Worldly hope expresses our personal desires for the future. We have hope concerning things that are uncertain. We don't know if our desires will come to pass, but we hold out hope that they will.
When Scripture speaks of hope, however, something very different is in view. Biblical hope is a firm conviction that the future promises of God will be fulfilled. Hope is not mere wish projection, but an assurance of what will come to pass. "This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil" (Hebrews 6:19).
Paul reminds believers that until the kingdom comes in its fullness, believers can only have an assured hope; they must "walk by faith, not by sight" (2 Corinthians 5:7). This hope is neither unfounded nor groundless. Though the earthly life of the Christian is marked more by suffering than triumph (1 Corinthians 4:8-13; 2 Corinthians 4:7-18), the foundation for hope is in the Godhead. In our walk of faith, God never promised us a calm voyage, only a safe landing.
Throughout the New Testament hope means a confident expectation of future good, presently seen only by faith (Rom. 8: 18-25, Heb. 11: 1). Here, the believer’s confidence is rooted in an objective fact, namely, that the future good in store has been promised to them by an omnipotent, covenant-keeping God who is always true to his word. As Paul put it, the saints enjoy a hope of eternal life which God, who cannot lie, promised long ages ago; and which even now He has made manifest by sending Christ into the world with the Good News of the Gospel (Titus 1: 2-3, Heb. 6: 17-20).
Key take-aways:
1. Biblical hope is a matter of assurance rather than wishing.
2. Hope is a virtue, not a weakness.
3. Faith is trust in what God has already done. Hope is trust in what God promises for the future.
4. The resurrection of Christ gives us hope in the midst of suffering.
AMR
