Welcome to Nancy Guthrie’s guided journal “Hoping for Something Better,” which she based on her book of the same title (Tyndale 2007).
New journal entries will appear in your profile Monday-Saturday for 6 weeks. If you missed any so far, stay subscribed to this feed and you can begin when it starts over. Be sure to start your own journal within your Beliefnet profile or in a notebook to respond to Nancy’s prompts.
Day 21
There is something better than physical resuscitation, recuperation, rejuvenation. It is bodily resurrection—a better resurrection.
Read Hebrews 11:29-40.
What could be better than having the one you love who has died raised back to life again? What could be better than escaping being tortured for your faith? Hebrews 11 tells us what—a resurrection that is more than mere rehabilitation or resuscitation. Those who were raised back to this life again still died eventually. (What a bummer to have to die a second time!) These heroes of faith had their hearts set on a better resurrection, a resurrection that would be for forever.
They were not hoping for just a temporary fix to the problem of death, but an eternal one. Throughout history, believers have experienced God’s supernatural power in many ways, but the ultimate miracle we long for is the “better resurrection,” which is eternal.
In what way do the experiences of faith in verses 35b-38 stand as a stark contrast to the faith achievements described in 32-35a?
According to 11:39-40, what three things were true for both the victorious and the suffering heroes?
–Nancy Guthrie