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Revelation
THE HOPE!
To read prior to this study: Isaiah 11,12; Luke 19:11-27; Revelation 21
We all need hope. It is crucial for energising our lives, for motivating us and helping us to press on through obstacles; those who lose hope seem to slump into a zombie-like state. We especially need hope in times of suffering and trials. Yet, if something which gives us hope is only for this life, it is only transitory, and therefore ultimately dissatisfying. Believers in Jesus the Messiah have all the usual hopes that people have for their lives in this world, but beyond that they have an eternal hope, beyond death, in the new world that God will create. That is the hope we are considering in this last study. In a sense, this subject belongs with the previous study. This hope is not something distinct from those five characteristics of Messiah’s people which we have considered; it is integral to all of them. It is certainly not escapism but motivates in the here and now. This perspective is clear in Paul’s exhortation to believers after reminding them about the hope of the resurrection: “Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labour is not in vain.” (1 Corinthians 15:58) What we must not fail to grasp in this study is that this hope centres, not in things or comforts, but in a person. Our approach will be to consider how the eternal hope of God’s kingdom is presented in the Tanakh (the Old Testament) and in the New Testament, so as to see them as one and the same hope, and then to consider how it all comes to fulfilment.
To investigate 1. Read Ecclesiastes 2:1-11. Here is an example of someone having everything and placing their hope in that. Do you identify with the writer’s sentiments in any way? What hope or hopes do you have?
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