Our Hope is Stable
for it is built upon the Solid Rock

My Hope is Built
Play "The Solid Rock"

My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly trust in Jesus’ Name.

Refrain

On Christ the solid Rock I stand,
All other ground is sinking sand;
All other ground is sinking sand.

When darkness seems to hide His face,
I rest on His unchanging grace.
In every high and stormy gale,
My anchor holds within the veil.

His oath, His covenant, His blood,
Support me in the whelming flood.
When all around my soul gives way,
He then is all my Hope and Stay.

When He shall come with trumpet sound,
Oh may I then in Him be found.
Dressed in His righteousness alone,
Faultless to stand before the throne.

Titus 1:2

"in the hope of eternal life which God Who cannot lie promised long ages ago (see note Titus 1:2) (cf note Titus 3:7)

Why is this hope so certain?

Because "God, Who cannot lie promised long ages ago".  GOD is incapable of lying. Does this truth not encourage us?...the truth that one day these bodies of corruption will be glorified, wholly perfected experientially in Christ’s own righteousness, even as we are now positionally in Christ.

Matthew Henry said it well...

The ground of our hope is Christ in the world, but the evidence of our hope is Christ in the heart.

John MacArthur explains that...

The hope of eternal life is the believer’s deepest longing for that which is affirmed and unalterably guaranteed by God’s own Word. (cf Jn 6:37-40)

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up (harpazo) (Latin = Rapere > Rapture) together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord Therefore comfort one another with these words. (see notes 1Thess 4:13; 14; 15; 16; 17; 18)

While some of philosophers such as Socrates sought to prove happiness after death the pagan world had no word of assurance.

William Barclay comments on this hopelessness that enveloped the ancient world writing that...

In face of death the pagan world stood in despair. They met it with grim resignation and bleak hopelessness.

Aeschylus wrote, “Once a man dies there is no resurrection.”

Theocritus wrote, “There is hope for those who are alive, but those who have died are without hope.”

Catullus wrote, “When once our brief light sets, there is one perpetual night through which we must sleep

On pagan tombstones we find grim epitaphs carved with sad words like...

I was not
I became
I am not
I care not

In stark contrast we find that the book of Acts glows with the specific hope of bodily resurrection (Acts 2:26; 23:6; 24:15; 26:6-7). What a comforting hope is the bodily resurrection of the dead (saint) and the rapture of the saints.

Someone has well said that

Goodbyes are the law of earth.
Reunions are the law of heaven.

And so in the bleakest times saints can have the brightest hope. [See Torrey's Topic Resurrection with >70 Scriptures]

UNION with Christ here,
means REUNION with loved ones over There!

A believing soldier said,

When I die do not sound taps over my grave, but reveille, the morning call, the summons to rise.

One summer a church camp staff staged an elaborate rapture while the camp director was off the grounds. When he returned, everybody was missing, clothing was on the ground as though people had “passed through” it, a motorboat was circling on the lake without pilot or passengers, and everything in the kitchen was functioning without a cook. A carefully timed phone call from town (“Hey, what’s happening? Everybody’s missing over here!”) only added to the effect. “I’ve got to admit,” said the director,

“it really shook me for a minute.”

Just think of what disturbing effect this comforting event for saints will have on a lost world! So let us comfort one another with this blessed hope instead of arguing over when it's going to occur.

The Grace of Hope

In Ps 119:81, the psalmist writes...

My soul faints for Your salvation,
but I hope (yachal - ponder the 19 great uses in Psalms) in Your Word.

The psalmist was a man who was fainting and yet what choice did he make? He turned to God. His source of hope was God's Word of Truth. Spurgeon explains that the psalmist...

felt that salvation would come, for God cannot break His promise, nor disappoint the hope which His own word has excited: yea, the fulfilment of His word is near at hand when our hope is firm and our desire fervent. Hope alone can keep the soul from fainting by using the smelling bottle of the promise. Yet hope does not quench desire for a speedy answer to prayer; it increases our importunity, for it both stimulates ardour and sustains the heart under delays. To faint for salvation, and to be kept from utterly failing by the hope of it, is the frequent experience of the Christian man. We are "faint yet pursuing" hope sustains when desire exhausts. While the grace of desire throws us down, the grace of hope lifts us up again.

Beloved, if you hope in circumstances, you will be disappointed, because they change. The psalmist hoped in the God's unchanging Word and trusted in God's faithfulness, and God comforted him. The psalmist clung to the comfort, hope and faithfulness of God. He surely experienced the revival he later prayed for asking God to...

Revive (Imperative - command) me according to Your lovingkindness (Ps 119:88).  (See Spurgeon's encouraging note)

Surely God answered with a breath of fresh, heavenly air and revived him. Thank God for His faithfulness. If you are having a rough day, remember that you can depend on Him. He is your God of Hope and all Comfort (2Cor 1:3), and He is ever faithful to His promises. As you submit to His truth on hope, He will give you the reviving power you need to rise above your circumstances and continue. Your hope lies not within yourself or with your circumstances. Look to the Lord and obey His Word. Then look ahead with confidence to your future hope, for God's promises are sure and His Word is true.

