Jesus is my Hope

Some words in the English language are both nouns and verbs. Love is one of them. We can say, “I love you” and “You are my love” as an example. Another example is HOPE.

Normally we think of hope as a verb because it seems like something we do, but the Bible often uses hope as something we have, like confidence or assurance. It can mean a desire or a wish, such as “I hope yesterday’s snowfall will be melted by suppertime.” However both testaments tell us to hope in God with a difference in the source or desire; instead of it being something I want or wish for, biblical HOPE is a gift, a noun that comes from God.

Romans 15:13. May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.

Another example is in Romans 5:2 which says, “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.” This is not a mere wish — wishes easily produce anxiety because we are not too sure they will happen, but biblical hope is a confident expectation that produces joy because we are certain of the object of our hope. Romans 5:5 says this hope is a result of God’s love being poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit; again, it comes from Him, not my own wishes.  

While hope is about the future, about events like the return of Jesus Christ, the resurrection of the dead, a restored creation and being in heaven with all God’s people, my hope is centered on Jesus Christ. He is my hope, both now as concerning all the issues of this life, and the future where I will be with Him for all eternity:

Colossians 1:27. To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

1 Timothy 1:1. Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope . . .  

In trying to think of a parallel, falling in love and marriage could illustrate. A bride hopes for a lovely wedding, a family, a good life, but her hope is centered on the groom, the one she joins with who will be with her in making that hope a reality. He is her hope for the future. The difference is that as the bride of Christ, the church (including me) has a certain hope in our Savior. All His promises assure the hope we have. He is our hope in the sense that He will give us a forever union with Him and eternal life, even a ‘marriage supper’ as declared in Revelation 19:9:

And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.”

GAZE INTO HIS GLORY. I’ve the sense of a bride walking down the aisle toward Jesus, my hope for all eternity. From the little I know at this time about Him, I have great anticipation that eternity will be filled with great and amazing discoveries about who He is and what He has done. The joy in my heart tells me that it will be far better that anything I can now imagine.

 

 

Lord, I need to be filled to the brim!

This morning started well but quickly became frustrating when my computer would not go beyond the lock screen. Rebooting revealed the cause: keyboard failure. Good thing I kept the old wired one, but then discovered my wireless mouse would not work either. Bluetooth problems? Everything else on Bluetooth worked. The mystery remains unsolved but hubby had a spare wired mouse. I felt a need for patience, the kind that God gives.

With that, I picked FILL as a word that describes what God does. After several searches and a bit of time, it became clear that I am dabbling with languages that I know very little about and need to be careful that my assumptions have real value.

For instance, Hebrew seems to have one word for FILL defined as “to make full (with a sufficient quantity); whether literally or figuratively.” Greek has two (that I could find), both with the same definition as the Hebrew word. While one of them is always used when referring to being filled with God’s Spirit, it is used for other things too, often the same things as the other word.

So I’m confused, not that the findings have no implications but that I’ve little clue what they are. Instead, the verses, in English, tell me about  the power of God to fill His people with what we need. And I feel needy today . . .

Fills with skill to do the work He asks us to do: Exodus 35:35 describes the people who “He filled with skill to do every sort of work done by an engraver or by a designer or by an embroiderer in blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen, or by a weaver—by any sort of workman or skilled designer.”

Fills His place of worship with His glory: 2 Chronicles 7:1–2: “As soon as Solomon finished his prayer, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple. And the priests could not enter the house of the Lord, because the glory of the Lord filled the Lord’s house.”

Fills the whole earth with His glory: Numbers 14:20–21: Then the Lord said, “I have pardoned, according to your word. But truly, as I live, and as all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord” and Habakkuk 2:14: “For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.”

Fills us with whatever we need: Psalm 81:10: “I am the Lord your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.”

Fills all places; no one can hide from Him: Jeremiah 23:24: “Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? declares the Lord. Do I not fill heaven and earth? declares the Lord.”

Fills His people with His power to do right and declare truth: Micah 3:8: “But as for me, I am filled with power, with the Spirit of the Lord, and with justice and might, to declare to Jacob his transgression and to Israel his sin.”

Fills His people with His Spirit: (a generous supply!) Acts 2:4: “And (the disciples) were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.”

Fills His people with joy, peace and hope because of the  power of the Holy Spirit: Romans 15:13: “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.”

Fills Jesus who then fills all things: Ephesians 1:22–23: “And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.”

GAZE INTO HIS GLORY. Fill me Lord with all that is needed to do Your will this day.