Hope

HOPE OF OUR FATHER - SEPTEMBER 2020

Do you know your family? In Romans 4 Abraham is described as our father in the faith, and how he is presented there gives us an anatomy of biblical hope.

 

Our father in the faith and in the hope

1.   Hope is about a Person: Everything is “in the sight of God, in whom he believed” (4:17). Our hope is all about who God is.

a.   before Him: hope is utterly related to the dependability of God. It is not about my insight but about being in His sight. It is not about my perspective on the future but on the assurance of God’s presence there as well as here.

b.   In whom: this is not about the grade of our hope or faith, but about the goal of our hope, to believe in Him, and to forever be with Him. Hope limits itself only to what God Himself promises.

2.   Hope is about a Promise: “I have made you … Abraham in hope believed.” (4:17-18) Our faith is first in the One who promised, and then we exercise our hope in what was promised, but the ‘what’ never displaces the ‘who’. When there is nothing to go on, there is something to stand on. In the words of the hymn: Standing on the promises that cannot fail / When the howling storms of doubt and fear assail / By the living word of God I shall prevail / Standing on the promises of God. “I have made you…” (promise) is followed by “in whom he believed, the God who gives life to the dead” (hope) and concludes with  “Abraham … became” (fulfillment).

3.   Hope is about a Persuasion: “Being fully persuaded” (4:21). Where there was no conceivable hope (literally!) Abraham did not allow the facts of what he saw by sight (“that his body was as good as dead”) to overcome the holy facts of faith. The text says that he “faced the fact” but did not weaken or waver. It was a matter of fact, not a matter of fate. Hope did not deny the reality or the state of his virility or Sarah’s fertility. The New Testament nowhere plays down suffering and trial in order to elevate hope. On the contrary, as we have seen, they so often seem to be found in the same context. We are called to an unthreatened examination of the facts and to the unintimidated exercise of faith in the future facts that God has promised for us. As the saying goes, “Weak faith on thick ice is better than strong faith on thin ice.”

4.   Hope is about a Provision: This deserves a full treatment, but there are endless products of hope in God’s future promise that are reaped in our present life. Strength and effectiveness of present discipleship is utterly contingent on our biblical hope. Abraham reaped present blessings as a result of his future hope. The birth of Isaac was not the full fulfillment of the promise. You could argue that until Jacob was born it was all up in the air. How interesting then that Isaac and Rebekah had trouble conceiving and also had to learn first-hand what it was to hope in nothing but the promises of God about their future. We cannot spare ourselves this calling to hope. We were saved in hope, have entered a living hope and so will never be apart from it. A study of the provisions of hope in the present will reap great benefits for you. For example:

a.   Listen to Peter: He is committed to serve “as long as I live in the tent of this body because I know I will soon put it aside” (2 Peter1:13). It is because of the hope of what is to come that he is aware of the temporary nature of this life and therefore the need to escape the corruption of the world caused by evil desires and live a cleansed life. Hope provides both a motivation to change our life but also an empowerment to do so. Peter is also motivated to serve the Lord with “every effort.”

b.   Listen to Paul In Titus 2:1-13, Paul lists many manifestations of godliness in those who seek to adorn the doctrine of God our Savior. The common mark of these people is that they are “looking for the blessed hope”. Biblical hope will totally affect how we steward our lives – “our talents, our time and our treasures.” You could argue that the differing qualities and strengths of believers’ discipleship are calibrated by their convictions about biblical hope.

c.    Listen to Jesus: “Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven” (Matthew 6:19-20). The hope of heaven as a spiritual habit of mind, a “supernatural orientation” as Harry Blamires described it, settles the issues about what we value, and how we make decisions about what we invest in. It will also help us decide what we divest as of no usefulness in the work of the kingdom of God.

 

The biblical presentation of the challenges and choices of Abraham when it came to trusting the promises of God, believing in hope, hoping against hope and being persuaded that God had power to do what was promised, remains the curriculum for our own walk of hope. As his spiritual progeny, we should expect the same fruit in our lives as he experienced in his: strengthening in our faith and an explosion of continual glory to God. Hope fuels our work for God and our worship of God. Not only was his obedience at Mount Moriah a prophetic preview, a pre-run, of the sacrifice that would secure the hope of our salvation in and through Jesus’ death, but his refusal to lose his mind in response to the incursion of potential hopelessness, meant that he “reasoned that God could raise the dead.” Thus Abraham’s hope not only foresaw the cross, but also the resurrection, the conviction that was the ground of his hope, and the ground of ours. With Abraham, we will share the experience of what the resurrection of Jesus secured – our secure hope that we too shall be raised. Here’s hoping!

