One-page Bible Study - HOPE

 

Pdf available here

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These Bible Studies look at important aspects of Christian faith and practice. They can be done individually or used for group discussion. The Bible verses are profound – but keep the study simple. Let God speak to you through the verses, with these two questions in mind:

• What does this verse tell me about God and his good news?

• What does this verse tell me about living as a Christian?

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“These three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love” (1 Corinthians 13:13). Love is the greatest, and faith is clearly essential. But we may be surprised to see hope up there ‘on the podium’ with them? In fact, love and faith spring from our heavenly hope (Colossians 1:5).

 

Our hope is that Jesus will return

Just as Jesus came at Christmas, so the New Testament promises he will come again to finish the work he has begun (Matthew 16:27; Mark 13:26-27; Revelation 1:7). “We wait for the blessed hope – the glorious appearing of our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:13). The Old Testament prophets, from their forward perspective, foresaw these two ‘comings’ as a single event (e.g. Isaiah 9:6-7), but they are in fact separated with a period in between. In Jesus, God’s kingdom has already come (Mark 1:15) and that good news must then be made known throughout the world before his return at the end of time (Matthew 24:14). So from our perspective, we look back to his first coming and also look forward to his coming again in glory. Christmas is, therefore, a sign and an assurance that he will return, that God will complete what he has begun.

 

We trust in the God of hope

Like love and faithfulness, hope is itself part of God’s nature – he is the God of hope (Romans 15:13). And we are made in his likeness, so it is in our nature too to be hopeful. (“Hope springs eternal in the human breast” Alexander Pope). But for hope to be meaningful, it must have a genuine basis. “Hope means simply the belief that something good lies ahead. It is not the same as optimism or wishful thinking, for those imply a denial of reality” (Philip Yancey). That reality is found when we consciously set our hope in God and in his promises (1 Timothy 4:10, 6:17).

 

See Psalm 39:7; Psalm 42:5,11; 43:5; Psalm 62:5-6; Psalm 130:5-7; Psalm 146:5-6.

 

This is not the hope that everything will go as we would like. Rather, it’s the hope that however badly things seem to be going, we can trust God to bring us through it and to bring good out of it. Lamentations 3:22-24 are great verses, but see what leads up to them: Lamentations 3:16-24.

 

The same confidence is expressed in Romans 8:16-25, a passage about our future hope. And because of this hope, we can trust God, however difficult our situation (Romans 8:28,35-39).

 

A living hope – and a hope to live by

See 1 Peter 1:3-4. It’s by new birth through the Holy Spirit that this hope becomes alive in us. The Spirit assures us that we are God’s children, with a future inheritance. He is “the first-fruits” of the new age, the guarantee in the present of all that is to come (Romans 8:16-17,23; Ephesians 1:13-14; 2 Corinthians 5:4-5). Christ in you (by his Spirit) is the hope of glory! (Colossians 1:27).

 

This hope gives purpose and meaning to our life in this world, causing us to live in a way that will result in his “well done, good and faithful servant” (Matthew 25:1-13,14-30; 2 Corinthians 5:9-10). It calls us all to repentance and faith (Acts 17:30-31; 1 Thessalonians 1:9-10), and then to want to live “holy and godly lives” (2 Peter 3:11-12; Matthew 24:42). And it enables us to persevere and not give up when life is hard and difficult (Mark 13:13; 1 Thessalonians 1:3; 1 Peter 1:6-7).