What is Our Hope?
February 22, 2018//
Topics to Dig Into
Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, because He who promised is faithful.Hebrews 10:23 (NLT)
What is the ‘hope we profess’?
In the Old Testament, the Jews repeatedly tell the story of God’s activity in their history and His promise to be ruler over the nation of Israel. They tell it so often that I sometimes think “yada-yada-yada” and speed read until I reach new material.
The story was retold and retold because this was the foundation for their Hope, capital H.
They trusted with complete confidence and expectation that Israel’s one covenant God, who made the entire universe and chose Israel as a light to the rest of the world, would end Israel’s suffering, vindicate His people, and rule over the nation. They were irrevocably committed to God acting in history on their behalf. Old Testament ‘hope’ represents this confident knowledge and shaped every aspect of their lives.
God did act in history through Jesus’ life, crucifixion and resurrection. Jesus fulfilled Israel’s hope, just not as they envisioned, and gave hope a new definition. When Jesus returns, all believers will get imperishable bodies and live eternally with God, no decay, no suffering, no evil. And by believing and following Jesus’ teachings, we get a taste of this new hope.
The New Testament writers were just as certain of Jesus’ return as the Old Testament writers were that God would restore them. So, fellow Christians, Jesus is our Hope, capital H.
Jesus is our Hope, capital H. (tweet this)
He will come again, conquer evil, restore the earth and resurrect all believers. We can confidently expect salvation, God’s glory, eternal life, wholeness, the end of evil, and to (finally) become like Christ.
How confident is our Hope? To what extent does Hope shape our lives, our relationships, our to-do lists?
#SeedsofScripture #secondcoming #resurrection #hope
Spend a few minutes to plant a quick Seed. Or stay longer and plant a whole garden.
