Testament. I’ve heard this before, but the number of copies of the New Testament? Nearly five thousand seven hundred! The next closest ancient document is Homer with just under six hundred and fifty.

Some say that this is not proof of the truth of the Gospel, but it does give us confidence that the content of the Gospels and the rest of the New Testament are authentic.

So, with faith Peter reminds us that we love and trust and rejoice in the Lord of the Gospel as proclaimed within the Bible and there is a reward fro our faith – salvation for our souls!

And so we have Hope.