Category: Uncategorized

A Certain Hope in Uncertain Days: 30 Days of Hope-filled Focus

Day 11: Hope for the Hopeless

Romans 5:3-5, “Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”

Ernest Gordon was one of many British soldiers captured by the Japanese in the battle for Singapore in WW2.  Ultimately, he and thousands of other captives were taken to Banpong, Thailand.  The Japanese command forced these prisoners into hard—sunrise to sunset—labor in building a 258-mile railway to further the Japanese war effort.  They were mistreated and tortured, fed little, and given no medical attention.  Work was not going fast enough, so workers were beaten.  Many died as a result of torture, beatings, and disease.

Gordon was not a Christian, but during his captivity he saw things that caused him to consider Christ.  One such occasion was when a soldier was determined to save his best friend when he became ill.  He gave up all his own rations, without telling of his sacrifice, for the benefit of his friend.  His sick friend recovered.  He himself later died of starvation.

On another occasion, at the end of a day’s work, a guard declared that a shovel was missing.  In a fit of uncontrollable rage, he yelled, “All die!  All die!”  Just as the guard was to begin shooting the captives, a man stepped forward.  “I did it,” he said.  The Japanese guard slammed the stock of his rifle onto the captive’s head.  The captive sank to the ground, dead.  When the shovels were counted afterwards, they were all there.  The guard had been mistaken.  The captive laid down his life for the sake of the others.

These acts of sacrificial love caused some of the prisoners to think.  One of the captives was a Christian, but Gordon argued against his faith.  He couldn’t understand how God could allow the death of 20 men a day to such ill-treatment.  “Why doesn’t God so something?” he asked.

Another incident spoke again to Gordon’s heart.  Frequently as the prisoners made their way through the local Thai villages, they would come across yellow-robe Buddhist priests.  The philosophy of these priests was non-attachment to the world.  If a prisoner dropped at the side of the road, and was obviously dying, they would purpose to ignore him.  They demonstrated no concern for the plight of the captives.  One day the captives passed through a village where the people, at risk to themselves, gave them food and medicine.  Upon inquiry, it was discovered that the village had been evangelized to Christ through the work of a missionary.  Gordon was forced to again question the ultimate source of such love.

These three instances, amongst others, ultimately were used by God to draw Gordon into a saving relationship with the Lord Jesus.  Other prisoners trusted in Christ as well.  The prisoners began to hold worship services.  They prayed.  They created a Bible-lending library.  They shared their faith with others.  On Christmas day 1943, over 2000 men attended a service.  Though captive in a camp, Jesus worked to set them free to worship–their captivity was transformed by numerous acts of faith and sacrifice.

Years following his rescue and release, Ernest Gordon wrote his great spiritual classic, “Miracle on the River Kwai.”  The book includes this quote, “I know the depths to which men could sink and the heights to which they could rise.  I could speak from the experience of despair, but also of hope; of hatred, but also of love; of man without God, but also of man sustained by God.  God in Christ has shared man’s suffering…even that experience which seems to defeat us all, namely, death.”  The book ends with this sentence, “He comes into our Death House to lead us through it.”

The activity of sacrificial love by the Spirit-led believer flows ultimately from the One who died on Calvary (Cf. 1 John 4:19; Romans 5:5).  Its presence in one’s life gives testimony to the Risen Christ and the greater love He has demonstrated in laying down His life for us (Cf. John 3:16; 1 John 3:16).  That we might replicate His self-sacrificial manner is a mysterious and wonderful work of His grace.  Apart from Him we can do no such thing (Cf. John 15:5), but by His gracious presence His love can indeed flow through us.  What loving word or deed, in obedience, does God have planned for you and me to express this day?  May it be done with a finger pointing towards Calvary!

A Certain Hope in Uncertain Days: 30 Days of Hope-filled Focus

Day 10: More Than Conquerors

Romans 8:37, “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.”

“The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat.”  That tag line from the old “Wide World of Sports” program is something that is common to our experience—in sports, in politics, in business, in life.

The “victory-defeat” theme is especially relevant to life in the spiritual realm.  A long war against God has raged since the Devil’s rebellion, and on this earth, since Adam and Eve sinned in the garden.  Their sin unleashed a contagion of sin through which we’ve all inherited a sin rebel’s heart.  The world cheers sinners on in the devil’s cause, and the flesh is ever looking, in this world, to satisfy its lusts.

