The common usage of “hope” is NOT the Biblical meaning of the same word.
Homophones are words that are pronounced in the same way, but differ in their meanings. Examples of homophones;
• After taking a shot with his bow, the archer took a bow.
• No one could believe how much produce our garden could produce.
• There’s no dessert in the desert for those who desert.
• The incense incensed the customers.
Non-Biblical Hope
Wishful thinking. Will the Seahawks go to the Super Bowl? I hope so.
Biblical Hope
Confident expectation. The return of Jesus is our blessed hope.
All human beings experience “The Soul’s Conflict with Itself.” Psalm 42:1-5
• The conflict of knowing God is with you, but not sensing His presence. Vs. 2
• The conflict of knowing God is good, but spending each night in tears. Vs. 3
• The conflict of remembering better days, but being down because those days seem so long ago. Vs. 4
• The conflict of knowing that God is the “lifter of my head,” but your soul is cast down. Vs. 5a
• The conflict of knowing that God keeps you in perfect peace, but your soul is in turmoil. Vs. 5b
The Psalmist responds to the soul’s conflict with itself by declaring “Soul, get over your conflict and hope in God. He is your confident expectation!” Vs. 5c
Our confident expectation is in God. 1 Timothy 4:10
The birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus is the evidence that our confident expectation in God is solidly founded. 1 Timothy 1:1
God selected, what seems to us, a very strange way to save the world. His Son set up his tent and lived among us for 33 years. John 1:14
100% of the Christian’s confident expectation is dependent upon the Man who tented here.
Jesus’ tenting here provides us with the confident expectation that we will forever live, not in temporary tents, but in a permanent dwelling not made by human hands, but by God Himself. 2 Corinthians 5:1
Your soul’s conflict with itself can be resolved by placing your full and complete confident expectation in God, whom we know as trustworthy because we have seen Him in his tent.
Hebrews 6:11, 12 provides terrific guidance for overcoming the souls conflict with itself.
1. We are to develop earnestness to have Biblical hope. Vs. 11a
2. Our earnestness is for the full assurance of our Biblical hope. Vs. 11a
3. We have confident expectation in God until the end. Our hope is eternal. Vs. 11b
4. Our confident expectation in God keeps us from being sluggish. Vs. 12a
5. We imitate earlier Jesus followers who have kept confident expectation through faith and patience. Vs. 12b