Hope is a divine promise and a divine guarantee to all believers, providing endurance and patience. Most people understand hope as wishful thinking, as in I hope something will happen. This is not what the Bible means by hope. The biblical definition of hope is confident expectation. Hope is a firm assurance regarding things that are unclear and unknown (Ro 8:24-25; He 11:1, 7). Hope is a fundamental component of the life of the righteous (Pro 23:18). Without hope, life loses its meaning (Lam 3:18; Job 7:6) and in death there is no hope (Is 38:18; Job 17:15). The righteous who trust or put their hope in God will be helped (Ps 28:7), and they will not be confounded, put to shame, or disappointed (Is 49:23). The righteous, who have this trustful hope in God, have a general confidence in Gods protection and help (Jer 29:11) and are free from fear and anxiety (Ps 46:2-3). Along with faith and love, hope is an enduring virtue of the Christian life (1 Co 13:13), and love springs from hope (Col 1:4-5). Hope produces joy and peace in believers through the power of the Spirit (Ro 12:12; 15:13). Paul attributes his apostolic calling to the hope of eternal glory (Tit 1:1-2). Hope in the return of Christ is the basis for believers to purify themselves in this life (Tit 2:11-14, 1 Jn 3:3). The Bible teaches us at the end of times the religious and commercial/political systems embodied in Babylon will commit unspeakable atrocities against Gods people. The children of God will not be moved because hope produces joy and peace in believers through the power of the Spirit (Romans 12:12; 15:13).
Posted on: Wed, 16 Jul 2014 03:31:58 +0000
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