HOPE

Scriptures are from the NIV-UK

Briefly stated, hope is that quality of the human disposition based on ‘desire and expectation of future good’.* Where there is no desire, hope cannot be active. Where expectation is absent, hope cannot survive. In hope there is the crucial element of faith, defined for Christian believers in Hebrews 11: 1:

Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.

When in due time Jesus came to the Jewish nation as the promised seed of Abraham, there were few that retained the faith of their forefathers, or the deeper vision embodied in the oath-bound promises.

So the Scripture records that “his own did not receive him” (John 1: 11). There were a few, here and there, who still believed, still looked for the Messiah.

These Jesus described as a “little flock” (Luke 12: 32). Yet even these faithful ones had only a limited grasp of the divine purpose.

When Lord was put to death as a common criminal they were utterly distraught: “. . . we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel” (Luke 24: 21).

They had hoped and by God’s grace they would hope again.

During the weeks from the crucifixion to the day of Pentecost their faith was greatly tested, as the risen Lord imparted to them truths they were as yet scarcely able to comprehend.

Seeing their perplexity, He had sought to encourage them during those last solemn days before His death, telling them that the Father’s holy spirit, “. . . will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you” (John 14: 26).

The baptism of the holy spirit subsequently at Pentecost not only brought to their remembrance all that the Master had already taught them, it also opened their minds and hearts to a progressive understanding of the deep things of God, and set seal on their faith. With hope in their hearts they proceeded to preach the Gospel far and wide.

The Apostle Peter briefly summarised the Christian hope (1 Peter 1: 3-5):

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.

While the crucifixion at first seemed to shatter the hopes of the disciples, they later understood that the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is central to the hope of eternal life for all humanity, and the eventual fulfilment of the hope that ‘all peoples on earth will be blessed’ by Him, the Seed of Abraham (Genesis 12: 2, 3).

* As defined by Bible expositor,

Prof. Paul Samuel Leo Johnson.

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