One Glorious Hope!

 

“For there is one body and one Spirit, just as you have been called to one glorious hope for the future. There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all, in all, and living through all.” (Ephesians 4:4-6)

Hope, the Greek word elpsis, Strongs# 1680, is the expectation of good that holds both trust [believing] and confidence [certainty]. Hope, along with faith and love, are eternal (1 Corinthians 13:13) and we carry them with to our eternal destination. We also know that hope, like faith, are both rooted in love as love believes the best of others and hopes the best for them even while enduring failures, weaknesses and even evil (1 Corinthians 13:7). God is the God of all hope always believing and hoping the best for His children and fills us with hope by the Power of His Holy Spirit (Romans 15:13).

This confident expectation of good to meet us is strengthened through suffering and persevering through it (Romans 5:4). As we persevere in our trials we not only build character but ultimately, as God meets us in our trials, we learn that He very much walks with us, loves us and cares for us. This grows our expectation of good for the future of Him caring for us and meeting us no matter what we face.

Hope, in expectation of good, leading us to faith, trusting the Lord to meet us is for a future that we cannot already see is for the long term future but also for the current future. Hope led us to salvation, confessing faith, and hope is to continually direct us into more of the Kingdom. When we face difficulty, we are not only to pray and be patient in tribulation, but rejoice in hope (Romans 12:12).

This is where we get Paul saying to “rejoice always, I say it again, rejoice!” He was in prison but had incredible hope. And this hope led him to so many incredible encounters with God as he anticipated God to meet Paul and those around him with the Lord’s goodness. Hope caused Paul and Silas to praise the Lord in prison and see the cell doors open. Hope caused Paul to see God’s miracles come forth on a small island when he was shipwrecked as a prisoner.

Hope is filled with joy and anticipation of expected goodness in the midst of the bleakest circumstances. David proclaims in Psalm 27:13-14, “I would have despaired had I not believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for and confidently expect the Lord; Be strong and let your heart take courage; Yes, wait for and confidently expect the Lord.”

Besides expectation of good in our day to day lives as we live them with God and for God, we have an expectation of future hope of glory that comes from the promise of our salvation. We anticipate and look forward to this eternal home as our final destination.

Paul speaks of this hope of an eternal home and the resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked in Acts 24:15. Daniel 12:2 says, “And many who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake, some to everlasting life, but others to shame and everlasting contempt.”

Paul says in Romans 8:22-25 of this future glory, “We know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until the present time. Not only that, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved; but hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he can already see? But if we hope for what we do not yet see, we wait for it patiently.”

These verses in Roman speak of the fullness of the Kingdom coming. We have hope for an eternal home with the Lord. However, our eternal destination is not our only hope of glory. While we are promised an eternal destination, as mentioned, we also have the promise of a Kingdom coming forth in our time and in our lives. And, we have hope for His return when He fully brings His Kingdom.

Paul tells us in Titus 2:12-13 to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions “as we await the blessed hope and glorious appearance of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.” It says that He will come in the glory of the Father in the clouds with all His angels and reward us according to our works (Matthew 16:27). He will do away with evil on that day and every eye will be open to behold Him.

It is the day of the joy of His heart as He joins in union with His bride. There is the Son that is arising in glory as this new day is beginning to dawn. In the midst of the darkness, hope streams forth and shines like a lighthouse, drawing others in. His radiance of glory and splendor begins to shine forth.

This hope also is for the bride to step into her full statue as the joy of His heart that the Lord is returning for. He equips and prepares His bride, sending her forth into the harvest. It says about His bride in Ephesians 4:13, “This [equipping God’s people to do His work and building up the church, the body of Christ] will continue until we all come to such unity [agreement with] in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.”

While unity occurs among us as we look to Christ, unity also grows within us as we walk with Christ. We become more like him. This unity, or agreement with Him in faith, brings us into alignment to bring His kingdom forward through our lives. We begin to walk more and more in His Spirit because we are in Him and He is in our Father.

Unity within us has to do with how we believe. Ephesians 4:15-16 says, “Instead [of being tossed around and influenced by every wind of new teaching], we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of His body, the church. He makes the while body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.”

It says in Ephesians 4:23 to “Let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes.” Part of this renewal process happens as we believe and hope in the Lord in a way that it changes the way we look at things. In a renewed mind, we become joyful in hope because we anticipate such goodness. Grumbling and complaining has to do with expecting evil. When the people of God did not enter the Promised Land and instead grumbled and complained, they anticipated to be devoured by the people of the land.

Where our experiences do not align to give us hope, we need to renew them and change them. It is not our experiences that need to come in line, but our thoughts and attitudes. In anticipating goodness and hopeful expectation, our faith increases. We become more in line with the Spirit which opens the door for Him to operate in and through our lives. As it is written, we don’t have most often because we don’t ask. And of course, we don’t ask because we lack hope and expectation of good.

Overtime, our minds become renewed and more in line with the Holy Spirit. Paul tells us in Philippians 1:6, “And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue His work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.”

“We are the Church, we are the Bride, Love makes us strong to lay down our lives… We will watch, will pray, we will wait for that day, lamps are lit, hearts are burning” sings in the background.

As we become more in line with the Spirit, we walk more in genuine love for others. It is His love in us that empowers us, gives us hope, and helps us to lay down our lives. Through tribulation and suffering, we grow greater in hope and unity. And as we grow in genuine love, building up others in the church, we also grow in unity of the Spirit. Growing in Christ takes all of us and we grow in love by encouraging each other in hope.

“Bind us together in love while we wait” sings in the background.

Romans 8:18-21 says, “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.”

This waiting, hoping and growing in love is preparing us for our redemption. Romans 8:22-25 goes on to say, “We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.”

Lord, we watch and wait in hopeful anticipation. We hope for our ultimate lives with you in heaven as we receive eternal life but we also watch, with hopeful anticipation for what you have for us in this season and time in history. Help us to be aligned with you and with each other as we anticipate your goodness to burst forth everywhere.