 

Hopefully yours,

Stuart McAlpine

 

(This cannot be reprinted without permission.)

 

 

 

HOPE: AN ANCHOR OF THE SOUL

Dear Family,

On Sunday we dropped anchor, as it were, and looked at the metaphor that the writer to the Hebrews used for hope. Download the message for a full treatment. I pointed out that the anchor was one of the key symbols for the early Christians and used as a secret sign, possibly even more than the icthus, the fish. If we are going to exegete the metaphor we have to know what purpose an anchor serves for those who sail the seas.

• It keeps them in place: That means that there is something about this biblical hope that helps us to hold our position despite prevailing ungodly winds and waves that would sweep us off our bearings. Clearly then, hope is the vital contribution for the maintenance of spiritual faithfulness. If the anchor is not connected to something that will hold it fast, there will be no fixity or security. Our anchor of hope is secured in the ground of history, in the mighty acts of God. The remembrance of the historical works and miracles of God recovered hope for the psalmist when he was tempted to think that God’s love had faded or His promise had failed (Psalm 77:8-11). When hopelessness caused his spirit to faint he “remembered the days of long ago.” Remembering that the anchor was deep in history recovered his hope: “You are my God … I have put my hope in You” (Psalm 143: 5-11). Thus, the anchor of hope connects and secures our relationship with God and saves us from two main things:

  • Drifting: This is when the currents, whether of external conditions or internal emotions, whether of cultural persuasions or relational influences, determine our direction and movement. This may end up in us going backwards, an image of backsliding, or of returning to a place that we came from. So, an anchor does not only protect against the effects of external weather and water conditions but it is also strong enough to hold the weight of the vessel. Regardless of the weight of what we are bearing that would appear to threaten spiritual drowning or sinking, we can still maintain our place of safety, of surety, of stability. Hope is the great anti-drift virtue.

  • Driveness: To be drifted by contrary currents is one thing, but to be driven by contrary winds is another. There are undertows that we can choose to submit to, but there are external winds of circumstance that we did not choose that can drive us away from our mooring. Potentially the worst outcome of drifting is the slow slide into an exposed place where we are vulnerable to that which would make shipwreck of us. Remember Paul’s reference in to those who “have shipwrecked their faith” (1 Timothy 1:19). The anchor of hope, if held on to, serves to protect us from being driven by the forces of temptation or falsehood, specifically because it keeps us so focused on the gospel of hope, both its wonders and its warnings. Yes, future hope includes the redemption of our bodies, but also the judgment seat of Christ.

• It keeps them in peace: Our passage tells us that those who have this “hope as an anchor” experience a “strong consolation” (Hebrews 6:18-19). There is no peace where there is no hope. The prophet Isaiah understood that perfect peace was the experience of those who hoped in the Lord (Isaiah 26:3). The prophet Jeremiah lamented that he had been “deprived of peace” April 24, 2018 (Lamentations 3:17). A few verses later we learn that the only thing that restored it was the recovery of hope, specifically because of God’s great love and great faithfulness (3:21). The peace that is the fruit of hope is the antidote to fear. Despite the exterior conditions that might assail and rock the vessel, there is a protection from fear, because our hope is anchored in the outcomes that God has promised. Faith that looks forward in hope to God’s future, overcomes the fear that looks only toward the present immediate outcomes. When hope withers then fear flourishes (Zechariah 9:5). Again, was there any greater hopelessness than that experienced by the disciples after the crucifixion of Jesus? They huddled behind locked doors “for fear of the Jews.” Jesus appears to them, the risen Christ the hope of glory, and His first word to them is “Peace” (John 20:19). The peace of recovered hope dispelled the fear. Spurgeon wrote this: “The condition of every believer in Jesus is very similar to that of the landlubber on-board ship, who, when the sea was rather rough, asked, ‘Captain, we are in great danger, are we not?’ He received no answer, and so he said, ‘Captain, don’t you see great fear?’ Then the old seaman gruffly replied, ‘Yes, I see plenty of fear, but not a bit of danger.’ The ship was safely anchored.” Hope overcome fear; despite the threat there was peace.

