Words of Hope

A Word Study on the Biblical Word "Hope"

Study #43 - A Better Hope

In our last post we attempted to define the word "hope" as it is used in the Greek New Testament and concluded that everything that was meant by hope in the Old Testament in its various Hebrew synonyms is included in the one Greek word for hope in the New.  And yet the book of Hebrews declares that the hope of the Christian as revealed in the New Testament is better than the hope revealed in the Old:  "For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did; by the which we draw nigh unto God" (Hebrews 7:19).  A study of the book of Hebrews is indeed a study of this better hope that has been brought in by God and brings us to God.  It has rightly been called "the book of better things" since the word "better" is used some 13 times throughout the book.  It is clear that the word "better" is a term of comparison and serves to magnify just how much better the New Testament hope is without diminishing the hope provided for under the Old Covenant.  The Apostle Paul made a similar comment in his second epistle to the Corinthians:  "But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious ... How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious?  For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory.  For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth.  For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious" (II Corinthians 3:7-12).  There was indeed a glory and a goodness in the Old Testament law, but by God's own design it was intended to be temporary and preparatory to the more glorious message of the Gospel of Christ.  The law could reveal sin and announce its condemnation, but it contained no power to deliver the sinner from bondage or to enable the hearer of the law to obey its commands.  Thus it could "make nothing perfect", that is, it could not provide for a full forgiveness and complete remission of sins.  But Christ Jesus "is able  also to save them to the uttermost (i.e. fully, completely, perfectly) that come unto God by him" (Hebrews 7:25). (See also Hebrews 7:11; 9:9; 10:1,2 for the limitations of the Old Covenant priesthood, law and sacrificial system).  And so the hope of the Old Covenant was superseded by the superior hope of the New Covenant in Christ as prophesied by Jeremiah (Hebrews 8:7-13).  In Christ Jesus the New Testament believer is given a better hope:  Better because it is better in its ability - providing a complete redemption and salvation. Better because it is better in its access - providing a full and free access unto God. These  two things that could never be hoped for or attained under the Old Covenant are fully provided for under the New:  "This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more ... Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus ... And having an high priest over the house of God; Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith ..." (Hebrews 10:16-22).  Do you have this better hope in Christ?

Words of Hope

A Word Study on the Biblical Word "Hope"

Study #42 - New Testament Hope

We have now come to the word "hope" as it is used in the New Testament Scriptures.  In contrast to the Hebrew Old Testament where the word "hope" may be translated from any of twelve different Hebrew words, the Greek New Testament employs basically only one Greek word in four forms:  The noun elpis, the verb elpizo, and the compound verbs apelpizo and proelpizo.  The English word "hope" is found in the King James Version of the New Testament around 66 times.  This is slightly fewer than the 75 or so times it is found in the Old Testament but when you consider that the Old Testament is more than three times longer than the New Testament the frequency of occurrences is actually greater per page in the New.  We should also note that the Greek verb elpizo is translated by the word "trust" almost 20 times in the KJV and the Greek noun elpis by "faith" once, bringing the total number of references to "hope" up to 87 which averages out to over three times per page of the New Testament!  In other words, the New Testament is full of the message of hope!  As we seek to define what is meant by the word "hope" in the New Testament we may safely say that all that was included in the various concepts of hope expressed in the twelve Hebrew synonyms of the Old Testament Scriptures is compacted into this one word of the Greek New Testament.  Joseph Thayer, in his Greek - English Lexicon of the New Testament, notes that in the Greek Septuagint Version of the Old Testament the verb elpizo is used to translate the Hebrew words batah ("to trust"), hasa ("to flee for refuge"), and yahal ("to wait, to hope"). Thus he defines the Greek word elpizo as meaning "to hope"; "to wait for salvation with joy and full of confidence"; and "hopefully to trust in" (emphasis mine).  Likewise, he notes that the Septuagint uses the noun elpis to translate the Hebrew words betah and mibtah ("trust"), mahseh ("that in which one confides or to which he flees for refuge"), and tiqwa ("expectation, hope").  Thayer notes that the basic meaning of elpis is "expectation".  In the Greek classics (classical Greek) the word was a "vox media" meaning that it could be used in a good or bad sense:  "exectation whether of good or of ill".  But in the New Testament it is used consistently in the good sense:  "expectation of good, hope; and in the Christian sense, joyful and confident expectation of eternal salvation" (emphasis mine).  Likewise, W.E. Vine in his Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words defines elpis in its New Testament usage as meaning "favorable and confident expectation" and states that it describes "the happy anticipation of good" (emphasis mine).  And so we see that "hope" in the New Testament sense of the word is very much the same as we have observed from our Old Testament studies.  It is not a "wishful thinking" at all, but a confidence, an expectation, and even a joyful anticipation of God's blessings as promised to the believer.  And yet because the New Testament reveals to us the fulfillment of the very basis of the Old Testament hope - the coming of the Christ, and records for us the very substance of all that was foreshadowed in the Old Covenant and Law of Moses concerning Him - His substitutionary and sacrificial death upon the cross, His full and free atonement for the sins of mankind through the shedding of His blood, and His conquering of death and hell by the power of His Resurrection, and His never-ending exaltation to the right hand of  the Father as our Great High Priest - the New Testament refers to the believer's hope in Christ as an even better hope:  "For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did; by the which we draw nigh unto God" (Hebrews 7:19).  As great as the hope of the Old Covenant was, the hope provided for in the New Covenant is greater!  It is this "better hope" that we will be studying as we examine our New Testament Hope.

