Hold Fast in Hope

A life that is committed to Jesus will draw near in faith and hold fast in hope. Hebrews 10:23 says, "Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful." The best Greek manuscripts of this text have the word "hope," rather than "faith," as in the King James version, though faith is truly involved. A person who genuinely trusts in Christ cannot help being hopeful. A hopeless believer is a contradiction in terms.

To "hold fast" (v. 23a) is to "hold unswervingly" (NIV). It means to "retain a firm grasp" (The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Vol. 12, Zondervan Publishing House: Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1981, 104). The best description of holding fast comes from the story of a young boy who is building a tree house. He suddenly falls from the tree house and catches hold of a large branch. So he holds on with all of his strength. He holds on for dear life, as though it is a matter of life and death. That is how we as believers must hold on to "the confession of our hope" (v. 23a), or "the hope we profess" (NIV).

"Hope" is expectant. It anticipates that God will fulfill His promises. We can "hold fast" (v. 23a) to our hope in this way because behind it is a God in whom we have full confidence. We can count on Him. His promises will be kept because "He who promised is faithful" (v. 23b).

Not only are we to "hold fast the confession of our hope" (v. 23a), but we are to do so "without wavering" (v. 23a). James 1:6 says, "He who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind." That is what it means to waver. It means to be tossed this way and that because of doubt, never knowing what to believe. But we are to "hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering" (v. 23a). We are to "hold unswervingly to the hope we profess" (NIV).

This is another proof of salvation. Holding fast to your hope in Christ doesn't save you, but it does prove you are saved. When you trust in Christ, you place your hope in God, that He is faithful and will keep His promises. You have hope. Your hope in God defines you. It shows that you are a Christian, so you hold on.

To be without hope would tell a different story. The person who lets go has lost hope. He is not saved and his life and his lack of hope prove it. To continue to live a life set apart for God is a mark both of faith and hope. As John MacArthur said, "Holding on does not keep us saved, any more than good works will make us saved. But both are evidence that we are saved. Many people who have confessed Christ continue to give evidence, by their lives, that they have never known Him" (MacArthur’s New Testament Commentary: Hebrews, Moody Publishers: Chicago, Illinois, 1983, 265).

Holding on is what John Calvin called "the perseverance of the saints." Again, as John MacArthur said, "It is not something we do to keep ourselves saved, but it is evidence, on the human side, that we are saved. It is a paradox, just as is the doctrine of election. God sovereignly chooses those who are saved, but He will not save anyone who does not believe. God keeps us secure in His Son, but our own wills, expressed in holding on in perseverance, are also involved. As the strongest Calvinist theologian recognizes, God's sovereignty does not exclude man's responsibility" (Ibid).

Jesus said, "No one can come to Me, unless the Father who sent Me draws him" (John 6:44). And He also said, "If you abide in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine" (John 8:31).

In the parable of the sower, Jesus revealed four types of responses to the gospel. Some people have the "seed" of the Word of God stolen away by the devil before it can take root. Others respond with joy at first but walk away at the first temptation. Still others believe until they run into a few problems. But the true believers "are the ones who have heard the word in an honest and good heart, and hold it fast, and bear fruit with perseverance" (Luke 8:15).

Many are those who have a superficial start but in the end they fall away and walk away from Christ. A true believer will still be around in the end. Nothing can make him waver from his faith and hope. Amen.