Although some may think that hope is a fluke in the sense of that word when it means an unlikely or chance occurrence, that is clearly not the sense I am using it here. It is important that an anchor has sufficient substance and weight to secure in place, and in peace, what it is attached to. From being just a bag of heavy rocks, the anchor soon developed into having two arms, or flukes as they are known, that can dig and lodge into the seabed. It is really interesting that the anchor of hope in our passage has two such strong flukes, representing the double certification that God gives to hope:

  • The promise: “God made His promise … what was promised” (6:13, 17). This is the guarantee of the inheritance, the promise of the completion of our salvation which is firmly secured.

  • The oath: “He confirmed it with an oath” (6:17). This is the sheer grace of God that would give man what he needed for his assurance. As God cannot swear by a higher authority, He swears by himself. Thus, the hope for the future is sealed “By two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie” (6:18).

There are also two words used to describe the two flukes:

  • Sure: our anchor hope is outwardly strong, it is attested, and safe against external threat

  • Steadfast: our anchor of hope is internally unalloyed; it is pure, integral because integrous. We have a grip on hope but this is not about being clear about an idea, but being connected to a person, to Christ. Spurgeon put it best: “Be sure you have a secure hold on your sure anchor.” How unsafe is it not to be in the place of refuge, the anchorage of hope, with the conviction and assurance of our eternal destiny and hope.

Holding on to the anchor that holds us
This is a two-way street. You see, as much as it is about our hold on hope, the other part of this truth is that the anchor at the other end of the rope has a grip on us, because it holds us. It has the effect, against all the conditions and currents, of pulling us toward itself. It is this invisible hope that is hidden like an anchor beneath the surface of the sea, but nonetheless doing its assuring and securing work. Of course, the more the pressure and strain, the deeper the anchor goes. Even so, the more that the storms challenge our hope, the stronger hope becomes as it holds us firm and steady against that which would pull us away. Instead of a defeat, it gives us another victory. In one of his sermons on hope, Spurgeon had a lovely thought: “Our anchor will never return to us but it is drawing us home; it is drawing us to itself, not downward beneath devouring waves but upward to ecstatic joys. Do you feel it? You who are growing old, do you not feel it drawing you home?” He then quotes the lines of an old hymn: “O that we now might grasp our guide / O that the Word were given / Come Lord of Hosts, the waves divide / And land us all in heaven.” The writer longed for hope to give the final pull. He then drops this gorgeous but poignant line. “My cable has grown shorter lately.” That is true for all of us. We too are losing some links as we get closer to where the anchor is holding us fast.

The anchorage But what about the anchorage?
This is what everything has been leading up to. As we grasp God’s promises, as we lay hold of our future hope and choose to follow the rope to see where it leads and where the anchor actually is, what do we find? The text tells us that the anchor is “within the veil” (6:19). Our anchor is in heaven. We have no need to drop anchor anywhere else. We have no other anchorage. We need worry no more about our security. We can go anywhere and minister anywhere, and there may be some swells and even sea-sickness but wherever we are harbored by the leading of the Holy Spirit, we will be able to minister and live with authority and surety, because the end of the rope is secure. The anchor of our hope is already in the presence of God and that is where we are already moored and attached and being drawn to. To emphasize the point, Jesus is described as the “forerunner” – He “went before us” (6:20). He has already entered there for us. Since Jesus is there and He is our hope, our anchor is inseparably linked with Him. He is not going anywhere so nor are we, other than to be where He is. He will not slip or lose His grip and nor will we. We cannot be separated, we are secured, there is a place prepared. What a brilliant hope! Because He is the forerunner, we will follow. Truly He has gone to prepare a place for us, so that we may be where He is. In the end, our hope is all about who Jesus is, and where Jesus is. It is not primarily about our secure position, though that is surely true. It is all about the person we are secured by. Our hope is not something but someone.

Fully hoping,
Stuart

ABRAHAM: OUR FATHER OF HOPE

Dearest Family,

Normally my pastoral letters are either a summary of what I taught about on Sunday or a focus on a particular point that was raised. This week, I am going to do something different and give you the gist of what I did not have time to complete. So here goes. If you remember, I was talking about Abraham, our father of hope, out of Hebrews 6. In Romans 4 he is described as our father in the faith, and how he is presented there gives us an anatomy of biblical hope.

Our father in the faith and in the hope.

1. Hope is about a Person: Everything is “in the sight of God, in whom he believed” (4:17). Our hope is all about who God is.
a. before Him: hope is utterly related to the dependability of God. It is not about my insight but about being in His sight. It is not about my perspective on the future but on the assurance of God’s presence there as well as here.
b. In whom: this is not about the grade of our hope or faith, but about the goal of our hope, to believe in Him, and to forever be with Him. Hope limits itself only to what God Himself promises.