Words of Hope

A Word Study on the Biblical Word "Hope"

Study #41 - A Review of Hope

We have completed our word study on the Hebrew Old Testament words for "hope".  We thought it would be a good idea to stop and summarize our findings before proceeding to the New Testament.  Over the last 40 posts we have looked at 12 Hebrew Synonyms for "hope" and have listed or discussed most of the 75 references to "hope" in the Old Testament.  We have found that there are at least five distinct root meanings or ideas that make up the Old Testament concept of a Biblical hope.  We may list our findings as follows:

Study #            Hebrew Words                Root Meaning                   Distinctive Idea 

  1-19                tiqwa, miqweh                 "to bind together"                  A confident hope

20-28                yahal, tohelet                    "to wait"                               An expectant hope

29-31                sabar, seber                      "to watch"                            A watchful hope

32-33                kesel, kisla                        "to be fat"                            A full hope

34-36                batah, betah                     "to find refuge"                     A secure hope

37-40                hasa, mahseh                    "to flee to safety"                 A sheltering hope

If we were to try to include most of the aspects of "hope" as expressed in these Hebrew words and in the Scriptures where they are used we could arrive at a working definition of a Biblical Hope:  A full and confident expectation of both present safety and future blessing based upon a firm belief in God and His Word that is expressed by patient waiting and trust.  What a far cry from the wishful thinking that most people call "hope" today!  We have enjoyed these Old Testament studies and are looking forward to our study of "hope" in the New Testament Scriptures.  Will you join me in this journey of hope?

Words of Hope

A Word Study on the Biblical Word "Hope"

Study #40 - Hope in the Day of Judgment

This is our last study on the Hebrew synonyms for "hope" as found in the Old Testament Scriptures.  In our last several posts we have been looking at the words "hasa" and "mahseh" which describe the believer's hope in God as a refuge from danger.  In our last study we considered the meaning of Proverbs 14:32 - "The righteous hath hope in his death."  There we concluded that those declared righteous by God will be sheltered from the everlasting destruction of what the Bible calls "the second death" in which those who are outside of Christ and His "book of life" will be cast into the "lake of fire" to suffer forever in hell (Revelation 20:14,15).  The Bible makes it clear that all of mankind is not only appointed to face death (with the exception of those who are taken up in the Rapture of the Church - II Thessalonians 4:17) but to face God's Judgment as well:  "And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment ..." (Hebrews 9:27).  The verdict of a man's eternal destiny (heaven or hell) is sealed immediately after his death; there are no second chances!  The announcement and execution of that verdict will be declared by God in the day of judgment as all the wicked dead shall stand before His throne to be judged by Him (Revelation 20:11-15).  Only the believer in the Lord Jesus Christ will escape death's final penalty of everlasting suffering and separation from God, for God declares that "on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years" (Revelation 20:6).  The righteous will be sheltered in the day of judgment!  But prior to this "Great White Throne Judgment" the Bible speaks of a coming judgment of the nations after a period of "Great Tribulation" and prior to the establishment of Christ's Millennial Kingdom (Matthew 25:31-46).  It is in this context that the prophet Joel spoke of the LORD as being the "mahseh" hope of His people:  "The LORD also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the LORD will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel" (Joel 3:16). The Pulpit Commentary states, "To his people he stands in the double relation of a Place of refuge (machseh) and a Place of strength (ma'oz), that is, not only a place to which they may flee for safety, but a place in which, as a stronghold, they shall be kept safe" (emphasis mine). Joel here prophesied of the great and terrible Day of the LORD in which all the nations that oppose God and His people will be gathered into the valley of Jehoshaphat (the valley of God's judgment) outside of Jerusalem to face His wrath and judgment.  The "harvest of the earth" will take place in that day and the "wine press" of God's wrath will execute justice upon the fullness of man's wickedness (Joel 3:12,13; Revelation 14:14-20).  Joel describes this scene as "Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision" (Joel 3:14).  While some modern evangelists have used this text to urge the unsaved to "make a decision for Christ", the context makes it clear that it is God's decision, not man's, that will be exercised in that day!  The Hebrew word here speaks of a "cutting"  or "concision" (KJV margin) that will take place.  The Theological Wordbook notes: "The word is used metaphorically of a strict decision in the sense that something which is cut or incised cannot be altered" (emphasis mine).  No, any commitment to Christ must be made before that day, for God's decision will be final!  Charles Feinberg describes that day:  "As far as the eye can possibly see, the hosts of the peoples of the earth are drawn up in array - a great sea of surging humanity... There the words of decision: 'Come, ye blessed of my Father' and 'Depart, ye cursed' ... will be uttered with the voice of the mighty Son of God ... Creation will resound at the voice of Him who in that hour will be the refuge of His people and a stronghold to the children of Israel."  The remainder of Joel's prophesy relates to the blessings of the Millennial Reign of Christ, but it is in Isaiah that we learn that God's Sheltering Presence will form a Protective Canopy over those dwelling in the New Jerusalem:  "And the LORD will create upon every dwelling place of mount Zion, and upon her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night: for upon all the glory shall be a defence. And there shall be a tabernacle for a shadow in the daytime from the heat, and for a place of refuge (hasa), and for a covert from storm and from rain" (Isaiah 4:5,6).  How wonderful to know that our God who will be our Shelter of Hope in the coming day of judgment, will continue to be our Refuge in His coming Kingdom and throughout all eternity!