The Vision Of Hope

“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Jeremiah 29:11

What is hope but the expectation of something better in magnitude of its effect, and certainty of its blessed realization. Hope, as we discover in the Scriptures carries with it the anticipation of the realization of God’s blessing, manifested in the heart and life, in the soul, spirit, and body, in the circumstances of one’s existence, but also, and most importantly within the soul. It is in essence that anticipation of the certain blessing and intervention of God in answer to the soul’s cry unto Him. So then, what IS the hope of the believer, and how can we know the realization of it?

True hope begins with the understanding that it is primarily spiritual, coming from heaven itself, communicated to the heart by the word of God, with the enabling by the Spirit to believe God for it’s realization. In the case of Abraham, when God promised him an heir of His choice, one upon whom the blessing of God upon mankind would reside, He did so when Abraham was ninety-nine years old. Sarah, his wife, was well beyond child-bearing years, as she was ninety. In that humanly impossible situation came the word of God to Abraham speaking to him of the seed that was to come from him at that age. Abraham was faced with a mountain before him, one which defied logic and natural possibility. But God had brought Abraham to this point in his faith because of the revelation of Himself to him over the years, Abraham having learned that what God declares, He will do. It is then and there that “hope in God” would triumph over mountains and reason, for the greatest reality was God’s word, and the fulfillment of that word by the power of the Spirit. Scripture tells us that Abraham, standing as it were before this mountain of impossibility from a human standpoint, looked beyond it to a greater Mountain, that of God Himself. The vision of the Almighty, perfectly faithful God, rose up behind the insufficiency and incapacity of man, to reveal his promised power. Contrary to everything that would speak against hope, Abraham would believe IN hope.  Abraham “…did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God.” (Romans 4:20) The Apostle Paul goes on to write that Abraham, “…being fully convinced that what He (God) had promised, he was also able to perform,” he believed God. In the book of Hebrews, we find where Sarah, the wife of Abraham, “…herself received strength to conceive seed, and she bore a child when she was past the age, because she judged Him faithful who had promised.” (11:11) What then is the key to hope for the believer, for him to have hope, and to patiently wait for the realization of it?

The first thing to grasp is the revelation that God is God, absolutely true and faithful.  He always speaks the truth, for He IS truth. God is also absolutely faithful according to that truth, revealed in His promise, to realize, or fulfill it. In essence, faith in the faithfulness of God is the basis of hope.  Secondly, faith is founded in the revealed absolute goodness of God, and this manifested by His love for all mankind, specifically for all that belong to Him by faith’s commitment and surrender.

How does this matter of hope apply to the body of Christ today, the church, and every member of it? When God gave to John the Apostle the vision of the risen and glorified Christ, it was to be a revelation communicated to the church, or local churches, of His day. The revelation, which was overwhelming in grandeur, power, might, and glory, was designed to create a deeper faith in God, as troublous times were upon the church, and would remain. Faith and hope, created in response to the promises of God, would gloriously prevail.

Dear Father, Fill us with Hope. In Jesus’ name, Amen.