 1 Thessalonians 1:3

"We give thanks to God always for all of you making mention of you in our prayers constantly bearing in mind your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness (hupomone) of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the presence of our God and Father"  (see note 1Thessalonians 1:3) (See sermon by John Piper related to this passage)

What is the "root" or source of their hope?

Their hope was in Jesus, firmly built on "nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness". And what is the fruit of this hope? Obviously the fruit is steadfastness or endurance which describes the ability to bear up triumphantly in the face of much tribulation (thlipsis) (see note 1Thes 1:6) and sufferings  (see note 1Thes 2:14). In other words, if something happens in your life that is difficult or disappointing and you make the choice by grace to look with the eyes of faith to Christ and His power and sufficiency and you refuse to  give in to complaining or bitterness, then your faith perseveres. The Thessalonian saints' hope in the Lord Jesus Christ brought forth this fragrant fruit of steadfastness which enabled them to bear up under the trials and tribulations. Furthermore, when Christians live with an expectant hope, their lifestyle will give clear evidence of the genuineness of their salvation, which Paul was celebrating with the giving of thanks (see note 1Thes 1:2)

John Bunyan said that...

Hope is the foundation of patience.

If you have genuine Biblical hope (not "I hope so") and you really embrace this truth, it will be a stabilizing force when people and/or circumstances come into your life and challenge your patience. (See this golden thread of hope > tribulations [thlipsis] > perseverance > proven character and back to hope which does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. -- see notes Romans 5:1; 5:2; 5:3; 5:4; 5:5)

What was the truth about the Lord Jesus Christ on which they based their endurance producing hope? Paul gives us the answer in this same chapter writing that now as believers they were

waiting (present tense = expectant waiting was their lifestyle) for His Son from heaven, Whom He raised from the dead, that is Jesus, Who rescues (delivers) us from the wrath to come. (see note 1Thess 1:10)

In context, the steadfastness of hope of the afflicted Thessalonian saints reflected their certainty that Jesus would return and deliver them  from the coming wrath described in Revelation 6-19:21. (See Rapture)

It is noteworthy, that the truth of Christ's imminent return to rapture His bride the Church is such an important plank in the scaffolding of a believer's life of hope that Paul alludes to it at the end of every chapter in 1 Thessalonians. This repetition clearly underscores the encouraging and stabilizing effect of the hope of our Lord's return and the saints  Rapture.

One might wonder why the new believers at Thessalonica were experiencing tribulation? Paul explains that they had

turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God (see note 1Thes 1:9) (cp notes on 2 Ti 3:12 where Paul says that all those who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be [it's a "promise"] persecuted!)

So these former dead idol worshippers were now living God worshippers, and as such they were "swimming against the current" of the pagan, godless society in the first century. Yet despite affliction,  they continued to manifest “sheer dogged endurance.” (Phillips) To reiterate, these saints were anchored in the truth of the blessed hope of Christ's imminent return (See article by Dr Walvoord). They were looking for Him, which worked out in their living for Him.

Dear set apart one, for what or whom are you looking? It is a basic spiritual principle that what (or who) you are looking for will radically effect what you are living for.

Romans 8:24, 25

Note a similar stabilizing effect of hope...

For in hope we have been saved (past tense salvation = justification), but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one also hope for what he sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see (this refers to our future tense salvation = glorification - saved finally from sin's presence and pleasure!), with perseverance (hupomone) (steadfastness) we wait eagerly (apekdechomai) for it. (See notes Romans 8:24; 8:25)

Christian hope is a confident expectation that God will do what He says, but it is still something that will not be “seen” until the final day. What Paul is saying is that because believers now have this sure hope, they are "empowered" or enabled to wait for it with perseverance or steadfastness. Listen to how the New Jerusalem Bible renders Romans 8:25...

having this hope for what we cannot yet see, we are able (Ed note: we have supernatural power/ability) to wait for it with persevering confidence.

Hope is the foundation, while perseverance is the result of the firm foundation.

Hope means expectancy when things are otherwise hopeless. (Chesterton)

Hope teaches endurance and an eager anticipation of that which will become reality. (Simon J. Kistemaker)
 

William Newell explains that...

hope is expecting something better! The very fact that we have not seen it realized as yet, begets within us that grace which is so precious to God - patience. But note, it is not patience in the abstract that is set forth here: but patient waiting for the coming liberty of the glory of the children of God. (Romans Verse by Verse)

And so as believers, we can experience steadfastness in the midst of life’s trials because we know ("we have a sure hope") Christ is coming again and He will deliver us from the wrath to come and  will  consummate our salvation (For more discussion of past, present and future tense salvation see Three Tenses of Salvation)

Hoping is disciplined waiting. (Hoffman)

A. T. Robertson defines steadfastness as...
 

patience marked by hope ...inspired by hope ...and sustained by hope in spite of delays and set-backs

God's good promises put

a rainbow of hope in every cloud and

a "pillow of grace" in every bed of affliction!