Were it not for Jesus there would be no hope, but He came into this world for the express purpose of delivering sinners (1 Timothy 1:12).  He took on flesh and blood, “that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil” (Hebrews 2:14).  In fact, He has defeated all our foes.  “The whole world lies in the power of the evil one” (1 John 5:19), but Jesus said, “I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).  The flesh is relentless in its pursuit of sin, and we might say with the Apostle Paul, “Wretched man that I am!  Who will deliver me from this body of death? (Romans 8:24).  But then he went on to say, “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 8:24-25).

Victory is assured to those who trust in Jesus for salvation.  They are at once delivered from “the domain of darkness and transferred…to the kingdom of his beloved Son” (Colossians 1:13).  Having been cleansed by the blood of Jesus, they stand before God, from that point forward, clothed in the very righteousness of Christ (Cf. 1 Corinthians 6:11; 2 Corinthians 5:21).  Having been declared righteous by God Himself, through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ—the One who is even now interceding–there is no one able to bring a charge against the believer (Cf. Romans 8:33-34).  God being greater than all, there is likewise no one who can work to “snatch” the believer from His hand (John 10:29).

The believer on earth faces many obstacles and threats, some are listed in Romans 8:38-39, though the list by its very nature is intended to be all inclusive: “death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation.”  We are assured in this passage that there is no entity in all creation that can work “to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:39).

Note that our text doesn’t just say that we will merely conquer, it says that in all these things we are “more than conquerors.”  Its not that we will barely eke out a victory, we will win “going away” and in the context of tremendous challenges.  Ray Stedman explained the matter this way: “If we barely manage to win our way to heaven by the skin of our teeth, we could be said to be a conqueror, but a “more than conqueror” is someone who takes the worst that life can throw at him and uses that to become victorious. “More than conqueror” is one who, by the grace and the gift of God, and in the strength of God within him, actually takes the very things that are designed to destroy him, and they become stepping stones instead of stumbling blocks. That is being “more than conquerors.”

It was years ago when this specific verse came to my mind in a most unlikely setting.  A lady in our church has dealt with a long series of difficult health problems.  A surgery failed to correct a matter and she was barely hanging on to life in the ICU.  Her husband was there with me.  He had been won to Christ years earlier through her prayers and the witness of her life in Christ.  There she was in the ICU.  Tubes ran to and fro from all sorts of IV bottles.  All kinds of electronic instruments were tracking her vitals and such.  She looked very needy and destitute in that hospital bed.  And despite having the best that modern medical care could provide, her prospects—from an earthly perspective—were very dim.  But that was looking at the matter from the wrong perspective.  And that’s where this verse came in.  I said to myself, things are not what they appear.  This beloved sister-in-Christ was not a helpless victim of an ailment that would lead ultimately to her doom, she was a saint, beloved by God, who was on the verge of her greatest victory.  God would bring her safely home and she was soon to be with Jesus in glory.  In a place where there would be no more sin or death or sorrow or pain.

Every believer is a “more than conqueror” in Jesus.  They are that every day, from earth to glory.  They are that “through him who loved us” (Romans 8:37).  Praise the Lord!

A Certain Hope in Uncertain Days: 30 Days of Hope-filled Focus

Day 9: Keep Looking Up

Colossians 3:2, “Set your minds on things that are above, not on the things that are on earth.”

The term translated “set your minds” means “to direct one’s mind to a thing, to seek, to strive for.”  The KJV has it, “Set your affection on the things above.”  The term is in the present tense calling for the ongoing maintenance of this perspective.

The same term is used in Philippians 3:19 in reference to the contrary perspective of the “enemies of the cross of Christ” who have their “minds set on earthly things.”  The believer, on the other hand, is a citizen of heaven and from there awaits “a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ: (Philippians 3:20).

God commands us to keep our minds set on the things above.  And we see here that there is a choice.  We can either set our hearts and minds on things above or things that are on the earth.  Those are the two options availed to us.  We should also note that the unbeliever doesn’t have those two choices.  Lacking salvation he has neither the ability nor inclination to set his mind heavenward.  But, by the Spirit, we as believers, do.

