According to the Chinese zodiac, 2020 is the Year of the Rat. And according to Chinese superstition, the rat symbolizes new beginnings, fertility, wealth and plenty. Once every twelve years, the Year of the Rat promises to bring beneficial situations, opportunities, encounters with special people, and luck. But I don’t suppose I need to tell you 2020 has turned out to be anything but those things.
We still have a few weeks left to go, but I think we are all ready to say goodbye to 2020, aren’t we? Even if many good things were to happen between now and December 31st, it is too little too late—2020 is likely going to go down in the books as a very difficult year for all of us. All of us are tired. All of us are ready to move on. Everyone is hoping for a better year next year.
But for all we know, that may not happen. I should really bite my tongue, but we all know what kind of year next year will bring is anybody’s guess. Things may improve. Or they may not. We can hope all we want. But all this hoping won’t do a thing to make things any better in 2021.
That is not the same thing as the “hope” that the Bible talks about. The meaning of the Hebrew and Greek words translated, “hope,” in the Bible is a lot stronger than that. It gives forth the meaning of certainty, confidence or assurance. There is not a hint of unpredictability anywhere. More importantly, the reason why biblical hope has no uncertainty is because its source is found in God. It is God who is promising us he will not stop loving us, he will never leave us, that we have been redeemed through the death and sacrifice of his Son, and we have an eternal home in heaven. We can hold God accountable to keep every promise he made. All to say, you and I can take the promises in the Bible to the bank!
Psalm 33:22
Let Your lovingkindness, O LORD, be upon us,
According as we have hoped in You.
Numbers 23:19
“God is not a man, that He should lie,
Nor a son of man, that He should repent;
Has He said, and will He not do it?
Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?“
Hebrews 10:23
Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful…
2 Corinthians 1:20
For as many as are the promises of God, in Him they are yes; therefore also through Him is our Amen to the glory of God through us.
Hope is not hope. The hope in the Bible isn’t the same thing as the hope in the Chinese zodiac. It is not a wish, or even an ambition. It is not, “I hope it won’t rain tomorrow,” or, “I hope this pumpkin pie comes out yummy”—that is how we use the word with one another in our everyday life. Rather, the hope in the Bible is a certainty. I like to see Christians have a little more certainness in God’s promises. When people ask us if we think we will go to heaven at the end of our life, instead of saying, “I certainly hope so,” try saying it louder, and with more confidence: “I most certainly will!” That is not our arrogance. That is our confidence in our God.
Not many things offer us hope in this life. But we have a great hope in Christ Jesus. Those of us who put our trust in God’s promises in the Bible will not be disappointed. We are not hoping that they will come true. We are secure they are true. We can take all of it to the bank.
Hallelujah, praise the One who set me free. Hallelujah, death has lost its grip on me. You have broken every chain. There’s salvation in your name. Jesus Christ, my Living Hope.