Hope in the New Testament

We can understand hope in the New Testament sense as a firm assurance about things that are unseen and still in the future. As made obvious in the New Testament, if anyone puts their trust in Jesus, they can have that firm assurance that can be found nowhere else. When we trust in Jesus, we don’t have to trust in our good works or following the law to get to heaven – Jesus did it all.

So faith in Christ gives us this hope, which can come only from God, and which is not just wishful thinking. That hope talked about in so many passages in the New Testament is a confident expectancy, or what we might call “assurance.” Assurance of what? Assurance that God is with us now, is available to help us get thru this life, and it is a guarantee of eternal life in heaven with him.

How do we know for sure? We have God’s revealed Word, and we have the promises of God – which give us hope. Jesus came to give hope to the hopeless – a spiritual assurance never before seen on the earth.

The Christian understanding is that God loved us so much that he came to earth, leaving his heavenly home, to live as one of us. He ultimately went to the Cross so that we could have that hope which I have been talking about. While all your problems won’t magically disappear, you will be able to deal with them much better than before. Why? Because now you are walking in faith – having God with you and giving you strength and hope that only God can give.

This original Christmas gift of Jesus was given to you by God himself, so that you might have life, and have it abundantly – not necessarily materially, but certainly spiritually. Once you have that hope – that blessed assurance – then you will also experience God’s peace and joy, and the fullness of God’s love.