When the apostle Paul opens his first letter to Timothy, he introduces himself and establishes his authority by asserting that both God and Christ Jesus are the source of his apostleship. God, he says, is “our Savior” and Jesus is “our hope.” God initiated a saving work through the birth, death, and resurrection of his Son, Jesus Christ. This same Jesus would fulfill His Father’s saving work in “his personal and glorious coming” (John Stott).

Notice Paul doesn’t say that our hope is “in” or “through” Christ Jesus, though both are undoubtedly true. Instead, he eliminates the degrees that separate cause from effect and writes that Jesus Himself is our hope. They are one and the same.

What does it mean this Christmas that our hope is Jesus?

It means the baby in the manger embodies the only chance we will ever have to escape the death and darkness into which each one of us has been born. He is also the only source of the life and light that God created us to live in with Him. The God-Man, Jesus, is the one person, in the flesh, who can rescue us from the predicament in which we find ourselves trapped.

“Whoever believes in him is not condemned,” writes John, “but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son” (John 3:18).

It’s safe to say that most people don’t even realize they are condemned outside of Jesus. Any hopes they might have, such as they are, are empty. Some trust in their own shrewdness, their good circumstances, or even the luck of the draw. That brand of hope is unreliable. At best, it ends in disappointment. At worst, despair — the utter loss of hope.

Worst of all, though, such limited hope, even if met or exceeded in this life, does nothing to address the reality we all face from the moment we draw our first breath. “What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world,” asks Jesus, “yet forfeits his soul?” (Matthew 16:26).

Recognizing our hopeless situation vividly contrasts with the hope that is Jesus. He himself offers us the confident expectation that someday, we will stand with Him in resurrection glory, face to face with our Creator, never fearing separation from Him but enjoying our Savior for all eternity.

It is only Jesus who makes that possible. He is our hope. There is no other.