Where there is no vision the people
perish (dwell carelessly)
Prov 29.18 .
Hope is an indispensable ingredient of life, not only on this side of the grave but in eternity—along with faith and love (1Cor 13.13). The need for hope never ceases, for without it, we are missing the incentive to pursue the future with confidence. By contrast, the right hope spurs on to reach our full potential rather than settle for mediocrity and the less demanding. In other words, when lacking it is much easier to
‘lose it’ or ‘give up’ when real difficulties arise, only to see habits like self-sacrifice, persistence, and faithfulness lose out to carnal, baser instincts. As the text heading indicates, without a future hope or vision, we ‘dwell carelessly’, even ‘perish’.
Not having a ‘living hope’ (1Pet 1.3) in the heart may not prove too costly when all is going well, but can be disastrous with a change in good fortune. For trials and suffering, like nothing else, see weeds of apathy and indifference spring up to choke out enthusiasm for the things of God. If this is not to become the norm, a robust hope with the determination to overcome every obstacle is mandatory. As it did for the boy about to give up on tasting the apples in the tree on the other side of the high wall. No matter how many times he ran and launched himself to reach the top of the wall, he couldn’t. He realized there was only one thing to do if he was to taste those apples, and though reluctant, he threw over the wall his prized baseball cap. With fresh incentive and determination, his next leap reached the top of the wall and those delicious apples.
THESE JEWISH BELIEVERS
The hope these first-century Christians already had was not robust enough to keep them faithful in a ‘race’ turning out to be much longer than first imagined—more of a marathon rather than a quick dash. Any ‘hope of gain’ they had from it was not sufficient to take them through the ‘pain barrier’; a much better hope was needed to overcome their wavering in faith. Hence, this letter by the author details the one hope able to boost their flagging spirits, focus their energies, settle their confused hearts, calm any fears, and supply them with fresh fortitude. A hope referred to five times and each time so these disconsolate believers would see it as the ‘anchor for the soul’ (6.19). The author is adamant: all those who ‘lay hold on’ (6.18) the ‘better hope’ of the new covenant can finish the race.
EXAMPLES OF HOPE
To see the danger in not having a ‘living hope’, all these Hebrew believers had to do was look at how their forebears (Israel) failed to grasp hold of the hope they had. Most obvious in the times they asked Moses, ‘ why have you brought us into this wilderness to die?’ (Ex 14.11, 17.3; Num 14.3, 21.5). With the past as their reference point, and faced with the hardships of the wilderness, God’s power in delivering them from Egypt meant nothing. The miracles of the ‘exodus’ could not stop them from murmuring, rebelling, and hankering after the
‘ leeks, onions and garlic’ (Num 11.5) of Egypt—the ‘spices’
making life there bearable. The wilderness and this glaring lack of foresight had Israel wanting to turn back.
But in delivering the nation from Egypt, Heaven had a goal, the possession of a Promised Land; yet, instead of looking forward to this glorious inheritance, they looked back to a life of slavery. So rather than the hardships of the wilderness working divine purposes in them, their hearts became
embittered, followed soon after by unbelief and then stubborn rebellion against what God was saying.
By way of contrast, we have a ‘hall of fame’ in chapter eleven listing Israel’s heroes of faith, those who refused to
‘ cast away their confidence’ (10.35) when faced with hardships and opposition because of the God-given hope each had. This hope saw Noah ‘prepare an ark ‘(11.7), Abraham hoped to see
‘ a city whose builder and maker was God’ (11.10), and Moses hoped for an ‘ eternal reward’ (11.26) rather than the ‘fleeting pleasures of sin’. Even when not realized in their lifetime, these heroes persevered despite severe deprivation and temptation because of the hope they had. As it did for Jesus who ‘the ‘ joy set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame’ (12.2). No doubt a hope about ‘ joy’ due to the glorious bride His death on the Cross purchased; a hope robust enough to allow Christ to resolutely set His face to go to Jerusalem to face the agony of an ignominious death and separation from His Father. Hope enabled Jesus to overcome; the right hope can get you through too.
A TESTIMONY
Not long after my conversion to Christ, I had these words,
‘ without a vision the people perish’ (Prov 29.18) impressed with unusual force on my mind over several months. In effect, I was being shown the need to have the right hope to survive the testing years ahead. Praise God, the hope shown has kept me faithful for over 60 years, enabling me to leave secure employment as a pharmacist to enter full-time Christian ministry and to emigrate with my wife and family from the land of my birth to serve the body of Christ in Australia. A
‘living hope’ I discovered only after being led to believers with deep insight into what the Scriptures reveal about the endtimes.
Their passion was to understand the ‘ blessed hope’ (Tit 2.13); I trust you too will catch the glory of this hope.
THE RIGHT HOPE
Many believers are facing the future with the wrong hope, one leading to despair when proven false. Sad really, as the wrong hope can be worse than not having a hope. Now, the ungodly embrace many false hopes to buoy their flagging spirit. But many believers are also holding onto baseless expectations about the endtimes, with the most widespread of these being the hope of escaping suffering and tribulation in a
‘silent Rapture’. It will prove devastating to all who hold it.
While the idea of escaping the ‘Great Tribulation’ is a valid biblical truth, this hope is for those ‘ found worthy’ (Lk 21.36), and its fulfillment doesn’t require a ‘pre-tribulation rapture’.
I ask, then, is the hope you have able to keep you faithful during the intense pressure (stress) of the ‘last of the last days’?
No one can be sure how far off these are, but with the recent threats from terrorism, breakdown in law and order, and the GFC and ‘pandemics’ (e.g. Ebola, Covid-19), every indication is they are imminent. With any future international conflict bound to be ‘dirty’—employing chemical, biological, or even atomic weapons—we fool ourselves, therefore, in thinking tribulation and suffering will not be a feature of our time.
Add to this the prospect of ‘man’s inhumanity to humanity’
escalating so acts of genocide greater than in Bosnia and Rwanda are perpetrated and it all indicates the need to prepare for an increase in the corruption of human decency Jesus warned of in saying the days of Noah and Lot are to be repeated. (See Luk 17.26-30) Genesis records the depths,
‘degenerate, debased and vicious’ (Gen 6.12 AMB) humans sank to in those days. As people become more like wild beasts than human beings, it portends similar if not worse behavior.
Yet, despite this dire prospect, Hebrews with its ‘hope of perfection’ lays out a glorious future for the endtimes, an expectation giving the courage to remain faithful to the Lord in what will be the ‘worst of times’.