Among the most significant things that distinguish Christianity from the other religions of the world is that we have hope. This is not an anxious hope that constantly has us questioning if we have done enough to satisfy God's demands, but a secure hope that rests on the knowledge that God in Christ has redeemed us and called us to be His people. It is a hope that eagerly anticipates the establishment of God's kingdom in fullness. Willem VanGemeren, in The Progress of Redemption, says it like this:

The goal of God's kingdom is the establishment of God's absolute sovereignty over heaven and earth. From the expulsion from the garden till the glorious coming of the Messiah, God prepares a people to himself. This people desires to do his will on earth and awaits with hope the transformation of this world. The present world is scarred by the effects of sin and judgment, but the restoration of the world inaugurates the consummation of God's purposes...

Hope is a most vital element in the kingdom. It calls the subjects of the kingdom to theocentric living and keeps the present enjoyment of the kingdom of God and the future unfolding of its glory in dynamic tension. The children of the kingdom enjoy a foretaste of the future, but their lives are still in the shadow of the eschaton. Jesus has inaugurated the final stage in the history of redemption. Moreover, newness of life, sealed by the Spirit of God, is a token of the future restoration. The Spirit works in individuals and corporately in the church. The church is the messianic assembly instituted by Jesus Christ for the purpose of calling others to faith in himself and for adorning its members with the hope of his glorious coming...

Hope in the kingdom lies at the center of Christ's teaching, ministry, and kingdom (Matt. 6:10; 25:1-13). The proclamation of the Good News—that the kingdom is here in the Christ who gave himself a ransom—is incomplete unless it has the corollary preaching of the glorious coming of the Messiah...Peter admonishes the churches to wait and to encourage one another with the hope of the inheritance prepared for the saints at Jesus' coming (1 Peter 1:3-4, 8). The elements of that hope include the glorious appearing of our Lord, the resurrection of the body, the glorification of the people of God, the vengeance on the enemies of God's Messiah, the fullness of Jews and Gentiles in the church of Christ in accordance with God's promises and purpose in Christ, the presence of the triune God, and the renewal of heaven and earth (470-471).

That is hope. That is the hope that we as Christians live with, and can rejoice in. To be sure, this hope creates a tension right now—the kingdom has already come, but it is not yet fully established—and we live in this tension each day as we seek to make known the sovereign reign of God over all of creation, all the while struggling against the kingdom of the world as Satan attempts to subvert the rule of God. But our hope is rooted in the knowledge that this tension will be overcome with the return of Christ. And so we pray, "Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!" (Rev. 22:20).

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