Hope is an extremely potent emotion. It gives us courage to face difficult circumstances, assuring us that they will come to an end. Hope fills our hearts with eager anticipation and expectation for peace, happiness, joy, and well-being. President Barack Obama used “hope” as one of his main campaign slogans in 2008. Not only is “hope” a big buzzword in secular society, but it’s increasingly becoming a catchphrase among Christians in the West.
The word “hope” also filled the conversations, letters, and daydreams of the first century church after the resurrection and ascension of Jesus. As 21st century believers in that same resurrected and ascended Lord, do we share the same hope as the early church?
The New Testament boldly declares the singular hope that every believer should cling to - the return of Jesus to the earth to raise us from the dead, establish His government from Jerusalem, restore the earth to the pristine perfection as seen in the beginning before the fall of man, and reveal YHWH, the God of Israel, as the one true God who alone is worthy of all worship.
The biblical definition of hope is stunning in that it is wholly focused on and anchored in the age to come. Any amount of favor, grace, and power that the Lord gives us today is never meant to be an end unto itself for this day, but is always to be strengthened in perseverance and hope for that Day.
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