Romans 15:13– The God of the expectation

Now may the God of expectation be filling you with all joy and peace in believing, for you to be super-abounding in expectation…

This conclusion about “the expectation” ties in with the previous sentence that ended with “on Him will the nations rely!”. God is “the God of expectation” and therefore, by definition, there are no ‘hopeless cases’ with Him. The idea that He would create a place where His creatures would disappear hopelessly and thus without perspective, is completely at odds with what the Scriptures teach us about GOD.

The hope spoken of here is so much more than optimism. For the hope that God holds before us is a sure expectation. It is not for nothing that it is compared to an anchor (Heb. 6:19) that gives stability to a ship in the turbulent waves of the sea. God alone sees the future and speaks of it with the same certainty as if it were the past. “He declares the end from the beginning” (Isaiah 46:10).

“The expectation of the Evangel” (Col.1:23) as Paul was allowed to herald it among the nations, is universal, unconditional and all-inclusive (Col.1:20). No one is excluded from this. Such a solid hope is truly able to “fill a man with all joy and peace.”

Delen: