HOPE IN GOD’S PRECIOUS PROMISES

“By which have been given to us exceedingly great and PRECIOUS PROMISES, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature” – 2 Peter 1: 3-4a

In addition to His Immutability, Believers can find HOPE in GOD’S PROMISES: “as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and PRECIOUS PROMISES, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust” (2Pet.1: 3-4). It is in the nature of men to make promises they cannot keep; to write cheques they can’t cash; and affirm unending love and then leave. That’s not the case with God. He is a Promise Maker and a Promise Keeper. He writes big cheques, and can cash them, too.

Peter was a living witness to the Power of Hope: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a LIVING HOPE through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you” (1Pet.1: 3-4). If anyone knew that God keeps His Word, it was Peter. As Peter travelled with Jesus, he saw promises being made and kept. He heard Jesus talk about His death and resurrection then saw Him fulfil it. He heard Jesus promise He would build His Church, then witnessed Him doing so all through the book of Acts. Our Hope must be built on God’s Great and Precious Promises.

The Christian’s Hope is not based on wishful thinking but confident expectation, founded on God’s promises. He is the same yesterday, today and forever (Heb.13:8).  The way He fulfilled promise after promise in the Bible shows us that we can trust Him to come through today. God’s past provision is ample predictor of His future faithfulness. Hope comes from believing the promises of God. The new covenant is a better covenant because it is based on better promises (Heb.8:6). God may also give us personal promises in addition to the ones in the Bible. All of these better promises inspire Hope and Faith that enable us to experience the goodness of God.

Our Faith will never exceed our level of Hope, the very substance of that faith: “Now FAITH is the substance of things HOPED for, the evidence of things not seen” (Heb.11:1). Faith is ability to realize in our experience the things that we hope for. Faith gives us spiritual eyes to realize and lay hold of our object of Hope. We will never develop our faith beyond our ability to express Hope, the confident expectation of good that God wants us to have. The person with the most hope always prevails. Hope is essential for experiencing personal victory and national revival, and for societal and cultural transformation.

True Hope never disappoints, because the love of God poured out in our hearts enables us to sustain our faith until His promise is fulfilled: “Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us” (Rom.5:5). Like Abraham, the father of our faith, we must uphold Hope until the fulfilment of the promise, no matter how impossible it may look, feel, seem, or be: “who, contrary to hope, in hope believed, so that he became the father of many nations, according to what was spoken, “So shall your descendants be” (Rom.4:18).

We hold on to Hope that God keeps His promises,  but in order to inherit them, we must find and eat the Word: “Your words were found, and I ate them, and Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart” (Jer.15:16). In hope, we must eat them, chew on them, meditate upon them, consume them, and make them ours. Then, they shall sustain us in faith until the time of fulfilment. Knowing and trusting Jesus reassures that the best is yet to come!