2. Hope is about a Promise: “I have made you … Abraham in hope believed.” (4:17-18) Our faith is first in the One who promised, and then we exercise our hope in what was promised, but the ‘what’ never displaces the ‘who’. When there is nothing to go on, there is something to stand on. In the words of the hymn: Standing on the promises that cannot fail / When the howling storms of doubt and fear assail / By the living word of God I shall prevail / Standing on the promises of God. “I have made you…” (promise) is followed by “in whom he believed, the God who gives life to the dead” (hope) and concludes with “Abraham … became” (fulfillment).

3. Hope is about a Persuasion: “Being fully persuaded” (4:21). Where there was no conceivable hope (literally!) Abraham did not allow the facts of what he saw by sight (“that his body was as good as dead”) to overcome the holy facts of faith. The text says that he “faced the fact” but did not weaken or waver. It was a matter of fact, not a matter of fate. Hope did not deny the reality or the state of his virility or Sarah’s fertility. The New Testament nowhere plays down suffering and trial in order to elevate hope. On the contrary, as we have seen, they so often seem to be found in the same context. We are called to an unthreatened examination of the facts and to the unintimidated exercise of faith in the future facts that God has promised for us. As the saying goes, “Weak faith on thick ice is better than strong faith on thin ice.”

4. Hope is about a Provision: This deserves a full treatment, but there are endless products of hope in God’s future promise that are reaped in our present life. Strength and effectiveness of present discipleship is utterly contingent on our biblical hope. Abraham reaped present blessings as a result of his future hope. The birth of Isaac was not the full fulfillment of the promise. You could argue that until Jacob was born it was all up in the air. How interesting then that Isaac and Rebekah had trouble conceiving and also had to learn first-hand what it was to hope in nothing but the promises of God about their future. We cannot spare ourselves this calling to hope. We were saved in hope, have entered a living hope and so will never be apart from it. A study of the provisions of hope in the present will reap great benefits for you. For example:

a. Listen to Peter: He is committed to serve “as long as I live in the tent of this body because I know I will soon put it aside” (2 Peter1:13). It is because of the hope of what is to come that he is aware of the temporary nature of this life and therefore the need to escape the corruption of the world caused by evil desires and live a cleansed life. Hope provides both a motivation to change our life but also an empowerment to do so. Peter is also motivated to serve the Lord with “every effort.”

b. Listen to Paul In Titus 2:1-13, Paul lists many manifestations of godliness in those who seek to adorn the doctrine of God our Savior. The common mark of these people is that they are “looking for the blessed hope”. Biblical hope will totally affect how we steward our lives – “our talents, our time and our treasures.” You could argue that the differing qualities and strengths of believers’ discipleship are calibrated by their convictions about biblical hope.

c. Listen to Jesus: “Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven” (Matthew 6:19-20). The hope of heaven as a spiritual habit of mind, a “supernatural orientation” as Harry Blamires described it, settles the issues about what we value, and how we make decisions about what we invest in. It will also help us decide what we divest as of no usefulness in the work of the kingdom of God.

The biblical presentation of the challenges and choices of Abraham when it came to trusting the promises of God, believing in hope, hoping against hope and being persuaded that God had power to do what was promised, remains the curriculum for our own walk of hope. As his spiritual progeny, we should expect the same fruit in our lives as he experienced in his: strengthening in our faith and an explosion of continual glory to God. Hope fuels our work for God and our worship of God. Not only was his obedience at Mount Moriah a prophetic preview, a pre-run, of the sacrifice that would secure the hope of our salvation in and through Jesus’ death, but his refusal to lose his mind in response to the incursion of potential hopelessness, meant that he “reasoned that God could raise the dead.” Thus Abraham’s hope not only foresaw the cross, but also the resurrection, the conviction that was the ground of his hope, and the ground of ours. With Abraham, we will share the experience of what the resurrection of Jesus secured – our secure hope that we too shall be raised. Here’s hoping!