In his classic allegory “Pilgrim’s Progress,” John Bunyan wrote of Christian’s visit to a room in which he saw two children.  One, named Patience, was calm and contented; the other, Passion, was ruled by restlessness and impatience.  A bag was brought in and its contents—a hoard of glittering treasures—was emptied near Passion, who seized upon the bright jewels in frenzied pleasure, laughing at empty-handed Patience.  But soon the scene changed, revealing a much-altered Passion.  He had squandered all his treasures, and now he stood clothed in nothing but rags and sunk into gloom.  Patience, however, still maintained an attitude of calm hope.  Interpreter explained to Christian, ‘Passion is like the person who wants to have his fill in pleasure while he lives on earth.  Patience is like the traveler to Zion, who turns his back on worldly pleasures and waits with patience for the unfading joys of heaven’.”  Passion was like Demas, who, being “in love with this present world,” made the tragic decision to desert the Apostle Paul (Cf. 2 Timothy 4:10).

We are not simply given the command—God doesn’t just say “look there.”  He gives us the reason why.  We are to “set our minds on things that are above” because that’s where Christ is and that’s where we are destined to be (Cf. Colossians 3:3-4).  He who loved us and died for us is even now in heaven.  Our hearts lie there with Him.  We yearn to be united with Him in unfettered intimacy.  Paul had his affection set on things above.  He wrote of his desire to be with Christ inasmuch as he viewed that to be “far better” (Philippians 1:23; Cf. 2 Corinthians 5:4).

If we happen upon something that is gruesome or detestable or difficult to look at—we tend to look away.  If, on the other hand, we see something that is beautiful or attractive—it captures and captivates our attention.  Now the world is not beautiful in a spiritual sense (in its sin it is downright ugly).  But if we look to Jesus, what do we see?  We see our glorious Savior and Lord who is altogether perfect and appealing in every way.  We are, in a sense, like a hot-air balloon.  It tends upward and only remains earthbound as long as it is tethered.  Every believer is indwelt by the Spirit.  The Spirit’s work is to glorify the Son by revealing Him to us and in us.  By the Spirit we “tend upward.”  Our earthly bodies alone tie us down.  It is in the Spirit-led contemplation of Christ that our hearts are drawn to that which lies heavenward (Cf. 2 Corinthians 4:18, 5:6-7).  By the Spirit we “groan” in anticipation of the glory of heaven (Cf. Romans 8:23; 2 Corinthians 5:4).

J. C. Ryle once wrote, “Keep on looking unto Jesus. Faith shall soon be changed to sight, and hope to certainty. Looking to Jesus on earth by faith, you shall end with seeing Jesus eye to eye in heaven.  Those eyes of yours shall look on the head that was crowned with thorns, the hands and feet that were pierced with nails, and the side that was pierced with a spear.  You shall find that seeing is the blessed consequence of believing, and that looking at Jesus by faith, ends with seeing Jesus in glory, and living with Jesus for evermore.  When you awake up after His likeness, you shall be satisfied.”

A Certain Hope in Uncertain Days: 30 Days of Hope-filled Focus

Day 8: Encouragement and Hope

Acts 11:23-24, “When he came and saw the grace of God, he was glad, and he exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose, for he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith.”

ENCOURAGEMENT, noun  “The act of giving courage, or confidence of success” (Webster’s Dictionary 1828 Edition).

Barnabas was an encourager.  A Jew from Cyprus, his given name was Joseph (Acts 4:36).  But the apostles renamed him, “Barnabas” (i.e. “son of encouragement), which served him as an apt description of him and his ministry to others.

He is first mentioned in the Bible in Acts chapter 4.  Many Jews were dis-located in Jerusalem.  They had traveled there for Pentecost from faraway places.  They remained there after their conversion to Christ and needed help with food and shelter.  The earthly church responded: “There was not a needy person among them for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold and laid it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need” (Acts 4:35).  Likewise, Barnabas “sold a field that belonged to him and brought the money” (Acts 4:37).  Imagine how those early believers must have been encouraged through the loving sacrifice of people like Barnabas.  Barnabas would later serve in a “relief effort” to meet the needs of those suffering through “a great famine” (Acts 11:27-30).

