20 Bible Verses About Hope (KJV), Explained for Hard Seasons

Most of us use the word "hope" for things we are not sure about. "I hope it doesn't rain." "I hope the results are good." In the Bible it works the other way round. Hope is the believer's word for the things that are most certain, things so sure that God has bound Himself to them by promise and oath. Biblical hope is not a wish. It is certainty that has not arrived yet.

One Hebrew word for hope, tiqvah, is also the word for a cord. It is the "line of scarlet thread" Rahab tied in her window on the wall of Jericho while the city around her was condemned. That is a fair picture of hope in a hard season: a cord hanging out of a doomed house, tied to a promise.

Here are 20 King James verses about hope, grouped in the order Scripture tends to give them: hope's foundation in God, hope in waiting, hope in suffering, hope in Christ, and the hope still to come. Each is opened up, not just listed. You may only need one of them today.

For pastors and teachers

Big idea: Christian hope is not optimism about circumstances but confidence in a promising God, made sure by the resurrection of Jesus.
Key texts: Lamentations 3:21–26; Romans 5:3–5; Romans 15:13; 1 Peter 1:3; Hebrews 6:17–20.
Observation 1: Tiqvah (hope) is also "cord" (Joshua 2:18). Hope is something tied to something else.
Observation 2: Hosea 2:15 makes the "valley of Achor" (trouble) a "door of hope." God makes the place of past failure the doorway to the future.
Observation 3: In Romans 5:4 "experience" is dokimē, tested-and-approved character. Hope grows out of trials, not around them.
Observation 4: Three of the four New Testament uses of "anchor" are in Paul's shipwreck (Acts 27). The fourth is hope (Hebrews 6:19).
Common mistake: preaching hope as a guarantee of the outcome we want, instead of a sure expectation of what God has promised.

The key texts

Hope's foundation in God: Romans 15:13; Lamentations 3:21–26; Psalm 39:7; Jeremiah 29:11
Hope while you wait: Isaiah 40:31; Psalm 130:5–6; Romans 8:24–25
Hope in suffering: Psalm 42:11; Romans 5:3–5; Hosea 2:15; Zechariah 9:12; 2 Corinthians 4:16–18
Hope in Christ: 1 Peter 1:3; Hebrews 6:19–20; 1 Corinthians 15:19–20; 1 Thessalonians 4:13–14
The hope to come: Titus 2:13; 1 John 3:2–3; Revelation 21:4

What the Bible means by hope

Tiqvah: a cord pulled tight

The Hebrew noun tiqvah (Strong's H8615) is defined by Strong's as "literally, a cord (as an attachment)" and figuratively "expectancy." It comes from the verb qavah (Strong's H6960), which Strong's defines as "to bind together (perhaps by twisting), i.e. collect; (figuratively) to expect." The KJV usually renders qavah "wait" (29 times) or "look" (13 times).

So when the Old Testament speaks of waiting on the LORD, it often uses a word that Brown-Driver-Briggs thinks probably meant first "twist, stretch," and then the tension of enduring and waiting. We should not press that origin into every verse, but it is a fitting picture. Hope is not passive. It is the tension of a life tied to God's promise and leaning toward it.

The cord meaning appears in the story of Rahab:

Behold, when we come into the land, thou shalt bind this line of scarlet thread in the window which thou didst let us down by: and thou shalt bring thy father, and thy mother, and thy brethren, and all thy father's household, home unto thee.
Joshua 2:18 (KJV)

Rahab was a Canaanite in a city under judgment. She had heard what the LORD did at the Red Sea and believed it (Joshua 2:9–11). The scarlet cord would mark her house for rescue, and she tied it at once (Joshua 2:21), long before any wall fell. Brown-Driver-Briggs lists this verse under the "cord" sense of tiqvah. The writer is not making a pun, so we should not build an allegory on it. But the picture fits what Scripture teaches about hope everywhere: faith tying itself to a promise and waiting there, in plain view, while everything around still looks the same. And Rahab's hope was not disappointed. She appears in the line of the Messiah (Matthew 1:5) and among the heroes of faith (Hebrews 11:31).

