The Hope of Israel

More than a year before the Church was organized in this dispensation, the Lord told the Prophet’s father “behold the field is white already to harvest; and lo, he that thrusteth in his sickle with his might, the same layeth up in store that he perisheth not, but bringeth salvation to his soul; And faith, hope, charity and love, with an eye single to the glory of God, qualify him for the work” (D&C 4:4-5). Four months later, the Lord told the Prophet, Oliver Cowdery, and David Whitmer that if they did not have “faith, hope, and charity,” they could do “nothing” (D&C 18:19). And Alma, looking to the future in hope to the coming of the Savior in the flesh taught the importance of faith, hope, and charity (Alma 7:23-24).

It has been my experience, that speakers and writers in the Church are more prone to address the subjects of faith and charity, leaving hope a distant third. For this reason, hope, more specifically, the “Hope of Israel,” is the subject of this writing. The first verse of our hymn by the same name reads, “Hope of Israel, Zion’s army, Children of the promised day, See, the Chieftain signals onward, And the battle’s in array! Hope of Israel, rise in might With the sword of truth and right; Sound the war cry, ‘Watch and pray!’ Vanquish every foe today” (Hymns #259).

Hope plays a unique dual role in our gospel progression. Without hope, we cannot have faith. Without faith, we cannot have hope sufficient to receive eternal life. Hope and faith are uniquely bound to one another, and in a real sense, this union possesses the power to effect two rather different results.

Allow me to rephrase that idea. Faith is a gatekeeper to the Kingdom of God. Without faith, we cannot repent so as to make our baptism and our confirmation efficacious. These initial ordinances are required in order to place our feet upon the path to eternal life. Thus faith, repentance, baptism, and confirmation are the gatekeepers of the Kingdom of God, and we cannot satisfy the first of these namely, faith, if we do not have sufficient hope. However, once our feet are upon the path to eternal life, we cannot obtain that prize without hope.

This unique dual role of hope is confirmed in our scriptures. The prophet Mormon expounded on this relationship thusly, “And again, my beloved brethren, I would speak unto you concerning hope. How is it that ye can attain unto faith, save ye shall have hope? And what is it that ye shall hope for? Behold I say unto you that ye shall have hope through the atonement of Christ and the power of his resurrection, to be raised unto life eternal, and this because of your faith in him according to the promise. Wherefore, if a man have faith he must needs have hope; for without faith there cannot be any hope” (Moroni 7:40-42). And the prophet Nephi taught, “And now, my beloved brethren, after ye have gotten into this strait and narrow path, I would ask if all is done? Behold, I say unto you, Nay; for ye have not come thus far save it were by the word of Christ with unshaken faith in him, relying wholly upon the merits of him who is mighty to save. Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life” (2 Nephi 31:19-20).

The hope of which we speak is powerful and capable of producing substantive results. Hope is the means by which the House of Israel has and does now carry on the struggle against evil, and by which means the evil one and his followers will eventually be conquered. Hope is that of which we sing. It is that with which we look to the time when Christ will usher in the Millennium and reign personally upon this earth. Hope is that with which the prophets of old looked to the future, as do we.

It was Paul who enumerated the acts of faith demonstrated by Abel, Enoch Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Sara and then concluded, “These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city” (See Hebrews 11:8-16).