Hope fully,
Stuart

THE SUBSTANCE OF OUR HOPE

Dearest Family,

I really want to encourage you, so here goes! The Lord is coming soon and will come down from heaven and we will be with the Lord forever. I also want to encourage you to know that the day of the Lord is going to come like a thief in the night. The reason He died for us is so that we may live together with Him when He comes. I really hope you felt built up by that because that’s what Paul said the outcome should be (1Thessalonians 4:18; 5;10). What is interesting is that Paul prefaces his teaching about our going and His coming (titles of my last two messages during Lent) with the words: “We believe that Jesus died and rose again” (1 Thessalonians 4:14). These convictions are the fruit of the resurrection, which is why I have been arguing the last two messages that this is such an important part of the Easter message. You will need to listen to the message to get all the content. I gave three main points so was really encouraged when someone told me afterwards they got the four points! Someone else told me that they wanted my notes as I was going too quickly. Actually, they confessed that their mind was not as absorptive as it used to be.

Fundamental to a Christian’s hope in a hopeless culture is the truth about the next Advent, the second coming of Christ. Just read the ways it is described throughout the NT. It is “our joyous hope” (Rom.5:2; 12:12); a non-disappointing hope (Rom.5:5); "our comforting hope" (Rom.15:4); “a righteous hope” (Gal.5:5); “our glorious hope” (Col.1:27); "our good hope" (2 Thess.2:16). It is “our hope” (1 Tim.1:1); it is “our blessed hope” (Tit.2:13); "our eternal hope" (Tit.3:7); "our assured hope" (Hebr.6:11); "our sure and steadfast hope” (Hebr.6:19); "our better hope” (Hebr.7:19); "our living hope” (1 Pet.1:3); "our gracious hope” (1 Pet.1:13); "our defensible hope" (1 Pet.3:15) Just a study of all those adjectives will tell you all the fruits you can experience in your present life as you anticipate that future coming: joy, confidence, righteousness, glory, goodness, assurance, steadfastness, grace, protection and on and on.

Let’s make the foundational point. It is impossible to be a Christian without a conviction and passion for this hope. Why? Well, you have to understand the nature of our salvation. The scriptures say that “in hope we are saved” (Romans 8:24). From the moment, we were saved it was unto this hope. This is not an additive, and not just something for the keen types. Future hope is what our salvation is all about. How is it that it so easily slips off the radar? How can anyone live a Christian life without being aware of this future, and being aware of this future, not be changed from glory to glory?

If you like, we are experiencing Salvation Part One. Now Part One is glorious enough, and it is hard to believe that there is even more, but there is so much more. By faith we have indeed been justified, we enjoy the forgiveness of our sins, and revel in the indwelling Holy Spirit, and the evidence of all his fruits and gifts and transforming works. We have already obtained so much but there is also much that is yet to be attained. There are two particular areas of incompletion.

  • The first has to do with our continuing tendency to sin, and our longing to be free of our sin in every possible way.

  • The second has to do with the nature of our physical bodies. Paul says we groan in these tabernacles, and of course, some groan more than others!

So, there are two things we long for, and these two things will be realized when our salvation is complete. When we see him we shall be like him because we shall see him as he is. We will experience the glorious liberty of the children of God and with the freedom we have longed for, render God our perfect service. Our mortal bodies will be quickened by his spirit, we will be raised a spiritual body: in other words, our bodies will be the perfect match for our spirits.

This hope for God’s future, for the fulfillment of all that we were created to be and know and experience forever, came with the very reception of the Holy Spirit when we were first saved. Hope came. This is why we are always longing, always believing, rightly, that there is more than we have tasted, always experiencing more, as the Lord draws us deeper into the experience of His kingdom come, and His kingdom coming. From the moment we were saved, this promise of fulfillment was secured for us, and in fact, so sure is it, that we actually live as if it has already been obtained. So, despite the limitations of our tendency to April 4, 2017 sin, the sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit that prepares us in holiness for here, is preparing us but for what is to come, and this is our daily victorious experience; and despite the limitations of mortality, the power of God is at work to transform us, to heal our bodies and deliver us, as the kingdom of God comes to us now, expressing the nature of God’s eternal love and power towards us. Our healings and deliverances are incredible expressions of this hope, and it is interesting the way that all such encounters with God deepen the longing for that which is to come. This is so important in that our hope protects us from ever making our miracle or deliverance a stopping place, as if that’s all there is to it. Jesus came, but Jesus comes now, even as surely as He will come again. On the basis of the first advent, Jesus came, Jesus comes to us now because of his finished work, by the power of the Holy Spirit that he left for us; and that same Spirit fuels our hope for that which is still to come – Jesus will come again.

Romans 8:23-25 is an important passage. “We ourselves who have the first-fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we are saved.” Here there are no less than five affirmations that we are hoping for in the fullness of our coming salvation, which Paul tells the Romans is nearer now than when we first believed.