Yachal: waiting that will not let go

The second great Hebrew word is yachal (Strong's H3176): "to wait; by implication, to be patient, hope." It is the word Noah used when he "stayed yet other seven days" before sending out the dove again (Genesis 8:12). Hope in this sense is the patience of someone who keeps looking at the horizon because God has spoken. It is the word behind "hope thou in God" in Psalm 42 and "therefore have I hope" in Lamentations 3.

Elpis: confident expectation

The New Testament word is elpis (Strong's G1680). Thayer notes that in classical Greek it could mean the expectation of either good or ill, but that in the New Testament it is always used "in a good sense," and "in the Christian sense, joyful and confident expectation of eternal salvation." HELPS Word-studies calls it "expectation of what is sure (certain)." That is the opposite of how we usually use the English word.

Life without hope

To see why this matters, look at Paul's description of life before Christ:

That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:
Ephesians 2:12 (KJV)

Paul is writing to Gentile believers, and the five phrases build on each other. To be without Christ was to be outside Israel's family, outside God's promises, without hope and without God. Notice the order. "Having no hope" comes straight after "strangers from the covenants of promise." Hope is not a mood we produce. It depends on having a promise from God. Where there is no promise, there is only optimism or despair. The Ephesians had religions, temples and festivals, yet Paul says they had "no hope," because none of those gods had promised anything and kept it. The verses that follow (Ephesians 2:13–14) say that those who were "far off" have been "made nigh by the blood of Christ." Hope begins when a person is brought into the promises of God through Jesus.

Hope's foundation in God's character

1. Romans 15:13

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.
Romans 15:13 (KJV)

This is Paul's closing prayer over the whole argument of Romans. The verse just before quotes Isaiah 11:10: "in him shall the Gentiles trust" (Romans 15:12). The Greek verb there is the verb form of elpis, "hope." The Root of Jesse is the One in whom the nations hope, so Paul at once calls God "the God of hope." He is the source of hope, the One who gives it and the One it rests on. The verse moves in a circle: God fills us with joy and peace "in believing," so that we may "abound in hope." Hope is not where faith starts. It is what overflows when faith takes God at His word. And it comes "through the power of the Holy Ghost." A believer who feels hopeless is not told to try harder at feeling hopeful. He is pointed to a God who fills, and a Spirit who gives power. The peace in this verse is opened further in our Bible verses about peace.

2. Lamentations 3:21–23

This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope.

It is of the LORD's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.

They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.
Lamentations 3:21–23 (KJV)

Lamentations was written after the Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem and its temple in 586 BC. The book is a set of carefully structured laments, and chapter 3 is an acrostic, with three verses for each letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Verses 22–24 all begin with the same letter (heth), so these lines of hope stand together as one stanza, near the centre of the book's central chapter.

Look at what comes just before. "Remembering mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall" (Lamentations 3:19). The poet is drowning in memory. Then he turns: "This I recall to my mind." Same mind, different memory. Ellicott comments: "The first gleam of hope breaks through the darkness" (commentaries on Lamentations 3:21). Nothing in Jerusalem has changed. What has changed is what he chooses to remember.

What does he remember? "The LORD's mercies," the plural of chesed, God's loyal covenant love, and His "compassions." The city is gone, but "we are not consumed." Matthew Henry puts it simply: "God's compassions fail not; of this we have fresh instances every morning." Each sunrise over the ruins is a fresh delivery of mercy. "Great is thy faithfulness" is spoken in a burnt city. That is why it carries so much weight. It is not the song of a comfortable man. It is the confession of a man who has lost almost everything and found that God has not changed.

3. Lamentations 3:24–26

The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him.

The LORD is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him.

It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD.
Lamentations 3:24–26 (KJV)

"Portion" takes us back to the division of the land in Joshua. Every tribe received land except Levi, because the LORD Himself was their inheritance (Numbers 18:20; Deuteronomy 10:9). The exiles had just lost their land. The poet answers: I still have my portion, because my portion was always the LORD. Possessions can be carried off to Babylon. God cannot.

Then the next stanza begins with the same Hebrew word three times. Verses 25, 26 and 27 each start with tov, "good." "The LORD is good... It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait... It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth." In the middle of a lament the poet stops to say, three times over, that God is good and that waiting on Him is good. Notice "quietly." This is not the frantic waiting of someone refreshing a phone every minute. It is the settled waiting of someone who has handed the matter over. For many African believers who have stood at a graveside or watched a business collapse, these verses give words for the morning after: I have lost much, but the LORD is still my portion.

4. Psalm 39:7

And now, Lord, what wait I for? my hope is in thee.
Psalm 39:7 (KJV)

Psalm 39 is one of the most honest prayers in the Bible. David has been brooding on how short life is: "thou hast made my days as an handbreadth" (Psalm 39:5). Everything he looked to now seems like vapour. Then he asks the question every sufferer eventually asks: "And now, Lord, what wait I for?" In other words, what is left to hope in?

The answer uses both great Hebrew roots in one line. "Wait" is qavah, the taut cord, and "my hope" is tocheleth, a noun from yachal (see the Hebrew of Psalm 39:7). When every other hope has shrunk to a handbreadth, David ties his whole cord to God: "my hope is in thee." This is where hope often starts. It is not a cheerful outlook but the discovery, when everything else has failed, that God is still there. If you are at that point, you have not lost hope. You have found where it was always meant to be.

5. Jeremiah 29:11

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.
Jeremiah 29:11 (KJV)

This much-loved verse was first a letter to exiles in Babylon. The verse before it sets the timetable: "after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you" (Jeremiah 29:10). Most of the adults who first read this letter would die in exile. So the promise was not "your trouble ends soon." It was "my purpose for you is good, even when your trouble is long."

"An expected end" is literally "a future and a hope." The second word is tiqvah, and Brown-Driver-Briggs cites this very verse for the sense "the hoped-for future." God's thoughts toward His people are of shalom, and He holds the end of the cord. The promise is to the people of God as a whole, and it reaches its goal in the return from exile and finally in Christ. It does not guarantee a particular career or marriage. It does guarantee that God's plans for His people are not evil, and that their story ends well. We go deeper in our study of Jeremiah 29:11 meaning.

Hope while you wait

6. Isaiah 40:31

But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.
Isaiah 40:31 (KJV)

Isaiah 40 begins the great section of comfort addressed to God's people in exile. Just before this verse, Israel complains: "My way is hid from the LORD" (Isaiah 40:27). God answers that He is "the everlasting God" who "fainteth not, neither is weary" (40:28), and then that even the young and strong "shall faint and be weary" (40:30).

"Wait upon" is qavah. Those whose lives are tied to the LORD draw on a strength that does not run down. Notice the order of the three promises: soar, run, walk. It sounds like an anticlimax, but it matches real life. There are rare days when faith mounts up like an eagle. There are more days when it runs. And there are long seasons when the greatest miracle is simply to keep walking and not faint. Waiting on God is not idleness. It is the way the tired are recharged. More on this in our Bible verses about strength.

7. Psalm 130:5–6

I wait for the LORD, my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope.

My soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning: I say, more than they that watch for the morning.
Psalm 130:5–6 (KJV)

Psalm 130 is a Song of Degrees, sung by pilgrims going up to Jerusalem. It begins "Out of the depths" (130:1), and the depths are not first sickness or poverty but sin: "If thou, LORD, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?" (130:3). The answer is forgiveness (130:4). Only then does the psalmist speak of waiting.

"Wait" is qavah, twice, and "hope" is yachal. And his hope rests "in his word." He is not waiting for a feeling, but for God to do what He said. Then comes the picture of the night watchman on the city wall. He cannot make the sun rise any faster. But he knows it will rise, so he keeps looking east. The repetition, "more than they that watch for the morning," is the sound of a long night. The psalm ends where hope always ends: "with him is plenteous redemption," and "he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities" (130:7–8). In Christ that morning has dawned.

8. Romans 8:24–25

For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?

