‘The Hope’

To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

Colossians 1:27

‘Hope’ is a glorious word.  We value hope.  We never want to be hopeless.  We see a definite difference between those who have hope and those who do not.  If a person has hope, there is a light in the eye, a spring in the step, and even the body language shows it.  Conversely, if a person is hopeless, there is that overwhelming dejected air which surrounds them.  Hope that is born of that which is strictly human is different than hope which is of God.  When we say we ‘hope’ for a particular thing, we express that we desire it, and have some reasonable expectation that it will come to pass.  That is because hope which arises from human expectation must always leave room for things not to turn out, ‘as we had hoped.’  By contrast, hope which arises from God, His Character, His Word and His Promises, is ‘hope’ in the sense that it will come to fruition, but has not done so yet.  This is the kind of hope we find in our text.  ‘Christ in you, the hope of glory,’ is simply that hope which arises from God, through the Person and Work of Christ, as the Holy Spirit applies it.  It will inevitably come to fruition. Because salvation is from start to finish the work of God, His ultimate plan for His people cannot fail.  This includes, ‘Christ in you, the hope of glory.’  This is hope which does not fail.

Our Glorious God of Hope,
we rejoice that You never fail to bring to pass
all that You have promised.
We praise You that our hope of the future,
and all that it entails, lies in You and not in ourselves.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning