January 12, 2014 – Read the Word on Worship

Hope and Change Week 3- “Hope in the Old Testament” from Sunrise Community Church on Vimeo.

Word On Worship – January 12, 2014 Download / Print

 Romans 15:4
“For everything that was written in former times was written for our instruction, so that through endurance and through encouragement of the scriptures we may have hope.”

Finding hope in the Old Testament may be more challenging than you would think. Yes, the word appears many times in the Old Testament, but it does not occur as many times as you might think. In fact, the word hope does not appear until you get to the book of Ruth, and there it is talking about Naomi’s lack of hope for her future. Simply studying the topic of hope by searching for the word may diminish our hope more than build it up.

Do not lose hope, weary pilgrim; the concept of hope may very well be present even though the specific word is not found. Sometimes the pertinent texts are going to be found by searching for synonyms of hope. But at other times, we simply have to know the Bible well enough to turn to those texts which deal with this topic in more general terms. Sometimes, the New Testament will give us the necessary clue, just as Hebrews 11 gives us unexpected examples of faith in the Old Testament. Just be aware of the fact that a concordance search is a good start, but it is not the end-all for studying biblical concepts.

The writer to the Hebrews sums up the superiority of the New Covenant to the Old Testament by pointing out that every Old Testament saint was saved by faith, and that their faith gave them hope – not a hope for present blessings so much as a heavenly hope for eternal blessings (Hebrews 11:13-16).

Paul’s words in Romans 15 should convince us that the Old Testament Scriptures are a source of great hope for the New Testament saint because we can now read these texts in the light of the coming and work of our Lord Jesus Christ. The mysteries of the Old Testament – which Old Testament saints did not grasp – are now ours to ponder, for our encouragement and hope.