Hope is such an awesome thing. We can’t live without it. It is the theme of the scriptures from Genesis to Revelation. Our hope in God our Creator and hope of a future in God our Redeemer. But hope is misunderstood today and I don’t want you to miss this. Hope today is defined as a desire that something will happen. It’s not certain, it’s just a hope and it’s just a feeling.
When I was in high school, I hoped I would get a good grade on a test but I didn’t always. It was just a hope. But that is never how the Bible or how Jesus referred to hope. In the bible, hope was and is a certainty of things to come. Romans 15:4 “For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope.”
My wife was incredibly smart in school. If she hoped she would get a good grade, it absolutely would happen. It wasn’t a wish or just a desire. Why? Because she had done the hard work of preparation before the test.
We have hope in heaven as a certainty because Jesus did the hard work of dying on the cross for our sins. He has secured a place in heaven for everyone who has received him. Now that’s hope – Jesus style.