But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.
Romans 8:24–25 (KJV)

These verses sit in Paul's great passage on the groaning creation. "The whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now" (Romans 8:22), and believers "groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body" (8:23). The world is not as it should be, and Christians feel that too.

"Saved by hope" does not mean hope is what saves us; Christ does that. Most modern translations render it "in hope": we were saved with our eyes on a future not yet seen. Salvation has a past (we were justified), a present and a future (the redemption of our body). Then Paul gives a simple definition. If you can already see it, it is not hope. Hope always concerns what is still to come. That is why waiting "with patience" is not a sign that hope has failed. It is what hope looks like while the promise is still on its way. If you feel the gap between what God has promised and what you can see, you are not a weak Christian. You are standing exactly where Romans 8 says every believer stands.

Hope in suffering

9. Psalm 42:11

Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.
Psalm 42:11 (KJV)

Psalms 42 and 43 belong together, joined by a refrain that comes three times (42:5, 42:11, 43:5). The writer is far from Jerusalem, "from the land of Jordan, and of the Hermonites" (42:6), unable to go up to the house of God, while people mock him: "Where is thy God?" (42:10).

Notice who he is talking to. He does not only listen to his soul; he speaks to it. He questions it: "Why art thou cast down?" Then he commands it: "hope thou in God." The verb is yachal in a form that means to wait expectantly. Then he gives the reason: "I shall yet praise him." The word "yet" carries the whole psalm. He cannot praise as he used to, not yet, but he will. And notice the small change between the refrains. In 42:5 he will praise God "for the help of his countenance," God's face turned toward him. In 42:11 God is "the health of my countenance," the One who will lift his face again. A cast-down believer may hope and grieve at the same time. If worry is crowding in, see also our Bible verses about anxiety.

10. Romans 5:3–5

And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience;

And patience, experience; and experience, hope:

And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.
Romans 5:3–5 (KJV)

Paul has just said that believers have peace with God and "rejoice in hope of the glory of God" (Romans 5:1–2). Now he adds something surprising: we rejoice in tribulations "also." Not because pain is good, but because of what God does with it.

The chain has four links. Tribulation produces patience, steady endurance under pressure. Patience produces "experience," dokimē (Strong's G1382), which Thayer defines as "approvedness, tried character." It is the word for metal that has been through the fire and proven genuine. And tested character produces hope. In other words, hope grows stronger through trials, not by avoiding them. Each time a believer comes through a trial and finds God faithful, the cord of hope grows thicker.

"Hope maketh not ashamed" uses kataischunō (Strong's G2617). Thayer explains that in Hebrew usage a person is "put to shame" when "some hope has deceived" him, and renders Romans 5:5: hope "does not disappoint." He links it to the Greek version of Psalm 22:5, where the fathers "trusted in thee, and were not confounded." Why will this hope not let us down? Because God's love "is shed abroad," poured out, in our hearts by the Spirit. The tense points to something already done and still true. Our hope for the future is guaranteed by love we have already received.

11. Hosea 2:15

And I will give her her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope: and she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt.
Hosea 2:15 (KJV)

Hosea's marriage to an unfaithful wife pictured Israel's unfaithfulness to the LORD. Chapter 2 begins with judgment, but then God says something astonishing: "I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her" (Hosea 2:14), literally "speak to her heart." The wilderness is where God first won Israel, and He will win her again.

Then this verse. Achor (Strong's H5911) means "troubled." It was the valley near Jericho where Achan was stoned after he stole what God had devoted to destruction, and Israel's first defeat in the land followed (Joshua 7:24–26). Gill notes that "this valley was so named from Achan, who was stoned in it in the days of Joshua" (commentaries on Hosea 2:15). It was a monument to sin and shame at the very doorway of the promised land.

God says He will turn that valley into "a door of hope." The word is tiqvah (Hosea 2:17 in the Hebrew numbering). Isaiah 65:10 also promises that the valley of Achor will become a resting place for herds. This is the gospel in miniature. The place of your worst failure is not where God's story with you ends. Through the cross, where Christ bore our sin and shame, He can turn a valley of trouble into a doorway. For a believer who thinks, "After what I did, there is no future," this verse says otherwise.

12. Zechariah 9:12

Turn you to the strong hold, ye prisoners of hope: even to day do I declare that I will render double unto thee;
Zechariah 9:12 (KJV)

Zechariah preached to the small, discouraged community back from Babylon. Chapter 9 contains one of the clearest messianic promises in the Old Testament: "behold, thy King cometh unto thee... lowly, and riding upon an ass" (Zechariah 9:9), fulfilled when Jesus rode into Jerusalem (Matthew 21:4–5). Then God says: "by the blood of thy covenant I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water" (9:11). A dry pit was where Joseph was thrown (Genesis 37:24). It is a prison with no way out.

Now the prisoners are given a new name: "prisoners of hope." It is the word tiqvah again. They are still captives in some sense, but they are held by hope rather than by despair. Matthew Henry put it: "Sinners are prisoners, but prisoners of hope." And they are told where to run: "to the strong hold." Henry sees Christ as that "Strong-hold, a strong Tower, in whom believers are safe" (commentaries on Zechariah 9:12). "Double" echoes Isaiah 61:7, where God promises His people double honour for their shame. A Christian may be in a hard place, a long illness, a broken marriage, a debt, but he is not a prisoner of fate. He is a prisoner of hope, held by covenant blood and invited into a stronghold.

13. 2 Corinthians 4:16–18

For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.

For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;

While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.
2 Corinthians 4:16–18 (KJV)

Paul wrote this to a church that doubted him because he suffered so much. He calls himself a clay pot (4:7), "troubled on every side, yet not distressed" (4:8). Later in the letter he lists beatings, shipwrecks, hunger and cold (2 Corinthians 11:23–27). That makes verse 17 breathtaking. He calls all that "light affliction, which is but for a moment."

How can he say that? By comparison. Put his sufferings on one side of the scale, and on the other "a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." Light against weight. A moment against eternal. And the affliction "worketh for us" the glory: it is not wasted. Meanwhile something is happening inside: the outward man is wearing out, but the inward man is "renewed day by day." Hope is not looking away from reality. It is looking at the larger reality, "the things which are not seen," which last for ever. The same Paul who wrote this also wrote Philippians 4:13, about strength in Christ in every condition.

Hope in Christ and His resurrection

14. 1 Peter 1:3

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
1 Peter 1:3 (KJV)

Peter wrote to scattered believers in Asia Minor who were facing "manifold temptations," or trials (1 Peter 1:6). He begins with praise, and the reason is new birth. "Begotten us again" is anagennaō (Strong's G313), which occurs only here and in 1:23, where we are "born again... by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever."

We are born again "unto a lively hope." "Lively" in the KJV means living; the same Greek word is used of Christ "a living stone" and of believers "lively stones" (1 Peter 2:4–5). A living hope is the opposite of a dead one. Most human hopes die with the person who held them. This one cannot, because it rests on a death that has already been reversed: "by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead."

Remember who wrote this. Peter had denied Jesus three times. On Saturday his hopes were in a tomb. The risen Christ came to him personally and restored him (Luke 24:34; John 21:15–17). So when Peter speaks of a living hope, he is describing what happened to him. The next verse names what this hope is waiting for: "an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you" (1 Peter 1:4).

15. Hebrews 6:19–20

Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil;

Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.
Hebrews 6:19–20 (KJV)

The context is God's oath to Abraham. God, "willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath" (Hebrews 6:17). So we have "two immutable things," God's promise and God's oath, and believers "have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us" (6:18). The phrase "fled for refuge" recalls the cities of refuge in the law, where a man fleeing an avenger could run and be safe.

Then the picture changes to the sea. "Anchor" is ankura (Strong's G45). It appears only four times in the New Testament. Three are in Paul's shipwreck, where the sailors "cast four anchors out of the stern, and wished for the day" (Acts 27:29). The fourth is here. An anchor does not stop the storm. It stops the drift. Barnes writes: "An anchor preserves a ship when the waves beat and the wind blows" (commentaries on Hebrews 6:19).

