HOPE

Godly character produces hope in God (Rom. 5:3-5).  Hope is composed of desire and expectation, desire of something good and expectation of obtaining it.  Jesus did not use the word “hope”, He did not say “look forward to that which is coming”, but He said “come unto me” (Matt. 11:28).  Jesus is our hope!  The hope realized in Jesus Christ is a “living hope” in His resurrection (1 Peter 1:3,21) and includes salvation (1 Thes. 5:8) eternal life (Titus 1:2, 3:7) the glory of God (Rom. 5:2, Col. 1:27) and the resurrection of the dead in Christ (Acts 23:6, 24:15).  These blessings are all summed up in Jesus Christ Himself, the hope of the world realized.

Hope is expectation of good, and is linked with trust and yearning.  The life of the righteous is grounded in a hope that implies a future because its point of reference is God.  To hope, as a Christian, is to trust in God for God is our hope (Jer. 17:7).  Hope looks to Him whom none can control, freeing us from anxiety, fear, self will, pride and independence.  Hope, then, grasps the provisional nature of every earthly present moment in time, and is increasingly hope in the eschatological future.

Hope embraces expectation, trust and patient waiting, and is linked to faith as in Heb. 11 which stresses the certainty of what is divinely given.  Hope is one of the most distinctive marks and an integral part of a Christian’s life.  Endurance may be stressed in the trials of life, as in this passage, but our waiting is confident; we are not focused on the item hoped for but on the God who gives it and will maintain and sustain it.  We are saved by hope (Rom. 8:24).  Hope is the object of faith; without hope faith is dead because faith is the substance of things hope for (Heb. 11:1). Hope in God never disappoints or deceives or shames us, but rather it graces us with God’s “agape love” (Rom. 5:3-5).

HOPE IS THE OBJECT OF FAITH...

WITHOUT HOPE FAITH IS DEAD...