To Hope is to Trust

The Hope of the Kingdom is not a mere aspiration. It’s not a wish. It’s the Christian’s confidence that Jesus will come back to rule. Hence the original Greek Bible word for hope is often also translated trust. The verse below could just as easily be translated ‘in him the Gentiles will trust’ as it can be translated ‘in him the Gentiles will hope.’

… The Root of Jesse will spring up, one who will arise to rule over the nations; in him the Gentiles will trust/hope’ (Romans 15:12).

Do you get it? Christians don’t simply wish that Jesus will be King. We trust that it will be so. We are certain that Jesus will rule over the Earth--an that's not a hope, it's the Hope. That is, it's the Promise of God--it's the Gospel.

We know for certain that Jesus will reign as King of Israel. But because the land of Israel will be the focal point of worship, wisdom, and blessing--Jesus will become the ruler of the World. That's what Psalm 2 is all about!

Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain?

The kings of the earth rise up and the rulers band together

against the LORD and against his Anointed, saying,

“Let us break their chains and throw off their shackles.”

The One enthroned in Heaven laughs; the LORD scoffs at them.

He rebukes them in his anger and terrifies them in his wrath, saying,

“I have installed my King on Zion, my holy mountain.”

I will proclaim the Lord’s decree: He said to me,

“You are my Son; today I have become your Father.

Ask me, and I will make the nations your inheritance,

the ends of the Earth your possession.

You will break them with a rod of iron;

you will dash them to pieces like pottery.”

Therefore, you kings, be wise; be warned you rulers of the Earth.

Serve the LORD with fear and celebrate his rule with trembling.

Kiss his Son, or he will be angry and your way will lead to your destruction,

for his wrath can flare up in a moment.

Blessed are all who take refuge in him (Psalm 2:1-12).

Our Hope, the One Hope is our certainty that Jesus will become King of everybody. He'll be King of all. He will not be the King of the Jews alone. Jesus will exercise authority over everybody on Earth.

Jesus will rule over Asians, Africans, Australians, Americans, and Europeans. He'll rule over islanders and mountain folk. He'll rule over desert dwellers and jungle tribes. Jesus will be King of the Alaskan Eskimos and of the Saharan Bedouins. Jesus will be King of the World.

Understanding the Root

How inspiring for the Romans to read about Jesus as their future King. Everyone knew that the Jews were waiting for a Messiah, but could Gentiles like the Romans also set their sights on a Messiah? Yes. Paul’s words prove that the Hope of the Kingdom applied to non-Jews too. Jesus was the Hope of the Gentiles.

The promise was written in the Bible, but did the Gentile believers really understand what Paul was talking about when he mentioned the Root of Jesse? It's a vague expression. It's cryptic and difficult to interpret.

Let’s say you were a first-century non-Jewish Roman. How were people like you—newly converted Christians not from Jewish but from Gentile stock—supposed to interpret a passage that speaks of the Root of Jesse? How would you deduce that the Root of Jesse was Jesus?

Paul quoted an Old Testament passage which would have been very familiar to the Jewish Christians at Rome, but it wouldn't have been familiar to the Gentile Christians. We imagine that the Jewish Christians would have explained the meaning of the Root of Jesse to their Gentile brethren. To do that, they would have taken their Gentile brethren to the Old Testament passage Paul was quoting.

Here it is:

A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit... the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations [that means Gentiles] will rally to him… (Isaiah 11:1, 10)

From David to Jesus

Now, any Gentile could have read Isaiah 11 (the passage above) and deduced that if Isaiah prophesied the Gentiles were going to put their trust in someone from the royal family of King David, then that someone had to be a king. And if they investigated a little further, they would have seen that this king would be not only a king—he would be King forever!

I will raise up your descendant after you, who will come from you, and I will establish his Kingdom. He shall build a House for my name, and I will establish the throne of his Kingdom forever… my favor shall not depart from him…

Your house and your kingdom shall endure before me forever. Your throne shall be established forever (2 Samuel 7:12-16; NASB).

Reading this, a Roman Christian would have understood that they were destined to trust in someone greater than Ceasar—quite a leap for a Roman! For citizens of the Roman Empire, the official religion was the worship of Ceasar. The typical Roman citizen adored their emperor more fervently than they adored any other god.

But the King of the Eternal Kingdom would be from the family of David. He would be God’s Chosen One. He would rule over the Roman Empire and over the whole World.

This coming Monarch would not be a local king. Rather, he would exercise global authority over all peoples. That’s why Paul reminded the Romans that Jesus would rule over the nations.

… The Root of Jesse will spring up, one who will arise to rule over the nations; in him the Gentiles will hope’ (Romans 15:12).

So, Paul directed the hearts of Gentile Christians to the One Hope! And because the Christians had trusted in the man God had resurrected from the Dead, Jesus--their Hope was firm. They could be certain that the resurrected Son of God (Jesus) would return and establish his Kingdom on Earth.

