What Hope Is

In common, everyday, use the word hope has the sense of wish. Hope is something we would very much like to happen. "I hope I get the job." "Is God going to answer your prayer? I sure hope so." "I hope you’re better soon."

Here’s "Webster’s" definition: HOPE

1 :to cherish a desire with anticipation 

2 archaic : TRUST

1 : to desire with expectation of obtainment
2 : to expect with confidence : TRUST
synonym see EXPECT …

The Bible sense of hope is the archaic one mentioned above, i.e. a confident expectation. Something you are certain is going to happen. The Greek word (The oldest known copies of the New Testament  are written in the Greek language.) translated "hope" in the English Bible is "elpis." Here’s W.E. Vines definition of "elpis":

" elpis  (1680), in the NT, “favorable and confident
expectation” (contrast the Sept. in Isa. 28:19, “an evil hope”). It has
to do with the unseen and the future, Rom. 8:24, 25. …"

In any event, the way we commonly use hope, i.e. to  refer to
something we don’t expect to happen but would like to happen, is the
opposite of the way that hope is used in the Bible. In the Bible hope
refers to something we’re certain will happen. Something we’re
expecting to happen. Hope is a prediction of what the future holds for
us.

I like to think of our modern idea of hope as winning the lottery hope.
Winning the lottery is something we would very much like to happen but
we we don’t really expect to happen. The Bible idea of hope is more
like payday. Payday is something we’re expecting to happen.
We’re so sure about it that we start making plans for how were going to
spend our pay long before we ever get it. That’s the meaning of hope in
the Bible.   Payday is something in the future so we don’t have it in
manifestation yet, but we’re confidently expecting it.

When we read the Bible with our modern sense of hope instead of the Bible sense we miss the meaning of the scriptures.

Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Here
the Bible is really saying that faith is the substance of that which
we’re expecting to happen. Faith gives substance to something you’re
certain is going to happen. It’s a lot easier to walk by faith when you
have real, Bible hope. The basis for faith is certainty as to the
future, i.e. hope. When you have hope  you expect your prayer to be
answered, you’re anticipating the answer.

What is the basis of this confident expectation? God’s promise. How
can we be so confident about something that is going to happen in the
future? Because of God’s promise. Why are we so certain that it’s going
to happen? Because God has promised it. Here’s one last scripture:

Hebrews 10:23 Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;)

Here, the word which the King James translates as faith is actually
the Greek word, "elpis," i.e. hope. Why can we continue confidently
professing or confessing or talking about or bragging about what we are
certain is going to happen? "For he is faithful that promised." This
act of confidently stating what is going to happen in the future is
faith. It is giving substance to that which we expect to happen.

The promises of God give us an expectation about the future. The
promises let us know what the future holds for us. Stay in the promises
until they become real to you. Meditate in the promises until you
develop a certain expectation as to the future. Live in the promises
until you know what’s going to happen. This is hope. This is the basis
of your faith. This is the basis of receiving from God.