But this anchor is strange. It is not dropped down into the sea. It goes up, "into that within the veil," the Most Holy Place, where the high priest entered once a year on the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16). Gill observes that "the anchor of hope is not cast on anything below, but above." And Jesus has gone in ahead of us as our "forerunner" and our high priest for ever. The Cambridge Bible says this hope is "mooring us to the very throne of God." The cord of hope is fastened to the risen Christ in the presence of God. No storm on earth can reach that end of the rope.

16. 1 Corinthians 15:19–20

If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.

But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.
1 Corinthians 15:19–20 (KJV)

Some in Corinth were saying there is no resurrection of the dead (1 Corinthians 15:12). Paul answers that if this were true, the whole faith would collapse. Verse 19 is shockingly frank. A Christianity that offers help only in this life is not worth having; believers who suffer for a dead Christ are the most pitiable people on earth. Paul will not let anyone shrink the gospel into a self-help programme.

"But now is Christ risen." Everything turns on that "but." And Paul calls Christ "the firstfruits." Under the law, Israel brought "a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest" to the priest, who waved it before the LORD "on the morrow after the sabbath" (Leviticus 23:10–11). The first sheaf was both an offering and a pledge that the whole harvest would follow. Jesus rose on the first day of the week, the morrow after the sabbath. His resurrection is the first sheaf of a harvest that includes every believer who has died. The firstfruits guarantee the crop.

17. 1 Thessalonians 4:13–14

But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.

For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
1 Thessalonians 4:13–14 (KJV)

The Thessalonian believers were young in the faith, and some of their members had died. They were afraid the dead would miss the Lord's return. Paul writes to correct their ignorance, not their grief. He does not say "do not sorrow." He says, do not sorrow "even as others which have no hope." Christians weep at funerals. Jesus wept at Lazarus's tomb (John 11:35). But Christian grief has a floor under it.

Notice the language. Paul says Jesus "died," but believers "sleep." Sleep is real, but it is temporary, and it is followed by waking. The reason is in verse 14: "if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so..." Our hope for believing loved ones is tied to what happened to Jesus. The next verses describe the Lord descending with a shout and the dead in Christ rising first, "and so shall we ever be with the Lord" (4:16–17). Then Paul says, "comfort one another with these words" (4:18). At a funeral wake, when relatives sit up through the night, these are the words to read aloud. Not vague comfort, but the promise of a reunion with the Lord and with each other.

The hope still to come

18. Titus 2:13

Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;
Titus 2:13 (KJV)

Paul wrote to Titus, who was organising churches on Crete. In verses 11–12 he describes the first appearing: "the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men," teaching us to live "soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world." Verse 13 points to the second appearing. The Christian life is lived between two appearings of Christ.

"That blessed hope" is defined by the next phrase: "the glorious appearing." Our hope is not first a place but a Person coming in glory. Many interpreters, following the Greek construction, read "the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ" as one Person: Jesus Christ is Himself our great God and Saviour. That reading fits Paul's flow, because verse 14 goes on to say what "he" did: "who gave himself for us." The hope of His return is not escapism. In the very next breath Paul says Christ redeemed us to be "zealous of good works" (2:14). Those who look for His appearing live differently while they wait.

19. 1 John 3:2–3

Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.

And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.
1 John 3:2–3 (KJV)

John holds two things together. "Now are we the sons of God": that is settled today. "It doth not yet appear what we shall be": that is still hidden. Christians live between "now" and "not yet." What we do know is enough. When Christ appears, "we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is." Seeing Him will complete the change His Spirit has begun.

Then verse 3 shows that hope is not only comforting but cleansing. "Every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself." A bride who knows her wedding day is coming does not wear her dress to dig in the garden. A believer who expects to see Christ face to face begins to prepare now. If our hope makes no difference to how we speak, spend or sleep, it may only be a wish. True hope always moves us toward holiness.

20. Revelation 21:4

And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.
Revelation 21:4 (KJV)

John is shown "a new heaven and a new earth" (Revelation 21:1), and God dwelling with His people. Then this tender verse. It deliberately echoes Isaiah, who promised that God "will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from off all faces" (Isaiah 25:8). What Isaiah saw from far off, John sees fulfilled.