From Old to New

But there is a striking difference between the words of Isaiah and the words of Paul. If you read the two passages, you might ask: “How did Paul take Isaiah’s expression ‘the nations will rally to him’ and interpret it to mean ‘in him the Gentiles will hope’? Shouldn’t Paul’s translation have been more literal?

Here again are the two passages side-by-side. You can observe the differences highlighted in yellow:

… the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations [Gentiles] will rally to him… (Isaiah 11:10)

… The Root of Jesse will spring up, one who will arise to rule over the nations; in him the Gentiles will hope (Romans 15:12).

You'll note that the first part of Paul’s translation was word-for-word: the nations in Hebrew means the Gentiles. Those words are synonymous. Paul made no changes there.

But Paul’s translation of the Old Testament Hebrew expression will rally to him is not synonymous with in him they will hope. They don’t sound alike or look alike. In fact, each one has a different meaning. If troops rally to a king, they form a crowd. If we hope in a king, that's

The Hebrew word for they will rally to him can also be translated they will seek him or they will consult him. You get the idea. It can also mean they will inquire of him. Those are standard ways to translate the original Hebrew word. You'll see those in different Bible translations in the Isaiah passage. But Paul felt at liberty to translate the Hebrew as in him they will hope.

Hope in him? Not rally to him or seek him or consult him? Wasn’t that a leap? Isn’t taking the original word will rally to him and remarketing it as they will hope in him a manipulation of the Scriptures?

No, it’s not manipulation, but it was certainly a leap. The big reason why Paul's apparently sketchy translation can be excused is that the Holy Spirit led Paul to take that translation leap. The Holy Spirit led Paul to interpret Isaiah’s famous Root of Jesse prophecy as a prophecy about Jesus’ kingship in the Kingdom of God.

Paul often called that Holy Spirit-inspired reference to Jesus' kingship in the Kingdom (very simply) the Hope.

Context

Paul continued to reinforce the One Hope of the Kingdom by mentioning it two more times in this passage. Here’s the passage in context:

… The Root of Jesse will spring up, one who will arise to rule over the nations; in him the Gentiles will hope. May the God of the Hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with the Hope by the power of the Holy Spirit (Romans 15:12-13).

As to why God is called the God of the Hope, we will address more fully in another post. Suffice to say that most of the Bible translations available (and probably the one you have in your hands right now) do not include the article the in front of the word Hope. That's a travesty because the the is there in the original Greek!

The the is there. In the original writings of the apostles, the verse does not merely say "the God of hope." It says the God of the Hope. And that's important!

Our God and Father is not just a God of hope. He is the faithful God of the Kingdom Hope. He is the author of the Promise that Jesus will come back to Earth to reign over us all. And God will do everything necessary to make sure that his promise is fulfilled.

And as to what it means to overflow with the Hope—that’s also a topic we will also address in a forthcoming post. For now, we’ll just assure you that the word Hope again has an article in front of it so that any proper version of the Bible should read that you may overflow with the Hope, meaning: the promise of the Kingdom.

For now, the important thing is to see that the context proves that Paul was not just speaking of Gentiles feeling hopeful. When he fished out an Old Testament passage to prove that the Gentiles would hope in Jesus, he meant that they would put their trust and confidence in the Kingdom. In other words, they would confide in Christianity’s One Hope.

Most Christians today are Gentiles, but that doesn’t mean that we think like the World. Of course, most Gentiles have their minds set on the worries of this World and they live their daily lives without any real hope. We used to be like them, but we're not anymore.

… remember that… you were separate from Christ… without hope and without God in the World (Ephesians 2:12; NASB).

Now we are different. We have the Hope—the Hope inspired by the Good News of the Kingdom. This Christian Hope is the anchor of our soul. It gets us through even the toughest trials because we live on another plane. Christians live in another dimension. We are citizens of the Kingdom. We are pilgrims passing through this World on our way to the New Jerusalem!

The One Hope

Paul preached the Gospel of the Kingdom; therefore, he was always reminding the churches of the One Hope. That’s what all pastors who preach the Good News of the Kingdom do. We point people to the Kingdom as their aspiration. We teach them to pray “May your Kingdom come.”

When Paul read the Old Testament, he could easily find the Hope expressed by the prophets. Isaiah was no exception. Paul read Isaiah 11:10 and knew what it was referring to: the Kingdom. What better Greek word than Hope for him to use so that his readers would understand the meaning of Isaiah 11?

And you? When you read the Old Testament, can you discern the message of the Kingdom? That’s what it’s all about! So that when you share a passage from the Old Testament with anybody, you should be able to interpret it and explain it correctly so that you might point people to the Hope of the Kingdom.

For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have the Hope (Romans 15:4).