What Hope Is
April 05, 2007
In common, everyday, use the word hope has the sense of wish. Hope is something we would very much like to happen. "I hope I get the job." "Is God going to answer your prayer? I sure hope so." "I hope you're better soon."
Here's "Webster's" definition: HOPE
1 :to cherish a desire with anticipation
2 archaic : TRUST
1 : to desire with expectation of obtainment
2 : to expect with confidence : TRUST
synonym see EXPECT …
The Bible sense of hope is the archaic one mentioned above, i.e. a confident expectation. Something you are certain is going to happen. The Greek word (The oldest known copies of the New Testament are written in the Greek language.) translated "hope" in the English Bible is "elpis." Here's W.E. Vines definition of "elpis":
" elpis (1680), in the NT, “favorable and confident expectation” (contrast the Sept. in Isa. 28:19, “an evil hope”). It has to do with the unseen and the future, Rom. 8:24, 25. …"
In any event, the way we commonly use hope, i.e. to refer to something we don't expect to happen but would like to happen, is the opposite of the way that hope is used in the Bible. In the Bible hope refers to something we're certain will happen. Something we're expecting to happen. Hope is a prediction of what the future holds for us.
I like to think of our modern idea of hope as winning the lottery hope. Winning the lottery is something we would very much like to happen but we we don't really expect to happen. The Bible idea of hope is more like payday. Payday is something we're expecting to happen. We're so sure about it that we start making plans for how were going to spend our pay long before we ever get it. That's the meaning of hope in the Bible. Payday is something in the future so we don't have it in manifestation yet, but we're confidently expecting it.
When we read the Bible with our modern sense of hope instead of the Bible sense we miss the meaning of the scriptures.
Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
Here the Bible is really saying that faith is the substance of that which we're expecting to happen. Faith gives substance to something you're certain is going to happen. It's a lot easier to walk by faith when you have real, Bible hope. The basis for faith is certainty as to the future, i.e. hope. When you have hope you expect your prayer to be answered, you're anticipating the answer.
What is the basis of this confident expectation? God's promise. How can we be so confident about something that is going to happen in the future? Because of God's promise. Why are we so certain that it's going to happen? Because God has promised it. Here's one last scripture:
Hebrews 10:23 Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;)
Here, the word which the King James translates as faith is actually the Greek word, "elpis," i.e. hope. Why can we continue confidently professing or confessing or talking about or bragging about what we are certain is going to happen? "For he is faithful that promised." This act of confidently stating what is going to happen in the future is faith. It is giving substance to that which we expect to happen.
The promises of God give us an expectation about the future. The promises let us know what the future holds for us. Stay in the promises until they become real to you. Meditate in the promises until you develop a certain expectation as to the future. Live in the promises until you know what's going to happen. This is hope. This is the basis of your faith. This is the basis of receiving from God.