Based on this historical fact and the promises of God, it is the believers’ great hope that when we die our spirit will also go to heaven to be with Jesus. There we will wait for the end of this age and Jesus’ second coming, when God will raise up our physical resurrection bodies to be united with our spirits (1 Cor. 15:51-52). There we will live in a physical new heaven and new earth with Jesus forever.
"The hope of the righteous brings joy, but the expectation of the wicked will perish." - Proverbs 10:28
According to this verse, righteous men and women experience trials, but they do not have any reason to despair. They know their trials will end someday (Romans 8:18; Revelation 21:1–4). They hope for that day, and their hope enables them to be joyful despite difficult circumstances (Hebrews 11:13–16). Those who rely on themselves, or lies, rather than God, are doomed to disappointment and condemnation (John 3:36).
Believers rejoice because they have an endless hope, but Solomon observes that the wicked have a hopeless end. Eventually, those who reject God will find themselves lost and eternally separated from Him (Matthew 16:26).
“Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, and whose hope is the Lord." - Jeremiah 17:7
Expectation
The feeling that good things are going to happen in the future: the feeling of expecting something to happen:
- consider probable or certain
- consider reasonable, owed, or necessary
- consider bound in duty or obligated
Anticipation
A feeling of excitement about something that is going to happen in the near future:
- look forward to
- regard as likely
- hope for
When looking at the two definitions, it is clear that they are both quite similar but so very different.
The difference lies in our attitude towards what is ahead.
When we expect something there is a sense that we are entitled to what we believe should happen. With entitlement, we are expecting a certain outcome which is reliant on the way other people react and behave. More specifically, we are only happy when they act or behave in the way we want them to. The outcome is clearly fixed in our mind and we can only be happy if we get this outcome. Anything less and we are disappointed and even crushed.
When we anticipate something our mindset is totally different. A biblical definition is that we know the outcome is not linked to who we are or what we have done and what happens then is open to God. We can know good things are ahead because we trust God, but the outcome is totally outside our control. We look forward to what is ahead and we hope for good things but the outcomes are often a surprise.
Ordinarily, when we express hope, we are expressing uncertainty. But this is not the distinctive biblical meaning of hope . . . biblical hope is not just a desire for something good in the future, but rather, biblical hope is a confident expectation and desire for something good in the future. Notice, hope is something that should not waver, because it is rooted in the faithfulness of God. There should be moral certainty in it because the will and purpose of God are like iron, not chalk.
The author of the book of Hebrews exhorts us to, “Hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful” (Heb. 10:23). Baker’s Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology states “Hope is simply faith directed toward the future, and no sharp distinction between faith and hope is attainable.”
I believe that God is working out his master plan to restore the whole of creation, in all things, working for the good of those who love him (Rom. 8:28). At the epicenter of his plan is the event we celebrate daily, the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Yet, this event is not something we have to hope for because it is a historical fact. “For we did not follow cleverly devised stories when we told you about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in power, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty” (2 Pet. 1:16).
Let me leave you with three examples of how as believers we can live our lives with anticipation:
