We boast in the hope of the glory of God, (Romans 5:2).
I hope the Denver Broncos make it to the Superbowl this year. And I hope they win. I hope I stay healthy for a long time. I hope our church grows in the coming year. I hope my motorcycle doesn’t break down. I hope my kids don’t get sick. I hope I don’t get in a car wreck. I hope my son gets a good job. I hope for a great many things.
But what I hope for, and what Paul is talking about when he speaks of the hope of the glory of God are two very different things. Hope in the Bible is not wishful thinking. When the word is used here in Romans it means “confident expectation of future good.”
On a cosmic level, the hope of the glory of God refers to the fact that history is not as chaotic as it seems to an outside observer. History is headed somewhere and God is in control. Based on God’s previous record of always coming through in the end, we can have confident expectation that he is going to guide human history to the return of Christ and a coming age in which there will not be death, pain, suffering, illness, or grief. God will come through. It is our hope. In another letter, Paul calls the consummation of this age our “blessed hope”.
At a personal level, I believe God will guide our lives to fulfill the plans he had for each of us before he created the universe. This is not fatalistic determinism. It requires our desire to see that happen and to allow him to keep us in the center of his will. Life is unpredictable. But God knows exactly what is going to happen. It is probably good that he rarely lets us know what is coming. But as life unfolds, we can have confident expectation that he knows the plans he has for us…to give us a future…and a hope, (Jer. 29:11).
For more on this subject, check out: http://www.highlinecc.org/go/index.php/teaching/recent-videos