“I hope that the Lakers win tonight.” “I hope I win the lottery.” “There’s hope for you yet!” “Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi, you’re my only hope.”
The word hope get’s used in many ways. This is true in our everyday speech, but it’s also true in Scripture. So when the Bible speaks of hope, what exactly does it mean? And how does it help us today? I believe the book of Hebrews helps us greatly in understanding the hope that God wants us to have and I’d like to share that with you!
Definitions
Before we take a look at a couple verses in Hebrews we need to clarify a couple ideas. We need to understand the difference between an object reality and a subjective experience.
Objective reality refers to the way something actually is.
Subjective experience refers to how I relate to it.
Example
Broccoli is green. That is an objective statement. It is simply saying something true about broccoli.
Broccoli is delicious. That is a subjective statement. Some people may experience broccoli in a positive manner, some not so positive.
Similarly Scripture talks about hope in both an objective and subjective sense.
Objective Hope
Hebrews chapter 6 clearly shows us that there is an objective hope for Christians.
“And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end.”
“...we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us.”
You can see in these verses that there is an objective hope that the author of Hebrews is telling us about. It is a hope in which we can have assurance (that’s not wishful thinking!). It is a hope that we can hold fast to, that is set before us.
I believe that the hope to which the author of Hebrews refers is our great future in heaven with God!
Because Jesus has satisfied God’s law on our behalf by obeying it perfectly. Because his death is a death on our behalf that he didn’t deserve. And because he has been raised to life on our behalf, those of us who have trusted him for forgiveness of sin can be assured that our future in heaven is secure. So secure in fact that we can have “full assurance”, “strong encouragement”, and even “hold fast” to the hope that Jesus supplies.
Subjective Hope
But it is not just the certainty of our future that the author of Hebrews tells us about. He also wants his readers to experience that hope.
Assurance is the subjective experience of knowing, without a shadow of a doubt, that because our confidence is in Jesus, our future is secure and certain.
Encouragement is the subjective positive feeling that accompanies knowing that whatever your experiences are in this world, there is a perfect eternity awaiting us in the presence of our Savior.
Holding fast is the subjective experience of holding out for something better than what we might experience here.
Our future hope (objective) is secured and guaranteed by Jesus, therefore we can have hope (subjective) no matter what happens in the here and now!
How it Helps
“We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope...where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf...”
Hope anchors our souls in the future. Hope reminds us that what we experience here isn’t all there is. Hope assures us that even when life treats you rough there is a better future, a future where Jesus has already gone and has paved the way for us to go. A hope that does not, and in fact because of Jesus, will not disappoint.
Hope helps us endure. Hope helps us persevere. Hope anchors our soul to the future where there is no sickness, sadness, disease, death, or hardship. Hope gives patience because we know this won’t last forever. Hope reminds that death, eternal death, can’t touch us because Jesus took that on our behalf.
I hope that you think of eternity often. I hope you feel it’s assurance and encouragement. I hope it anchors your soul near to our Savior.