By Jairyong Lee, NSD President

The General Conference has chosen the theme for the year 2006: “Journey of Hope.” There are many people in the world who are living with no bright hope both at present and in the future. They are fearful of the unpredictable future. But Seventh-day Adventist Christians are living from day to day with great hope in Christ Jesus. We are God’s people. We believe that God is leading our lives. We know Jesus is coming soon to take us to heaven. We are living with great hope for the future. So we sing a song together, “We have this hope that burns within our heart.”

Hope is very important to men and women, but it seems we cannot find very much hope here on earth. The world we live in is on the brink of destruction. In recent years, innumerable accidents and natural disasters have been taking place around the world. They are threatening human lives. People are frightened by all kinds of unexpected moral, social and environmental phenomena. This world is in darkness, and the darkness is becoming deeper and deeper. It seems there is not much hope in this world. In this sin darkened world, we are having the journey of life.

When Jesus was on earth, He was the great hope to the people. He opened the eyes of the blind, the ears of the deaf, and the mouth of the dumb. He cleansed lepers, healed the sick, cast out demons, raised the dead, and preached the message of hope to the broken hearted. He was the hope to the people who had lived hopelessly in the darkness. To the people who had miserable life in darkness, Jesus declared, “I am the light of the world.”

About 2,000 years ago Jesus went to heaven leaving a promise to his followers, "I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am." (John 14:3) The second coming of Christ has been the most blessed hope to all Christians. In early church days, many were imprisoned, persecuted, crucified, eaten by beasts, and burned at the stake, gladly, rather than compromising their belief with the world because they had the hope of Christ's second coming. During the dark ages, millions of Christians suffered from martyrdom. They were not afraid of death, for the name of Christ, because they firmly held hope in the resurrection of Christ: “Today we die for the name of our Lord. But we will live again in Christ, and we will live forever.” They kept on their life journey with unwavering hope in Jesus.

The Lord has chosen us to give the message of hope of Christ's second coming to the people who are living in the world of darkness with no future hope. We must tell the world, "Jesus is coming. Jesus is coming. Be ready for His coming" When we are in Christ, we have hope because He is our hope.

The year of 2005 has passed, and now we are in another challenging new year, 2006. “We have nothing to fear for the future, except as we shall forget the way the Lord has led us, and His teaching in our past history.” (9T, 10) As long as we trust in God and are faithful to His Word, we can surely have another successful year in the “Journey of Hope.” Let us move forward together step by step trusting in God. He will take our hand and lead us to our eternal home. Let us continue with courage the journey of hope all through the new year.