In these past few days we have been looking at hope as spoken of in the Bible. In Ephesians 1:15-18, Paul shared with the Ephesians, “Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers: that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,

Here again we see the benefit of knowing the truths in the Word of God. By knowing these truths, our spiritual eyes are enlightened to know more than we can know without His enlightenment. Let’s remember this hope speaks of something absolutely certain. This enlightenment also causes us to long for the inheritance we have now; the inheritance we will full appreciate one day.

Paul also included this in the letter to the Galatians where he wrote “For we through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.” The hope of His calling begins with justification at the moment of salvation, continues through our sanctification, and will be completely fulfilled in glorification. We were made heirs of God at the moment of salvation. We have a new ancestry, and a new family. What began at salvation, He is continuing to complete, and will ultimately complete when we are glorified. We see this in Titus 3:7. “That having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”

In Ephesians 4:4, Paul speaks of “the one hope of your calling” because there is only one way to be saved. All believers have this in common. Our hope is in Jesus and all He has done, is doing, and will keep doing for us. Finally, notice how Paul wrote of this in Colossians 1:27. “To them (and that includes us and all who are saved) God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”