Romans 5:1-5

Therefore (because of the truth in Romans 4:25) having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through Whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand (perfect tense = speaks of the permanence of our standing!); and we exult in hope of the glory of God. And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance (hupomone); and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us." (see notes Romans 5:1; 5:2; 5:3; 5:4; 5:5) (Click sermon by John Piper on Romans 5:1-2) (Devotional: Is there any hope?)

PAST

Peace (eirene) with God takes care of the past: God no longer holds our sins against us.

PRESENT

Access (prosagoge) by faith into this grace in which we stand” takes care of the present: we can come to Him at any time for the help we need.

FUTURE

“We exult in hope of the glory of God” takes care of the future: one day we shall share in His glory, in glorified bodies free from the presence and pleasure of sin, in perfect communion with our Father forever. (cf 2Cor 4:16-18) This sure hope should serve to stabilize our faith when tribulations roll over us like billowing waves. At those times recall to your mind the sure promises of God which "For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God". (2Cor 1:20 KJV)
 

Colossians 1:5

Paul writes the saints at Colossae that they have a "hope laid up in heaven". (see note Colossians 1:5)

The Greek word for laid up (apokeimai) means to put something away for safekeeping (same word in 2 Timothy 4:8).

How much more safe could our "hope" be than with God in heaven?

Our earthly world may totter and shake but our STABILIZING HOPE is knowing that our treasure is safely stored away

where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal (see notes Matthew 6:18; 19; 20).

Peter similarly explains that by virtue of our "living hope" we are promised 

an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven (See notes 1 Peter 1:3-4)

1Thessalonians 5:8, 9, 10, 11

"But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation. 9 For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 10 who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we will live together with Him. 11  Therefore encourage one another and build up one another, just as you also are doing. (See notes 1Thessalonians 5:8, 9, 10, 11) (For sermon by John MacArthur click 1Th 5:8a or 1Th 5:8b)

Hope is a sturdy helmet that protects the mind. The unsaved fix their minds on the things of this world, while dedicated believers set their attention on things above (see notes Colossians 3:1; 3:2). Paul is not saying that you are to hope that you'll be saved but is referring to the hope that salvation gives. Unsaved people are without hope (see note Ephesians 2:12). This helps explain why they live as they do:

“Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die!” 

In addition to the stabilizing effect of this truth Paul desires that those on the road to ultimate salvation (click for study of future tense salvation) should behave  differently (encouraging and building one another up) from those on the road to destruction (see next column - Sanctifying Effect of Hope)

Hebrews 6:18, 19, 20

in order that by two unchangeable  things, in which it is impossible for God to lie we may have strong encouragement we who have fled for refuge in laying hold of the hope set before us. 19 This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and one which enters within the veil, 20 where Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us having become a High Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. (See notes Hebrews 6:18, 19, 20)

Related Resources...

Click  F B Meyer devotional
Our Daily Bread  - The Unseen Keel
Sermon  by John Piper
Ray Stedman Anchor of the Soul
Devotional

In the time that the NT was written the anchor was often used as a symbol of hope.

The words sure and steadfast are important. The first describes the anchor as firmly settled on the ocean bottom. The second describes the quality of the anchor's construction. This anchor will not tear from insubstantial moorings, nor will it break because of internal flaws.

As a ship is safe when at anchor, our life is secured by hope which binds us to Christ, our great High Priest who has entered the sanctuary

We have an anchor that keeps the soul
Steadfast and sure while the billows roll,
Fastened to the Rock which cannot move,
Grounded firm and deep in the Savior's love. --Owens
 

Isaiah 40:31

Yet those who wait (HOPE) for the LORD will gain new strength. They will mount up with wings like eagles. They will run and not get tired. They will walk and not become weary.

The Hebrew verb wait is derived from a root word meaning to wait for or look for with eager expectation and thus incorporates the ideas of hope and confidence.

Waiting with steadfast endurance is ultimately an expression of one's trust or faith. It is walking by faith, not by sight. It is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not yet seen. This attitude manifests itself by enduring patiently in confident hope that God will decisively act for the salvation of his people (eg, Jacob facing death expresses His hope in the Messiah in Gen 49:18 confidently declaring "For Thy salvation [Yeshuah = related to word that speaks of the "Deliverer" Jesus] I wait [qavah = Piel stem = intensively, intentionally - to wait for or to hope = depending on and ordering activities around a future event], O LORD".)

The picture of the Hebrew word gain ("gain new strength") is that of making an exchange.

What is the "exchange"
 which Isaiah is describing?

Those who wait for or hope for God, will exchange His strength for their weakness, the same principle that Paul came to learn after entreating the Lord three times to remove the thorn from his side! See 2Cor 12:9-10. He learned Christ's power was perfected in his weakness. As he said in Philippians, he learned the secret that he could do all things through Christ Who strengthened him. (see notes Phil 4:12;