  1. First fruits: this is what Paul describes to the Ephesians as the down payment, the first installment that is the guarantor of what is to come, the foretaste of future glory.

  2. We groan inwardly: the presence of the Spirit is a reminder of incompletion, as we long to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling (2 Corinthians 5:2-4)

  3. Wait for adoption as sons / redemption of our bodies: we are going to be fully revealed as His children and our bodies are going to be like His glorious body.

  4. In this hope we were saved: saved in hope of complete freedom

  5. We wait patiently: the Christian posture is one of waiting. Patience is an organic intrinsic necessity. It goes with the territory. Aren’t you relieved it is a fruit of the Spirit? That is built into our backbone as it were. We are by definition “waiters”. We live between the times.

This expectation of the second coming, absolutely dominated the vista for the early Christian community.

  • Jesus Himself spoke of it: Mark 8:38 “when he comes in his Father’s glory with his angels”; Mark 13:26 “At that time men will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory.”; Matthew 25:31-32: “When the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne, and he will separate them from one another”; John 14:1-4 “I will come back and take you with me.”

  • His disciples were promised that “this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11). Apostolic preaching continually made the point: Acts 3:19-21 “He must remain in heaven until the time comes for God to restore everything.” Acts 17:31 “He has set a day when he will judge the world by the man he has appointed.”

  • References in the epistles are numerous. Paul reminded the Philippians that “our conversation is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Philippians 3:20 NAS; compare1 Corinthians 15: 51-54; 1 Thessalonians 1:9-10, 2:19, 4:13-18; 1 Timothy 6:14). Christ “will appear a second time… to save those who are eagerly waiting for him” (Hebrews 9:28 NRSV).

  • Revelation begins and ends with a reference to Christ's return. “Behold, he cometh with clouds” (Rev. 1:7). “He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus” (Rev. 22:20).

The substance of the hope which will be realized in the future is described in so many different ways. Christians will “obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God” (Romans 8:21 NRSV); realize their hope of “righteousness” (Galatians 5:5); be “transformed into his likeness” (2 Corinthians 3: 12-18 REB; compare1 John 3: 1-3); acquire possession of the inheritance (Ephesians 1:14), and experience the resurrection of the body (1 Corinthians 15:21, 1 Corinthians 15: 15-25) Well, that’s the introduction and now you need to go listen to the message! This hope effects three things for us: it is cleansing, it is comforting and it is committing. Do you have this hope in you? Are you cleansed by it? Are you comforted by it? Are you committed by it? Are you free of fear about your eternal destiny and destination?

To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy – to the only God our savior – be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore. (Jude 24-25). May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. (Rom.15:13).

Eschatologically yours,

Stuart

CHRIST'S COMING

A PASTORAL LETTER

Dearest family,

The majority of references to hope in the New Testament refer to one supreme thing: what is termed the second coming of Jesus Christ, though this is in fact a little mentioned phrase in the NT. From the moment that the angels told the disciples at Jesus’ ascension that he would return in the same way they had seen him go into heaven, it dominates the thinking and the teaching of the early church, most particularly that of Paul who writes about it all the time in his epistles. It is at the heart of all communication and is the source of the gospel appeal in so many ways. All life is lived and understood in the light of this reality. Jesus is coming back. This is our hope. Just listen to the ways it is described throughout the NT. It is “our joyous hope” (Rom.5:2;12:12); a non-disappointing hope (Rom.5:5); “our comforting hope” (Rom.15:4); “a righteous hope” (Gal.5:5); “our glorious hope” (Col.1:27); “our good hope” (2 Thess.2:16) It is “our hope” (1 Tim.1:1); it is “our blessed hope” (Tit.2:13); “our eternal hope” (Tit.3:7); “our assured hope” (Hebr.6:11); “our sure and steadfast hope” (Hebr.6:19); “our better hope” (Hebr.7:19); “our living hope” (1 Pet.1:3); “our gracious hope” (1 Pet.1:13); “our defensible hope” (1 Pet.3:15) Just a study of all those adjectives will tell you all the fruits you can experience in your present life as you anticipate that future coming: joy, confidence, righteousness, glory, goodness, assurance, comfort, steadfastness, grace, protection and on and on.

