Everyone hopes for something. Children hope their parents will care for them and buy them nice things. Employees hope for a raise at work. Voters hope their chosen candidate will address their concerns. Hope is what drives humanity; it is an essential ingredient for survival. A person without hope is paralysed by fear. No matter how dire the circumstances, there is always hope that tomorrow will bring good fortune.
In ordinary usage, hope refers to something good we want to happen in the future or a confident feeling about what will happen in the future. This shows that hope relates to the future – something that has not happened but which we desire to happen.
However, there is no guarantee that what we desire will actually happen. We see this with politicians who promise the electorate what they will do once in office. People who hope these promises will be kept vote for them. In many cases, these promises are not kept, leading to voter apathy because the voters have lost hope in the politicians.
This is just one of the many examples of dashed hope, highlight the unreliability of human-made hope. The good news is that there is a hope that is built to last. "So God has given both his promise and his oath. These two things are unchangeable because it is impossible for God to lie. Therefore, we who have fled to him for refuge can have great confidence as we hold to the hope that lies before us." (Hebrews 6:18)
When Christians say they have 'hope', it is different from the ordinary usage of hope. It is not a desire that something should happen; rather, it is the knowledge that it will happen. This assurance is based on the One who has made the promise.
God gave us a promise and followed it up with an oath. The nature of God makes it impossible for Him to lie (Hebrews 6:18); therefore, His promise would have been sufficient for us to rely on. However, He follows this up with an oath, which is a promise that cannot be broken without consequence because it is legally binding.
"Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming." (1 Peter 1:13) Peter encourages us to set our hope on the grace that will be brought to us when Jesus Christ is revealed at His coming. He does not say, 'In case Christ is revealed' or 'because Christ may be revealed'. In his words, there is a definite assurance that the event of Christ's appearing will surely happen.
Without our hope in God, we would be paralysed by fear and uncertainty. Throughout the scriptures, we are encouraged to put our hope in God. He is the only one who can assure us of the future. The things we hope for here on earth are just the icing on the cake. Jesus promised us an eternity with Him (John 14:2), which He doubly assured with this statement, 'If this were not so, would I have told you...'
As Christians, we have a hope built to last! It is not temporary but eternal. It is no wonder that our hope is always the focus of the enemy's attack. He is not interested in taking our lives, as that would give him no satisfaction because, as Paul the apostle declared, 'Yes, we are fully confident, and we would rather be away from these earthly bodies, for then we will be at home with the Lord.' (2 Corinthians 5:8)
We do not put our hope in promises made to us by another human because, despite their best intentions, they may not be able to fulfil the promises they made. People who have trusted in their country's economies have seen how futile that is, in the wake of the recent global economic recession.
We have a God whose words are Yes and Amen. With Him, nothing is impossible...except for one thing – it is impossible for Him to lie.
In Him, we have a hope that is built to last!
Steve Popoola
is the editor of Biblepraise Newsletter and the founder of the Biblepraise Fellowship Online at
