Hope is always attached to something. Literally

translated, ‘cord’ the basis of the word has the appearance of binding the

waiting of our hope with a sure expected end. One of the more famous

places where you will find this word is in the well-known verse of Jerimiah 29:11.

11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.

Jerimiah 29:11 is a favourite verse of many people and for an excellent reason. It highlights the fact that our lives are in the hands of not only an almighty God but a good God that guides the world in His might towards a display of His goodness. What many miss though is the preceding verse which says, 

10 For thus says the Lord: After seventy years are completed at Babylon, I will visit you and perform My good word toward you, and cause you to return to this place. 

I get it. Not as attractive to quote the 70 years of captivity that accompanied the promise of a future and a hope and Jeremiah 29:10-11 is not as cool as a tattoo or a screensaver and does not always preach as good. But yet, I prefer this fuller understanding of the two verses together. As a matter of fact, I prefer the whole speech that God gives through His prophet Jeremiah to a people who at the time were facing some dark times. 

Jeremiah 29:10-14

10 For thus says the Lord: After seventy years are completed at Babylon, I will visit you and perform My good word toward you, and cause you to return to this place. 11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. 12 Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. 13 And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you, says the Lord, and I will bring you back from your captivity; I will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you, says the Lord, and I will bring you to the place from which I cause you to be carried away captive.

If the modern Christian adds in verses 10-14 into their understanding of God’s ways, we are surprised to see that coming with it is a certain hope.

What do I mean by that? Knowing God has a plan for our benefit, and our good is beautiful when we are standing on a mountain top, where we feel unbeatable and victorious. But knowing God has a plan for our good when we are walking through the valley of the shadow of death, that means so much more. I love the fuller understanding that God was telling His people about His great and mighty plan for their good while they were facing the bad. I am encouraged that God promised them a future when it was hard for them to face tomorrow and I’m certainly grateful for the hope He spoke when fear inundated them with uncertainty. 

That is precisely the kind of hope I need and want to go through life with. 

The second keyword in Jeremiah 29:11 is future, (acharith) which is translated best as ‘expected end’. In other words, we can have hope because it is attached to an expected end. In the life of the believer, and for Israel in Jeremiah 29, that expected end was the fulfilment of all God’s promises including peace, prosperity, protection and the very presence of God Himself. 

Remember hope is always attached to something, and our certainty doesn’t come from the hope but from what it is attached to. 

The first time we see this word in Scripture was in the story of Rahab when she displayed the scarlet ‘cord’ which was the display of her faith in the promise that was made to her.

Joshua 2:17-21

 17 So the men said to her: “We will be blameless[a] of this oath of yours which you have made us swear, 18 unless, when we come into the land, you bind this line (tiqvah) of scarlet cord in the window through which you let us down, and unless you [b]bring your father, your mother, your brothers, and all your father’s household to your own home. 19 So it shall be that whoever goes outside the doors of your house into the street, his blood shall be on his own head, and we will be [c]guiltless. And whoever is with you in the house, his [d]blood shall be on our head if a hand is laid on him. 20 And if you tell this business of ours, then we will be [e]free from your oath which you made us swear.”

21 Then she said, “According to your words, so be it.” And she sent them away, and they departed. And she bound the scarlet cord (tiqvah) in the window.

Here we see the literal application of this word with prophetic implications. Rahab had received a promise and the cord, or hope, was a display of her faith in that promise. 

Likewise, we too have a scarlet cord of hope, that of the blood of Jesus in which we put our faith. Our hope is, therefore anchored in Him and to Him as the display of our faith in His promises.  

This is why when we get to the New Testament, the author of Hebrews writes, ‘Now faith is the substance of things hoped for’. Hope is the anchor of your faith and ignites your faith to produce the expected end that you have been promised. 

Hope therefore should be understood as a white-hot expectation and not merely some wishful thinking. Hope is sure, steadfast and secure. 

Paul reflecting on hope told the church in Rome that hope does not disappoint and likewise, the preceding verses were also in the context of not everything in their world being perfect. But the Greek word Paul uses to explain hope (elpis) to God’s people in the New Testament is in the same vein as the way Jeremiah used it in the Old. 

Biblical hope is a sure expectation of trust and confidence. This can only be possible because hope must be attached to something and in the life of the believer, our hope is anchored, attached and affirmed in life, ministry and work of The One, Jesus Christ. 

The author of Hebrews sums it up best in the following verse. 

Hebrews 6:19 (TPT)