Let’s make the foundational point. It is impossible to be a Christian without a conviction and passion for this hope of Christ’s return. Why? Well, you have to understand the nature of our salvation. The scriptures say that “in hope we are saved” (Rom.8:24). From the moment we were saved it was unto this hope. This is not an additive, it is not just something for the keen types. Future hope is what our salvation is all about. How is it that it so easily slips off the radar? How can anyone live a Christian life without being aware of this future, and being aware of this future, not be changed by it?

If you like, we are experiencing Salvation Part One. Now Part One is glorious enough, but there is so much more. By faith we have indeed been justified, we enjoy the forgiveness of our sins, and revel in the indwelling Holy Spirit, and the evidence of all his fruits and gifts and transforming works. We have already obtained so much but there is also much that is yet to be attained. There are two particular areas of incompletion.

i. The first has to do with our continuing tendency to sin, and our longing to be free of our sin in every possible way.
ii. The second has to do with the nature of our physical bodies. Paul says we groan in these tabernacles, and of course, some groan more than others!

So there are two things we long for, and these two things will be realized when our salvation is complete. When we see him we shall be like him because we shall see him as he is. We will experience the glorious liberty of the children of God and with the freedom we have longed for, render God our perfect service in whatever has been prepared for us to contribute in a new creation. Our mortal bodies will be quickened by his spirit, we will be raised a spiritual body: in other words, our bodies will be the perfect match for our spirits.

When you read Paul’s letters to the Thessalonians, they sound like us, dealing with a flood of gnostic false teaching, contending with lack of unity among believers, huge cultural challenges to sexual purity and lots of disdain and opposition. As a pastor, faced with the threats of temptations and sin, the presence of fear, the erosion of boldness and conviction in witness, Paul asserts the return of Christ, the hope of our calling. Why?

These Thessalonians were the folk who were grieving as if they had no hope. In the opening of the first epistle, Paul highlights their “endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1:3) In the second letter, he talks of their “perseverance and faith in all the persecution and trials you are enduring.” (1:4) They were identified by Paul as those who “wait for His son from heaven whom he raised from the dead – Jesus who rescues us from the coming wrath.” (1 Thess.1:10) They are those in whom he will glory “in the presence of our Lord Jesus when he comes” (1 Thess. 2:19) Paul’s understanding of why they need to be strengthened in their hearts is so that they will be “blameless and holy in the presence of God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones.” (1 Thess. 3:13) In chapter 4 Paul teaches about the second coming: “The Lord himself will come down from heaven…” (1 Thess.4:16) In chapter 5 he reminds them that the day of the Lord “will come like a thief” (1 Thess.5:2) and in case they’ve missed all of that, his closing benediction begins: “May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul, body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Thess.5:23-24) He doesn’t let up in the second epistle. In the first chapter he’s talking about God’s judgment that will happen “when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels.” (2 Thess.1:7) Chapter 2 begins: “Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ…” (2 Thess.2:1) And what is the point Paul of all that God is doing in them? “That you might share in the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ.” (2 Thess.2:14) So why are we surprised by the following benediction? “May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope…” (2 Thess.2:16)

Paul doesn’t respond first to their present needs but to their future hope. The revival of their life in the present is first related to the recovery of their hope for their life in the future. It has been observed that Paul’s teaching to them, and praying for them, is eschatological more than ethical. Why? Because eschatology leads to ethics. Truth about what is going to happen in the future on God’s terms, on what will happen then, will motivate you to get your life in order now. Any treatment of the future coming of Christ also includes the fact of judgment, which is the great incentive to holiness. Why are we then surprised that there is so little talk about our future hope? Because it is not kosher to speak about judgment. Peter is no different. “Since everything will be destroyed, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming…So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation.” (2 Pet.3:11-15)

So what’s the point? The blessed hope is the greatest motivation for living a holy life now and having an expectation of the continuing meaning and purpose of our life in the future. For Peter, the bottom line of eschatology is to provoke and promote holiness here and now. And not only a personal understanding of holiness but also a commitment to the application of God’s truth and character in all arenas of life, including the public and social and societal and civic dimensions of it. Even delay of this coming is a motivation for holiness, providing further opportunity for repentance. The apostolic desire is that people face the glorious prospect of the second coming at peace: peace with God, peace with others and peace with themselves. It will not do to always be on good terms with ourselves and thus cultivate a false sense of peace:

i. Always accusing others
ii. Always excusing ourselves

The apostles are not trying to scare people but secure them. Paul’s teaching is that we need to know that God not only saves us and sanctifies us, but secures us for what he has prepared for us. He really does want us with him forever! He is the God who keeps his promises but keeps and preserves us so that we can enjoy those promises. So back to my question. Why should we focus on the second coming, the blessed hope? As I suggested on Sunday, you will need to do your own study as soon as you can of every outcome, every effect, every product, every fruit, every result of an awareness and conviction about the second coming. You will be amazed at the list you construct. You will not need to be convinced about the operations of hope in his coming.

I only had time to mention three outcomes for us of this hope, in the way it affects our present lives.
I. The hope of his coming…cleansed: “so that you will be holy and blameless in the presence of God… when our Lord Jesus comes…” (3:13) This hope about “then”, is about holiness “now”. Where there is a complacency about sin, an insensitivity to the pride of the heart, an unrepentant spirit, there is little to no hope. If our future expectation is to be with Christ there will be a motivation to be like him now. This hope becomes one of the great spiritual motivators, a great stimulus for an expectation of healing and deliverance now. This is confirmed by the apostle of love, John: “When he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is. And every one that has this hope in him purifies himself even as he is pure.” (1 Jn.3:2-3) The modern church must have lost its grip on that anchor of hope that relates us to the realities of a holy heaven. Immediately before that, John writes: “And now dear children, continue in Him, so that when he appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming.” (1 John 2:28) The continuance of our holy convictions in the present, will ensure the confidence of our hopeful convictions for the future. Our hope in the return of Christ is both sustained and secured by abiding in Christ, in other words, remaining faithful. Hebrews 3:12 warns of the danger of an unbelieving heart that will fall way from the living God. To be a partaker of Christ is to hold fast to our assurance, our hope “firm to the end.” Yes, it is a blessed hope but it is a holy hope. The blessed hope of his coming keeps us cleansed.

II. The hope of his coming…comforted: “We will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage one another with these words… eternal encouragement and good hope… encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God who calls you into…his glory.” (1-4:17-18; 2-2:16; 1-2:12) Yes, there is much about the blessed hope that involves confronting, but it is also hugely about comforting. This is the same comfort that we saw in Hebrews 6, the “strong consolation” that is ours through this anchor of hope. The idea of comfort here is not about a depressed and low-key exchange of best-wishes for a besieged and beleaguered bunch. It is massively strong and powerful, pouring in consolation like pouring in concrete. It’s all about pro-actively encouraging faith and hope, not about containing fears. Mind you, there are plenty of grounds for fear given what Paul describes to the Thessalonians as “the rebellion…the secret power of lawlessness…the coming of the lawless one…the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders…a powerful delusion…” (2-2:1-12) So what is the comfort amidst all the catastrophe, and confusion? “…the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming.” (2-2:8) The coming of the lawless one, everything that is coming upon the earth, everything that’s coming up or coming down, runs into the splendor of his coming. The blessed hope of his coming keeps us comforted.

III. The hope of his coming…committed: “so then stand firm and hold to the teachings…never tire of doing what is right…we urge you in the Lord Jesus to do this more and more…we urge you to increase more and more…” Those who have this blessed hope are living on a different time line, an eternal one, compared to those who don’t have it. Those who hope are on “sons of the light” time (5:5) not night-time. There are two experiences of time. One is defined by sleep, the other by awakening. It is the blessed hope that determines the difference. Jesus himself spoke about the need to labor while it is still day because the night comes when no one can work. Do you remember his words in Lk.12:35-48: “Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning like men waiting for their master to return…It will be good for that servant whom the master finds doing so when he returns…You also must be ready because the Son of man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.” This is precisely what Paul is repeating to the Thessalonians in those two images: his coming will be like a thief in the night, or like labor pains upon a pregnant woman. In other words, the hope of his coming settles the issues about the nature, the necessity, the manner and the mode of our commitment. Now it will make sense to you why the appeals for diligence or the warnings against laziness occur in contexts when our hope is being discussed. Remember Hebrews 6:11-12: “We want each of you to show this same diligence to the end…We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.” So patience has nothing to do with passivity, with just sitting around and waiting. Our waiting is active and urgent and fervent and productive, because any day is possible and no day is impossible for his coming. The fact that we will give an account of our stewardship and service at the judgment seat of Christ further encourages our responsibility as we anticipate his rewards. The blessedness of our hope keeps us committed.

So we are still all here post-May 21st. But the scriptural exhortations remain true: be right, and be ready.


Pastorally yours,

Stuart


http://www.christourshepherd.org/pastlet.htm (and follow links to download MP3 audio of sermon)