The believer’s life is a life of things hoped for, a life of hope which goes together and abides with faith (1 Pet. 1:21; 1 Cor. 13:13; Rom. 4:18). The unbelievers, being without Christ, have no hope (Eph. 2:12; 1 Thes. 4:13). But we, the believers in Christ, are a people of hope. The calling which we received from God brings us hope (Eph. 1:18; 4:4). We are regenerated to “a living hope” (1 Pet. 1:3, Gk.). Our Christ, who is in us, is “the hope of glory” (Col. 1:27; 1 Tim. 1:1), which will issue in the redemption, the transfiguration of our body in glory (Rom. 8:23-25). This is “the hope of salvation” (1 Thes. 5:8), a “blessed hope” (Titus 2:13), a “good hope” (2 Thes. 2:16), “the hope of eternal life” (Titus 1:2; 3:7), which is the “hope of the glory of God” (Rom. 5:2), “the hope of the gospel” (Col. 1:23), “the hope which is laid up for us in heaven” (Col. 1:5). We should always keep “this hope” (1 John 3:3), and “boast in it” (Rom. 5:2). Our God is “the God of hope” (Rom. 15:13), and “through the encouragement of the Scriptures we may have hope” (Rom. 15:4) all the time “in God” (1 Pet. 1:21) and “rejoice in it” (Rom. 12:12). This book of Hebrews charges us to “hold fast the boast of hope firm to the end” (3:6), “show diligence unto the full assurance of hope to the end” (6:11), and “lay hold of the hope set before us” (6:18). It also tells us that the new covenant brings in “a better hope, through which we draw near to God” (7:19). Our life should be a life of hope, which goes together and abides with faith (1 Pet. 1:21; 1 Cor. 13:13). We should follow Abraham “who beyond hope believed in hope” (Rom. 4:18, Recovery Version).
All the things which we are hoping for are substantiated by our faith. With faith, they all are real; without faith, they seem vain. We need to contact God for His infusion of faith that we may substantiate all the things which He has promised as our hope.
Verse 1 also says that faith is the “conviction of things not seen.” The Greek word rendered “conviction” may also be translated “evidence” or “proof.” The word conviction implies action. Thus, faith is not the substance, but the conviction, action, evidence, and proof of things not seen. All things hoped for are things not seen (Rom. 8:24-25). If anything is seen, we do not need to hope for it. As people of hope, we should not aim our life 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 Cor. 4:18). Hence, “we walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Cor. 5:7). We are aiming at the Holy of Holies and the New Jerusalem, neither of which can be seen by us. Nevertheless, we have the full conviction of these unseen things. Faith assures us of the things not seen, convincing us of what we do not see. Therefore, it is the evidence, the proof, of things unseen.
Faith, which is the way to realize and enjoy the things of God, is not a part of our natural being. It is a divine ability which has been infused into us. The proper faith is the divine element, even God Himself, infused into our being as the ability to substantiate the things which we do not see. This infused element is our substantiating ability. Whenever we contact God or listen to His word, the substantiating ability which has been infused into our being by God Himself spontaneously begins to realize the things of God, the things hoped for, and the things not seen, and we simply believe. As we have seen, faith is a special sense in addition to the five senses derived from our natural birth. This sense substantiates the things of God, things which we do not see. Since the Christian life is a life of hope and in this life we aim at things unseen, we need more of the transfusion and infusion of God that we may have the ability, the faith, to substantiate the things hoped for and to have the conviction of things unseen.
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