Our Hope
November 23, 2012.

"Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the commandment of God our Saviour, and Lord Jesus Christ, which is our hope" (1 Timothy 1:1).

Paul, in his opening salutation to Timothy, makes it clear that the Christian's hope is not just in Christ, but is Christ! In the New Testament, the term "hope" does not refer to some vague wish, but to a confident expectation of something (or someone) sure to come. It focuses especially on the promised return of Christ to complete His great work of redemption.

It is specifically called the blessed hope: "Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ" (Titus 2:13). It is also a living hope, for God the Father "hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead" (1 Peter 1:3).

Furthermore, since Christ is our hope, it is a saving hope. "For we are saved by hope" (Romans 8:24). It is a glorious and joyful hope. It recognizes the present truth of "Christ in you, the hope of glory" (Colossians 1:27), so that we "rejoice in hope of the glory of God" (Romans 5:2).

It is not a blind hope but a reasonable hope, one founded on solid evidence, and every believer must "be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you" (1 Peter 3:15).

Finally, this hope of the imminent coming of Christ, when at last "we shall be like Him," is a purifying hope, for "every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure" (1 John 3:2-3). It also is a stabilizing hope, "Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast" (Hebrews 6:19). In every way, God "hath loved us, and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace" (2 Thessalonians 2:16). HMM

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