Untitled Sermon

Know Hope

Hope is one of the finest responses of which the human spirit is capable. It has kept people alive and buoyant when the conditions of life were almost unbearable. Men of letters have saluted it with language that has become axiomatic, such as “hope springs eternal in the human heart” and “where there is life there is hope.” Scripture speaks similarly: “Anyone who is among the living has hope” (Eccl. 9:4, NIV).

Hope is also a mark of human limitation. Granted that it owes much to the promises of God, yet those promises are especially welcome because of our lack of knowledge of the future and our inability to effect radical change. Hope is a testimony to man’s humility in the face of his finiteness. It amounts to a protest against any assumption that the present contains the ideal situation for mankind.

We may assume that hope has no place in the being of God. True, Paul can refer to Him as the God of hope (Rom. 15:13), but probably only in the sense that He is the one who inspires hope in His people, unless we are to suppose that Paul is suggesting that God Himself lives in an aura of anticipation, pondering His plans for the future.

It is hardly adequate to define hope as expectation, for someone could expect judgment and on that account be utterly without hope. Expectation must be yoked with confidence and desire in order to qualify as hope. Frequently in our culture the familiar “I hope so” is really only an admission of a thinly veiled pessimism.

Hope sometimes appears in Scripture as a subjective entity, something that one possesses and exercises. Especially is this true of the OT, but in the NT this usage is less frequent, being overshadowed by the objective reality that draws the human response like a magnet. Paul can speak of Christ Jesus as the believer’s hope (1 Tim. 1:1) and of the hope laid up in heaven for the child of God (Col. 1:5). The hope generated in one’s heart (1 Pet. 3:15) is the echo of this heavenly reality. To exert hope would be futile apart from the person and pledges of the Almighty.

II. OT

II. OT

The Exodus from Egypt followed by the Sinaitic covenant, the preservation of the nation in the wilderness, and the successful occupation of Canaan, provided a firm basis for Israel’s confidence in God’s continuing provision and aid. By virtue of their largely agricultural economy, the people were dependent on God’s faithfulness in respect to weather patterns. In time, competition from Baal worship seriously imperilled the nation’s fidelity and also its Godward expectation. Yet even in the darkest days of apostasy hope was not extinguished among the godly. On the basis of God’s covenant mercy, the remnant continued to look to Him for intervention, including deliverance from Israel’s enemies (Jer 14:8f.). Later, when the returnees from Babylonian captivity evidenced their repentance by putting away their foreign wives, they took fresh hope on the ground of God’s forgiveness (Ezr. 10:2). Those who did not return from captivity were consoled by being addressed as prisoners of hope (Zec. 9:12).

A corollary of placing one’s hope in God is refusing to put one’s ultimate reliance on man, whether neighbor or friend (Mic. 7:5), princes (Ps. 118:9), or resources such as wealth (Ps. 52:7 [MT 9]) or horses (Ps. 33:17).

Hope is sometimes expressed by other terms, especially “wait” and “look.” For the Hebrew, waiting on the Lord was not primarily a matter of spending time but was rather an attitude of trust and expectation. It could bring the reward of exchanging one’s own weakness for divine strength (Isa. 40:31). God is represented as one who works for those who wait for Him (Isa. 64:4).

Hope is often present without specific mention of it. Abraham’s attitude of faith in God’s promise of a son stimulated within him a confidence that defied all human calculation (Rom. 4:18). When David and his men returned to Ziklag and found their homes burned and their wives carried off by marauders, all of them lamented, but David strengthened himself in the Lord his God (1 S. 30:6). He was exercising hope.

Hope may sometimes suffer partial eclipse or alternate with depression. The psalmist admits to being in low spirits, but this very condition prods him to hope in God (Ps. 42:11 [MT 12]). Unable to understand the affliction that has deprived him of possessions, family, and health, Job laments, “My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle, and come to their end without hope” (Job 7:6). Yet resurgent hope enables him to triumph over these moments of near despair. “For I know that my Redeemer lives … I shall see God” (Job 19:25).

In the writings of the OT hope relates largely to one’s earthly existence. Hezekiah, in the grip of serious illness, longs for restored health and pleads with God, “For Sheol cannot thank thee; those who go down to the pit cannot hope for thy faithfulness” (Isa. 38:18). Revelation was incomplete; Christ had not come, and the definite hope of eternal life, based on His resurrection, was lacking (2 Tim. 1:10).

One must turn to the OT prophets for the principal development of the concept of hope on a national and even universal scale. This element of hope is not predicated on the improvement of the character of the covenant people. The prophets lament the unfaithfulness, the disobedience of the nation, echoing the disappointment and pain of Yahweh. But they also voice His determination not to inflict such a sweeping judgment as to destroy the nation He has chosen. “How can I give you up, O Ephraim! How can I hand you over, O Israel!… I will not execute my fierce anger … for I am God and not man” (Hos. 11:8f.; cf. 2:15 [MT 17]). This mingling of judgment and promise in the prophets provides the stamp of authenticity for their utterances, since only God could make valid by His own decision and action the pattern of judgment followed by restoration. The crowning feature of the prophetic message of hope was the promise of a messianic king (Isa. 11:1, etc.).