The Hope Part IV

The Hope Part IV

Promise of (the) Hope

It is worthwhile to look at the relationship between believing and hope.

We have seen, very briefly, that someone may either be strong in believing or weak in believing, and that being strong in believing brings promised results.   One can read record after record in the Gospels and Acts where the person needing and wanting deliverance would need to "step up" and believe.  When they believed they received the results.

Not every time you or I believe will the results immediately follow.  This may be one of the chief problems that God's people have -- they think or believe that they are believing, but get tired of waiting for the results and therefore lose heart and give up.  Because they give up they are no longer believing and of course they do not receive the promised results.

A farmer knows that he must prepare the soil, plant the seed, and tend that seed (such as by watering).  He may go weeks without seeing any results and if he gives up and lets the seed dry out he will not see any crop that year.

However, if he tends the seed he will see seedlings, and his job then is to tend them as they grow and eventually reap the harvest.  He puts much time and effort between planting the seed and reaping the harvest many months later.

We read in Matthew 6 that our Heavenly Father knows our needs.  Our job is to put Him first, believing His Word throughout each day, every day.  At times our prayers are answered immediately, at times the same day, at times later.  However, we are not to get discouraged but rather continue in believing.

Abraham is referred to in the Word of God as the "father of all them that believe", "a father of many nations", and "the friend of God".  Certainly these qualifications should cause us to sit up and take notice!

A few points about Abraham:

When he was 75 God commanded him to pack up and move to a land He would show him, and "in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed". (Genesis 12:3)
When Abraham had no child, God promised him that he would have a child who would be his heir, and that his seed would be as the stars in heaven in number. (Genesis 15:1-6)
Abraham's response to this promise was that "he believed in the Lord; and He counted it to him for righteousness". Abraham believed God right there in Genesis chapter 15. Abraham was most likely 85 years old at this time.
In Genesis 17 God again appeared to Abraham, when he was 99 years old, to establish the convenant of circumcision and make known that the promised seed, Abraham's heir, was to be Isaac.

We will pick up in Romans 4, and study "the process" of Abraham's believing, the results, and how his believing ties into hope.

With the coming of the Mosaic Law, the forgiveness of sins, like many other things, was tied to keeping and doing the commandments contained in the law. This was never God's primary will. Romans 4:3 echos Genesis 15: "Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for rightesousness." God wanted believers, those who would trust Him and rely on Him to be their Father.

Romans 4:6-8 shows that King David knew of God imputing, or reckoning, righteousness without works, but due to believing alone. Abraham believed God (and received righteousness) before circumcision was instituted. Circumcision was a sign, a "seal of the righteousness of [due to] the faith [believing]" that Abraham had.

Romans 4:6-8

Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works,

Saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered.

Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.

Having iniquities forgiven and sins covered due to believing and not by works is called "blessedness."

Romans 4:13-16

For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.

For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect:

Because the law worketh wrath: for where no law is, there is no transgression.

Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all,

The promise to Abraham, that is, the Word of God given to him to believe, was not "of the law." The Mosaic Law had not yet been given. It was through the righteousness that was reckoned due to believing. Romans 3:24 says we were "justified freely by his grace."

Let us look back at Romans 4:4, 5:

Romans 4:4, 5

Now to him that worketh is the reward [wages] not reckoned of grace, but of debt.

But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith [believing] is counted for [reckoned unto] righteousness.

Payment for work is not grace, it is earned compensation, or "debt". That is, if I work for you, until you pay me you are in my debt. Grace may be thought of as "something given by God in love without earning or deserving it".

These two verses tell us that when God imputes/counts/reckons righteousness simply because one believes His promises, it is "of grace". That we are given a promise to believe in the first place is grace; that we obtain righeousness and justification freely certainly is of grace as well!

Editor's Note: The James Murdock New Testament, which was translated from the Syriac (rather than from the Greek, as utilized by the King James Version), is an excellent translation and will be referenced here to help give us a clearer understanding of certain verses.

Romans 4:17, 18

(KJV)
(As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were [are].

Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be.

(Murdock)
as it is written: "I have constituted thee a father to a multitude of nations;" [namely] before God, in whom thou hast believed; who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which are not, as if they were [are].

And without hope, he confided in the hope of becoming the father of a multitude of nations; (as it is written: So will thy seed be.)

We see here some very revealing truths: God quickens (makes alive) the dead, and calls those things which are not as if they are. We will be taking a close look at Genesis to understand more about this.

And, verse 18 says that Abraham believed in the hope of becoming the father of many nations, according to what was written in Genesis 15:5, "so shall thy seed be". This is an alarming revelation! What was it about the promise to Abraham that put it into the category of "hope"?

We will need to go to Genesis and study the nature of the promise made to Abraham to see what marks it out as being a promise of hope.