Hope -- What, Why and How?

Excerpt from Our Hope: The Appearing of Jesus Christ by John Piper

We began this series by asking, "What is the special character of biblical hope?" And we answered: Biblical hope is not finger-crossing. It is a confident expectation of good things to come. Hebrews calls it the "full assurance of hope" (6:11).

Then we asked, "Why can sinners like us be confident that a holy God will work for us and make our future bright?" And we answered with two words: grace and gospel. Paul says that "God our Father loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace" (2 Thessalonians 2:16). And he urges us not to shift from the hope of the gospel (Colossians 1:23). So the grace of God and the good news of Christ crucified for sins and raised from the dead are the reasons that sinners like you and me can hope in God and have a confident expectation that the future will be good for us.

Then after the questions, "What?" and "Why?" we asked the question, "How?" First, "How can I hope in God when by nature I do not trust God or love God or want to obey God?" And we answered: "New birth." "By God's great mercy we have been born anew unto a living hope" (1 Peter 1:3, 23). God overcomes our rebellion and gives us a new heart—a heart that by its very nature loves to hope in God.

Then, the second "How-question" was, "How are we to hope in God if we don't know his promises?" The answer is Romans 15:4, "Whatever was written in former times was written for our instruction that by the endurance and encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope." We do know the promises of God—the whole Bible—the Scripture—was written to give us hope. Take up and read!