Hebrews 6 concludes with a message of hope. The passage opens by revisiting God’s promise to Abraham in Genesis 22 that Abraham’s descendants would number more than the sands on the beach and the stars in the sky. During this scene, the author of Hebrews again plays up the fact that no force in the universe is greater than God by reminding the reader how God swore upon… well, God. You’re supposed to swear by something greater than yourself when you make an oath, and who is there greater than God? One participant pointed out that since God is Trinity, the “I swear upon myself” line is almost more of a “We swear upon one another,” which makes the scene a little less humorous and a little more intimate. But here we got into a difficult topic:

What is meant by “hope” in the Bible anyway?

Hebrews 6 provides the image of hope as an anchor, keeping us from being blown about by the shifting waves and winds. In the Old Testament, the word “hope” shows up most in the two places you would least expect: Job and the Psalms of Lament. Walking hand-in-hand with faith, hope motivates us against despair in difficult times with the promise of things getting better (even when that “getting better” seems blurry and far-off). When people have hope, it’s often the only thing they have.

Again, the author of Hebrews lifts up Abraham as the test case.
In Genesis 22, Abraham has waited decades for the birth of his son, Isaac. He’s even jumped the gun a few times, most famously by sleeping with his slave, Hagar, and fathering Ishmael. The author of Hebrews describes Abraham’s waiting as “patient,” but the word we translate “patient” in the New Testament might more accurately be rendered “enduring” (i.e. “the patience of Job” is more accurately “the endurance of Job”). In Genesis 22, Abraham’s hope has already been fulfilled in the birth of Isaac, but when God asks him to sacrifice his son, this tests Abraham’s faith by putting his hope on the altar. God halts the sacrifice and provides a ram, but the whole encounter suggests there is still more to hope for. Isaac’s survival and the growth of his family will lead to a big future, culminating in the arrival of Jesus, when all are invited into the family.

If faith is the thing we lean on in the present, hope is the momentum that propels us forward. If faith is the trust we place in God to sustain us in the present, hope is the belief that God won’t let us stay where we are. Ultimately though, when thinking about faith and hope, I always come back to the words of 1 Corinthians 13:

For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. (1 Corinthians 13:12-13)

There will come a time when faith is no longer needed
because the things we believed will be known with certainty.
There will come a time when hope is no longer needed
because the things we hoped for will be fully realized.
But as for love,
love will always endure.

Until that time, we’ll lean on our faith, propelled forward by our hope into the journey ahead.