Notice who wipes the tears: God Himself. Not a nurse, not time. And notice what is removed: death, sorrow, crying, pain. Every one of these entered the world through sin, and every one will be gone. "The former things are passed away." The next verse adds, "Behold, I make all things new" (21:5). God does not throw the old creation away; He makes it new. This is where every other verse in this list is heading. The cord of hope ends here, at the throne, in the presence of the One who will dry every eye. For God's care along the road, see our study of Psalm 23.

Hard questions about hope

Does hope in God mean I will get what I am praying for?

Not necessarily. Hope in Scripture is anchored in what God has promised, not in everything we desire. Hebrews 11 honours believers who "died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off" (Hebrews 11:13). The exiles of Jeremiah 29 waited seventy years. Paul's thorn was not removed. Pray boldly and honestly for what you want. But place your hope in God and His promises, not in a particular answer. Any teaching that says enough faith guarantees health or wealth is not biblical hope. It is a formula, and it leaves people crushed when the formula fails.

What about when hope is delayed for years?

Scripture admits the pain of it:

Hope deferred maketh the heart sick: but when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life.
Proverbs 13:12 (KJV)

This proverb is honest about human experience. When what we long for keeps being put off, the heart grows sick, and the Bible does not call that sinful. It is simply true. The second half is just as true: when the longing is fulfilled, it is "a tree of life," a phrase that recalls Eden (Genesis 2:9) and reappears in the new creation (Revelation 22:2). Read across the whole canon, that is a hint. Some desires are fulfilled in this life. The deepest ones are fulfilled when we eat from the tree of life in the city of God. A heartsick believer may say honestly to God, "This delay is hurting me," and still hold on to the end of the story.

Living in hope

For your own heart. Do what Lamentations 3:21 did: choose what you recall. Write down, at the end of each day, one mercy that was "new every morning." When you are cast down, speak to your soul in the words of Psalm 42:11 instead of only listening to it. Memorise Hebrews 6:19 and picture where your anchor is fastened.

For families. Parents pass on hope by telling God's story and their own. Tell your children how God carried you through the year the harvest failed, or the season of unemployment. That is Romans 15:4 at the kitchen table: Scripture and testimony feeding hope. If you are unsure where to start reading together, see how to read the Bible for beginners. When a grandparent dies, read 1 Thessalonians 4:13–18 together, and let children see adults who grieve with hope.

For church life. Many congregations meet people at the funeral wake who rarely come on Sunday. That is a God-given moment to explain the hope of the resurrection clearly, not just to sing. Pastors should also guard their pulpits from false hope. Promising people that a seed offering will guarantee a breakthrough turns hope into a transaction and leaves people disillusioned. Preach the God of hope, the risen Christ, and the promises God has actually made. And where a member has fallen into serious sin, remember Hosea 2:15. Church discipline aims at restoration. The valley of Achor can become a door of hope.

Preaching and teaching outline

Sermon title: "Prisoners of Hope"

Big idea: Because God has bound Himself by promise and raised Jesus from the dead, believers can wait, suffer and grieve with a hope that will not disappoint.

Hope tied to God's character (Lamentations 3:21–26; Psalm 39:7). In the ruins of Jerusalem, the poet remembers God's mercies and finds the LORD is still his portion. Show tiqvah (cord) and qavah (wait).
Hope tested and thickened in trouble (Romans 5:3–5; Hosea 2:15; Zechariah 9:12). Tribulation produces tried character (dokimē), and God turns the valley of trouble into a door of hope.
Hope anchored in the risen Christ (1 Peter 1:3; Hebrews 6:19–20; 1 Corinthians 15:20). Our anchor is fastened within the veil, where Jesus has gone ahead of us as the firstfruits and forerunner.

Illustration idea: Imagine a village borehole during a long drought. The pump handle is stiff and the first strokes bring nothing up. A visitor might give up. But the old woman keeps pumping, because she knows there is water down there; she has drawn from this borehole for forty years. Hope is not certainty that the next stroke will bring water. It is certainty about what is underneath.

