Hope. It's a foundational tenet to the Christian faith. A search of the ESV Bible finds that word in 160 verses throughout Scripture. Throughout Scripture you see hope - in Genesis you have hope that God will reconcile humankind to himself after the fall, and hope in Abraham's journey to the land God promised him. Exodus chronicles the hope that God will rescue his people from the slavery of Egypt. Hope fills Judges, as the people of God look for deliverance from their oppressors. The psalmist frequently talks of hoping in God. Fast forward through the prophets and you see the hope developing in the people of God for a Messiah, a Savior. That hope we see culminated in the Gospels as God became man and came to dwell on earth to be the Christ they were seeking. But the theme of hope continues, as the New Testament turns then to hoping for Jesus' final return when he will reconcile all things to himself. Romans 15:13 explicitly refers to our God as "the God of hope." 1 Corinthians 13 reads that "love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things...so now faith, hope, and love abide, these three."
