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“The New Year’s most glorious light is sweet hope!” (Mehmet Ildan).  This year we will shine the light of hope to the world.  Wonder nurtures intrinsic hope.  Wonder is about being in the presence of something truly amazing that transcends the mundane and everyday monotony.  It humbles us.  It lifts us up.  It excites us.  It awe’s us.  What is this wonder?  God.  The focus of our wonder is God.  Wonder is inquisitive awe in the pursuit of an understanding of all of the perfections of the excellent majesty of God!  God is the God of hope.  “Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost” (Rom. 15:13).  An important formula for the New Year:  hope is connected to faith (Heb. 10:22-23) and faith is connected to truth (Rom. 10:17), and truth is connected to God (John 17:17).  Thus, hope is connected to God (Rom. 15:13).  No God, no hope.  Hope is connected to God’s faithfulness to His Word.  God has the power to bring His promises to fruition.
What is Hope?
Hope is a positive emotion, a positive outlook.  Hope provides positive energy to make us resilient.  Hope is an optimistic state of mind based on an expectation of positive outcomes.  Expectation is tied to confidence which is tied to truth which is tied to God.  Hope means that we cherish a desire with anticipation of its fulfillment.  Hope looks to the future.  Biblical hope is confident expectation of good things to come based upon the faithfulness of God to His Word.  Embracing hope means that we must embrace God’s Word by faith.  We must have a living faith in order to have a living hope.  A living faith embraces the precepts and promises of God and so hope is anchored in the certainty that God can and will bring His promises to complete fulfillment.  Consequently, hope is not a mere wish.  We may wish that our favorite athletic team will win but we have no certainty of it.  The outcome is uncertain.  God’s Word cannot fail and so gives us a steadfast and sure foundation for our faith which undergirds our hope.  God cannot lie.  He does not permit His Word to fail.  This assurance is the basis of our confidence in good things happening as God’s fulfills His promises to us.   Hope enables us to bounce back from set-backs, overcome obstacles, see the possibilities, and be confident in God and our relationship with Him.  Embracing hope means embracing God.
God Is Faithful
Look back.  God saves by His power through His Son Jesus Christ.  He answers the prayers of the righteous.  He blesses continuously with His grace.  He chastens those whom He loves.  He uses us to serve in His kingdom.  God has been faithful to us and He has kept His Word.  The history of the Bible reveals the faithfulness of God.  God has never failed to accomplish His purposes.  Reflect on the present.  Truth is a crucial link in the formula given above.  hope is connected to faith which is connected to truth which is connected to God.  God cannot lie (Heb. 6:18; Titus 1:2).  Truth is intrinsic to the nature of God.  We embrace hope by embracing the God of truth.  “He that cometh to God must believe that He is….”  (Heb. 11:6).  God is and God is faithful.  “There hath no temptation taken you, but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that which ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape” (I Cor. 10:13).  God is the ultimate reality.  “Despair looks at immediate realities, hope looks at ultimate realities.”  Hope is grounded in the eternal and so never fades away.  “…and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him” (Heb. 11:6).  God is gracious.  He is full of lovingkindness.  We must pursue God and appropriate His grace for our lives.  God cannot fail us and will not fail us.
The Promise
Paul cites Isaiah 11:1-11 where Isaiah prophecies of the Righteous Branch an obvious reference to the Messiah.  The Messiah would be a root out of Jesse (David).  The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him.  He will possess all wisdom and knowledge.  He will judge in righteousness.  He will make peace and unify all men in Himself and thus the Jew and the Gentile will hope in Him because of the salvation He will bring.  This Messianic prophecy was fulfilled by Jesus of Nazareth.  Jesus is the hope of the world because He is the savior of the world!   Embracing hope means believing on Jesus Christ and becoming a disciple of Christ.  This promise of salvation thr0ugh Jesus the Christ is still powerful and continues for us today. “For the promise is unto you, and to your children,  and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call” (Acts 2:39).  This salvation is available to all people and is proclaimed through the gospel of Christ (Rom. 1:16).  The gospel must be heard, believed and obeyed in order to obtain it.  God calls us by the gospel to Himself. “Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ” (II Thess. 2:14).  Those so called must obey the gospel (II Thess. 1:7-9) in order to have the hope of eternal life.  God imparts His truth to us in order for us to have faith in Him and embrace a living hope that we can be with Him forever in heavenly realms.  One day this hope will be realized.  O glorious day!