Words of Hope

A Word Study on the Biblical Word "Hope"

Study #39 - An Eternal Hope

We are continuing to look at the three passages of Scripture in which the Hebrew words "hasa" and "mahseh" are translated by the English word "hope".  Each of these passages reflect the root idea of these Hebrew words as describing the believer's hope in God as a Shelter in times of difficulty or danger.  In Jeremiah 17:17 we found that the Lord is the believer's Sheltering Hope in the day of distress.  For Jeremiah this was a day of persecution for faithfully preaching the word of the Lord. He found the Lord to be a Safe Retreat amidst the evil times in which he lived and ministered.  In Proverbs 14:32 we find that the Lord is a Sheltering Hope in the believer's day of death:  "The wicked is driven away in his wickedness: but the righteous hath hope (hasa) in his death."  Literally the idea is that the righteous finds a shelter or refuge when he dies; that is, he is kept safe in the day of his death.  This is in stark contrast to what Matthew Henry called "the desperate condition of a wicked man when he goes out of the world."  Henry comments:  "... he is driven away in his wickedness, dies in his sins, under the guilt and power of them, unjustified, unsanctified.  His wickedness is the storm in which he is hurried away, as chaff before the wind, chased out of the world" (emphasis mine).  The wicked man has no shelter in which to hide his soul - he cannot escape death nor its eternal consequences!  He is without hope because he is without God.  But the believer who has been declared righteous by God has hope even in the face of death!  But in what ways is the righteous person sheltered from death?  Certainly at times God may shelter us from the fact of death, even when it seems impending or imminent.  We are no doubt protected by His Providence from an untimely death more often than we are aware.  There are a lot of ways to die in this fallen world, and it is only the grace and goodness of God that keeps us alive every moment of our lifetime. And yet we know that we too will one day have to face the fact of death.  We have a divine appointment or reservation with death that we will not escape, nor postpone (Hebrews 9:27).  And yet, despite the fact of death, the believer has hope in his death, for God shelters us from the fear of death.  Knowing that our day of death is in God's hands, we need not fear the approach of death.  Our day will come when and how God has determined for us and not a moment before!  To be freed from the fear of death is a great gift that shelters us from anxiety and liberates us to live our lives to the glory of God for as long as He gives us breath.  This is an emancipation secured for us through the victory of Christ over the power of death (Hebrews 2:14,15).  Peter Marshall, in his sermon entitled "Go Down Death" (a sermon well worth reading if you can find it) wrote:  "It is only when we do know Him that we are not afraid, for there is nothing to fear. Only when one is no longer afraid to die is one no longer afraid at all.  And only when we are no longer afraid, do we begin to live ... in every experience, painful or joyous in gratitude for every moment to live abundantly .... If you are afraid of death, then you are afraid of life. Only when you have something to die for, have you something to live for."  But there is more than this to the believer's hope in death.  God shelters us from the final penalty of death.  It is not the fact of death (when or how it will come) that is most to be feared, but the final outcome or aftermath of death.  The righteous soul is sheltered from eternal condemnation and is kept safe in the Eternal Presence of God.  Our hope is an eternal hope that extends beyond death!  It is the confident assurance that we love God and He loves us that casts out all fear of death and condemnation (I John 4:17-19).  But are we reading too much into this verse from the book of Proverbs?  Delitzsch doesn't think so, for he comments on this passage:  "The godless in his calamity is overthrown, or he fears in the evils which befall him the intimations of the final ruin; on the contrary, the righteous in his death, even in the midst of extremity, is comforted, viz. in God in whom he confides ... Yet though there was no such revelation then, still the pious in death put their confidence in Jahve, the God of life and of salvation ... and believing that they were going home to Him, committing their spirit into His hands (Ps. 31:5), they fell asleep, though without any explicit knowledge, yet not without the hope of eternal life" (emphasis mine).  Yes, the righteous man has hope in the day of death, for he knows that he will be transported into the Presence of God and will be forever safe in that "Haven of rest".  Again we turn to the words of Peter Marshall:  "And death when it comes, will come to you as a welcome friend, sent to usher you into the glorious life that awaits you just around the bend of the road ... But what will you do, if you don't know Jesus?"