The Two Wolves - Pt 3

And again Isaiah says, “The root of Jesse will come, even he who arises to rule the Gentiles; in him will the Gentiles hope.” May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. (Romans 15:12-13 ESV).

As we continue the most basic question of all is the definition of hope. We must know what the Scripture has to say about hope if we are to truly grasp these great truths about biblical hope. We use the word hope in at least three different ways. First, hope is the desire for something good in the future. Second, hope is the good thing in the future that we are desiring; we focus on some future event “hoping” it will come to pass. And, third, hope is the reason why our hope might indeed come to pass. The focus becomes the “hope” of something good; it is the basis or reason for thinking that our desire may indeed be fulfilled. All three of these uses are found in the Bible. But the most important feature of biblical hope is not present in any of these ordinary uses of the word hope. In fact the distinctive meaning of hope in Scripture is almost the opposite of our ordinary usage. I don’t mean that in Scripture hope is a desire for something bad instead of something good. And I don’t mean that in Scripture hope is rejection of good instead of desire for it. It is not the opposite in those senses. It is the opposite in that when we use the word hope, we express uncertainty rather than certainty. When we say, “I hope I get home early tonight,” we actually mean we have no certainly of getting home early, we merely “hope so.” Ordinarily, when we express hope, we are expressing uncertainty. But this is not the distinctive biblical meaning of hope. And the main thing I want to do the next few days is show you from Scripture that biblical hope is not just a desire for something good in the future; but, rather, biblical hope is a confident expectation and desire for something good in the future. Biblical hope not only desires something good for the future, it expects it to happen. And it not only expects it to happen, it is confident that it will happen. There is a moral certainty that the good we expect and desire will be done. This is the impact of our meme today. The quote is from the prophet Isaiah. During the years of his ministry there was great turmoil in the nation. The invasion from the north had left the people of Israel conquered and enslaved. Yet, he declares that those who keep their minds focused on the Lord will have, present tense, “perfect peace.” It seems to me that this is the real need of our lives. I am glad for a secure future; however, I also want a secure present. God gives that kind of hope to us! Feed that wolf!