
Hope is the desire or expectation for something to happen. In the Bible, hope is the desire for God to fulfill His promises. The Apostle Peter wrote:
“Always have an answer when asked about the hope that you have.”
Find Hope in the resurrection of Jesus
For Bible believers, it is the hope of the resurrection, that believers in the Lord Jesus Christ will have eternal life. It is the hope that Jesus gave to the thief on the cross before He died:
“Today you will be with me in paradise.”
Because we cannot prove the existence of God, we hope. Biblical hope is faith founded on fact.
The Bible is our source for hope
Hope in God’s promises is not mere blind faith, but hope based upon the Word of God, the veracity of the Scriptures. Hope is something that every person needs. In the midst of the Coronavirus pandemic, people are hoping for vaccines, a cure and the end to a long and difficult path.
People have lost their jobs and don’t know how to make ends meet. So many have lost people they love and just hope that others are spared. We wait for the end to the pandemic to come, we hope the end is soon.
The late C.S. Lewis, a truly marvelous Christian author, wrote:
“Hope is one of the Theological virtues. This means that a continual looking forward to the eternal world is not (as some modern people think) a form of escapism or wishful thinking, but one of the things a Christian is meant to do. It does not mean that we are to leave the present world as it is. If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were just those who thought most of the next.”
The old saying “keep the faith” can also be said “there is hope.” Hope is looking forward and not focusing on the moment. The hope of eternal life in heaven, the hope of God providing justice, the hope that no matter what happens God will prevail and protect us, is the hope that is presented in the Bible.
Deuteronomy 31:6 reads:
“Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.”
Hebrews 13:5 states the same promise:
“Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”
Faith informs our hope
The difference between hope and faith is important. You hope that something happens and you have faith that it will. Your faith informs your hope. The Apostle Paul wrote that we are saved by the Grace of God through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. That is our hope.
Hope plays an important part in the lives of every man and woman. Without hope no goals are achieved. Without hope dreams never become reality. Without hope tomorrow is no longer something to look forward to.
In 1 Chronicles 29:15, it says:
“We are foreigners and strangers in your sight, as were all our ancestors. Our days on earth are like a shadow, without hope.”
Job 8:13 states:
“Such is the destiny of all who forget God; so perishes the hope of the godless.”
Psalm 25:3 says of God:
“No one who hopes in you will ever be put to shame, but shame will come on those who are treacherous without cause.”
God gives us the faith we need to have hope. Like faith, Biblical hope is based on God’s amazing track record of keeping His promises. Far from being baseless, it is founded on the certainty of His Word.