OUR HOPE

Scripture is careful to remind us that you can only ‘hope’ for that which you have not yet got. There is no need for hope if you possess what you hope for. God has made hope so vital to our lives here that we are saved by it, Rom. 8. 24-25.

For hope to be realistic you must have excellent grounds for having it. Without any certainty on which to base it, hope quickly deteriorates into despair.

How we thank our God today that we have a hope and a ground of hope that is unshakeable and sure. For in our happy case both of these are provided in our Lord Jesus Christ, who is our hope.

We have hope on account of that which He promised. We are looking to the fulfilment of His word to us that the things we do not have now will be ours in reality when He fulfils His word. Paul opens his second letter to Timothy by speaking of the ‘will of God, according to the promise of life which is in Christ Jesus’, 2 Tim. 1. 1. To Titus he speaks of the ‘hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began’, Titus 1.2. His word is His promise and it cannot be broken.

Do you have a problem in accepting this? Many Christians have had the same difficulty. Even God knew that we would have such doubts and so to make us perfectly certain of our hope He not only promised us but also bound Himself by oath to fulfil His word! Heb. 6.17-18. He knows how important it is for us to be certain in our hope. You must not live in doubt when God wants you to be sure.

We have hope because of what He has done. The work of the cross is a once-for-all work. Christ paid the price; God accepted it, raised Him from the dead and received Him back into heaven. There is nothing more that needs doing, Heb. 10.15-18.

So now we have His word and His work which form the immoveable foundation for our hope. We are saved from sin by it, we are saved in life by it, and we shall be saved eternally on account of it, when He comes for us. He is our hope. In Him it is glory! glory! GLORY!