Application and call: Call the hopeless to Christ, who brings those "without hope" near (Ephesians 2:12–13). Call believers in a long wait to name one promise of God they will tie their cord to this week. Call the church to be a community that grieves with hope.

Small-group plan

Read Ephesians 2:12. Why does Paul connect "having no hope" with being "strangers from the covenants of promise"? What does that say about where hope comes from?
Lamentations 3:19–23 shows a man changing what he remembers. What do you tend to rehearse in hard times, and what would it look like to "recall" God's mercies instead?
Romans 5:3–5 says trials produce tested character, which produces hope. Can you trace that chain in your own life or in someone you know?
Hosea 2:15 promises that the valley of Achor (trouble) will become a door of hope. How should this shape how we treat a church member who has fallen and repented?
Hebrews 6:19–20 says our anchor is fastened "within the veil" where Jesus has gone. How is that different from hoping in a good outcome?
1 John 3:3 says hope purifies. What would change this week in your speech, spending or habits if you expected to see Christ face to face?

A prayer for hope

God of hope, I come to You when my hope feels thin. Once I was without Christ, a stranger to Your promises, having no hope and without God in the world. But You brought me near by the blood of Jesus.

When I am cast down, teach me to speak to my soul: hope thou in God, for I shall yet praise Him. When I lie awake, let me wait for You more than they that watch for the morning. This I recall to my mind: it is of Your mercies that I am not consumed, for Your compassions fail not. They are new every morning. Great is Your faithfulness. You are my portion; therefore I will hope in You.

Turn my valley of trouble into a door of hope. Make me a prisoner of hope, safe in the stronghold of Christ. Let my trials work patience, tested character and a hope that will not make me ashamed, because Your love has been poured into my heart by the Holy Ghost.

Thank You that You have begotten me again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Anchor my soul within the veil, where He has gone before me. Purify me as I wait for that blessed hope, the glorious appearing of my great God and Saviour, until You wipe away all tears from my eyes. Fill me with all joy and peace in believing, that I may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best Bible verse about hope?

Many believers turn first to Romans 15:13, which calls God "the God of hope," or Jeremiah 29:11. For grief, Lamentations 3:21–26 and 1 Thessalonians 4:13–14 are especially strong. For the foundation of all Christian hope, read 1 Peter 1:3: God "hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." Every other promise of hope rests on that.

What does hope mean in the Bible?

Biblical hope is a confident expectation of what God has promised but not yet given. The Hebrew tiqvah also means a cord, and comes from qavah, "to wait," with the picture of something bound or drawn taut. The Greek elpis is, in Thayer's words, "joyful and confident expectation of eternal salvation." It is certainty about the future, based on God's character, not a wish.

What does "anchor of the soul" mean in Hebrews 6:19?

It means Christian hope holds the believer steady in life's storms, as an anchor holds a ship. Unlike a ship's anchor, this one is fastened above, "within the veil," in God's presence, where Jesus has entered as our forerunner and high priest (Hebrews 6:19–20). The storm may continue, but the soul does not drift.

What is the "door of hope" in Hosea 2:15?

The valley of Achor ("trouble") was where Achan was judged for his sin at the start of the conquest (Joshua 7). God promised to turn that place of shame into "a door of hope" for His restored people. It shows that God can turn the scene of our worst failure into the doorway to a new beginning.

What does "prisoners of hope" mean?

In Zechariah 9:12 God calls His people "prisoners of hope." They were still in hardship, but they were held by God's covenant promise rather than by despair. God calls them to return to "the strong hold," which many Christian interpreters see fulfilled in Christ.

What Bible verses give hope in grief?

1 Thessalonians 4:13–14 teaches believers to grieve, but not "as others which have no hope," because those who sleep in Jesus will be raised. Revelation 21:4 promises that God will wipe away all tears. Lamentations 3:21–24 was written in the ruins of Jerusalem. Psalm 42:11 gives words for a soul that is cast down. See also our studies of Psalm 23 and how to pray when you don't know what to say.