Hope is a Person . . .

 

 

I’ve been reading a fiction series in which the main character is often in danger and hopes her influential father will come to her rescue. As soon as she sees him, her trust is rewarded because his mere presence assures her that she is safe.

This isn’t quite how the Bible defines HOPE but close. It is like the smell of fresh-baked bread as you walk into the house — you cannot see or eat it, but you know it is there waiting to be tasted.

This is like biblical hope. I know the reality of Jesus Christ and although I cannot see Him, I know that He exists and is a real part of my life, both now and in the future. It is in Him I put my hope. In the NT, hope sometimes means wishing or desiring but mostly it is about this firm conviction and faith in Jesus Christ meaning hope is much like faith. He is not visible yet I know He is with me and one day I will see Him.

Hebrews 11:1. “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”

1 Peter 1:13. “Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”

Hope is not so much a wish as a person because it is based on who God is and what He is doing, His power and promises. It is “through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.”

He is the “God of hope” who fills me with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit I can abound in hope. That is, this biblical hope is a joyful expectation rather than an anxious emotion based on an “I want” — for which I have no assurance.

Romans 5:5 says, “And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” By His power and grace, believers simply know for certain that our future is secure, not because of how we feel about it but because of our God who says so!

This hope includes several things besides the promise of seeing Jesus and having eternal life. Romans 8:20–21 says, “In hope, the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God” and Galatians 5:5 tells me that “through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness.” Yet the greatest is the One who is my hope:

Colossians 1:27. “ . . . Christ in you, the hope of glory.”

Titus 2:13. I am “waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.”

GAZE INTO HIS GLORY. My hope is strengthened by Scripture that tells me what God has done and is doing, and by the gracious assurance of the Holy Spirit. Like a helmet, this hope protects my mind and gives joy to my heart. It also causes others to wonder about my reasons for this hope and gives me opportunity to share it with those who have no hope and are yet without God. I want them to also know the One who grants this amazing gift.

Romans 15:4. “Whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.”

With gratitude for hope, I am compelled “In my heart, to honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks for a reason for the hope that is in me; yet do it with gentleness and respect” — “remembering that I was once separated from Christ, alienated . . . . and a stranger to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.” (Ephesians 2:12 and 1 Peter 3:15)

Praise You Jesus, You are my living hope.