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THE NORTHERN KENTUCKY SEARCHER VOLUME 2, NUMBER 10, APRIL 7, 2002 “WE
EXULT IN HOPE OF THE GLORY OF GOD” or “IN HOPE WE HAVE BEEN SAVED”
Perhaps you recognize the dual title of this article.
The first is from Romans 5:1 & 2, where Paul wrote, “Therefore
having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus
Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this
grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God.”
The second is found in
Romans 8:24 & 25, where we find, “For in hope we have been saved,
but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one also hope for what he sees?
But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly
for it.”
We must never make the mistake of under-valuing HOPE in the life of a
Christian. Hope is what enables us
to rejoice; it is what makes it possible for us to exult when properly
understood. In our day and time hope
can be viewed as being relatively weak – more of a wish than anything.
But that is not how the word is used in the scriptures.
It most certainly speaks of the desire for the thing “hoped” for; but
it goes beyond that to a confident expectation.
The Dictionary of New
Testament Theology, says of the noun and verb of “hope”: “In the NT
the words never indicate a vague or fearful anticipation but always the
expectation of something good.” The Theological Dictionary of the New
Testament, says of hope: “Thus elpizein means expectation with the nuance
of counting upon…” Concerning the verb, Thayer writes in Thayer’s Greek
-English Lexicon of the New Testament: “(in a religious sense, to wait for
salvation with joy and full of confidence.”) Of the noun, he writes: “Always
in the N.T., in a good sense: expectation of good…and in the Christian sense,
joyful and confident expectation of eternal salvation.”
So, because of hope, we who are Christians do not fearfully await
judgment for ourselves. We joyfully
look forward to it expecting salvation. One
fellow wrote of it this way. “If
your father was away on a long trip you would look forward to his return.
If he had written you a letter assuring you of his deep and unchanging
love, you would exult in the thought of his return.
If you loved him, knowing of his love for you, you’d be ecstatic about
his return. You wouldn’t be
wringing your hands full of anxiety over his coming.
You might even wring over the delay in his coming.”
I like that.
This hope that we enjoy as Christians is made possible through the grace
of God. In 2 Thessalonians 2:16
& 17, we read, “Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our
Father, who has loved us and given us eternal comfort and good hope by grace,
comfort and strength your hearts in every good work and word.”
It is a living hope that will not die away because it is based upon the
risen Christ, who lives forever and ever. Remember
Peter’s words of 1 Pet. 1:3? He
wrote, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who
according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope
through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.”
This isn’t a fairy tale, nor is it whistling in the dark.
It isn’t a dream or a vain delusion.
It is the truth. Because
Jesus rose from the dead, the Christian knows that he will rise too.
“If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men
most to be pitied. But now Christ
has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep.
For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the
dead. For as in Adam all die, so
also in Christ all shall be made alive. But
each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, after that those who are
Christ’s at His coming, then comes the end, when He delivers up the kingdom to
the God and Father, when He has abolished all rule and all authority and
power.” (1 Corinthians
In what sense can it be said “in hope we have been saved”?
Hope is what causes us to endure. Because
of the earnest expectation of a glorious future in heaven and full release from
the bondage of corruption, we are patient and endure.
Without this hope, I don’t believe we would or could endure.
In Hebrews 6:17 – 20, we read, “In the same way God, desiring even
more to show to the heirs of the promise the unchangeableness of His purpose,
interposed with an oath, in order that by two unchangeable things, in which it
is impossible for God to lie, we may have strong encouragement, we who have fled
for refuge in laying hold of the hope set before us.
This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and
steadfast and one which enters within the veil, where Jesus has entered as a
forerunner for us, having become a high priest forever according to the order of
Melchizedek.” Hope anchors our souls in eternity. It keeps us from focusing all of our attention upon the here and now. It serves to remind us that we are but “stranger and exiles” on this earth; looking for that “better country, that is a heavenly one.” (Hebrews 11:13, 16)
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