Some of those scattered as a result of the great persecution (Cf. Acts 8:1) preached the gospel in Antioch.  “A great number who believed turned to the Lord” (Acts 11:21).  The church in Jerusalem sent Barnabas there (Cf. Acts 11:22).  And in Antioch Barnabas worked to encourage the new believers “to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose” (Acts 11:23).  He needed help in his ministry, so he “went to Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch” (Acts 11:25-26).  Together they spent “a whole year” teaching “a great many people” (Acts 11:26).  Together Barnabas and Paul encouraged those believers in the Word of God (Cf. Romans 15:4).

The Christian life is oftentimes compared in Scripture to a race (Cf. 1 Corinthians 9:24-27; Hebrews 12:1-2; Philippians 3:14).  There is a need to run the race with endurance.  The runner is confronted with many distractions, diversions, and discouragements (Cf. Hebrews 12:1-2).  Imagine the scene.  Christians running side-by-side all headed to the same goal.  But some fall behind and others collapse.  Some are weighed down and others entangled.  Too often fellow runners pay no heed to their struggling companions.  They carelessly run past them, step over them, or even kick them when they are down.  But that’s no way for a Christian to behave.  God would have us instead to lovingly assist and encourage each other along the way.

God would have us all to be like Barnabas.  We all have need of encouragement and God is well-aware of that.  The Holy Spirit is the ultimate encourager.  He is called the “Helper” (Greek “parakletos,” “one called alongside to help”; Cf. John 14:16).  Barnabas’ name, “son of encouragement,” is akin to that given to the Holy Spirit (Cf. Vine’s Expository Dictionary: “it (i.e. paraklesis is akin to parakletos”).  Being filled with the Spirit, Barnabas functioned in his ministry as the “Holy Spirit with hands.”  By the Spirit Barnabas encouraged others such that they were better off in their walk with Christ as a result of his involvement in their lives.

God exhorts His people to encourage one another.  By the Spirit they do (Cf. Galatians 5:22-23; 1 Corinthians 13:4-7).  There is a good chance you have someone in your life who is even now desperate for some loving word or deed by which they might be encouraged in their walk with Christ.  There is plenty of encouragement to be had in Him (Cf. 1 Thessalonians 5:18; Hebrews 10:25; 12:1-3).  We all, like Barnabas, are called to point a Spirit-led finger in His direction.   Pray and look for an opportunity to encourage someone today!

 

A Certain Hope in Uncertain Days: 30 Days of Hope-filled Focus

Day 7: I’ll Fly Away

1 Thessalonians 4:17, “Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.  Therefore encourage one another with these words.”

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 has to do with what is commonly referred to as the “rapture.”  The term “rapture” itself does not appear in the text but is from the Latin Vulgate translation of the Greek harpazo (translated “caught up” in verse 17).  Harpazo means to “catch or snatch away” (Vine’s Expository Dictionary).  The verb is in the future tense and passive voice.  At some point in the future the Lord will come and snatch away from earth all those who belong to Him.  This “rapture” is imminent (i.e. it could happen at any time inasmuch as there is no other event in God’s prophetic timetable that must precede it).

The context of the passage indicates that the believers in Thessalonica had not been informed of this important truth (Cf. 1 Thessalonians 4:13), Paul not previously having had the opportunity to instruct them about it (Cf. 1 Thessalonians 3:10).  Some of their fellow believers had died and those still alive wondered about the status of their loved ones with respect to the Lord’s coming.  Paul’s instruction regarding these matters was to alleviate their concerns.

The passage represents the ultimate basis for the hope of the believer in Christ.  The “blessed hope” is the hope (“confident expectation”) of Christ’s return (Cf. Titus 2:13).  It is that to which we are to “set our hope fully” (Cf. 1 Peter 1:13).  Two separate groups of believers are referred to in the passage, the rapture applies to both.  As the hymn puts it, “I know not when my Lord may come, At night or noonday fair, Nor if I’ll walk the vale with Him, Or ‘meet Him in the air’” (“I Know Whom I Have Believed”).  There are those “church-age” believers who will have died previous to the time of Christ’s return.  They are those who have walked “the vale with Him” (i.e. “those who are asleep;” 1 Thessalonians 4:13).  And there are those who will “meet Him in the air” (i.e. “who are alive” at the time of His return; Cf. 1 Thessalonians 4:17).  A great heavenly reunion of both groups will take place on that day—“so we will always be with the Lord” (1 Thessalonians 4:17).

It is because of this truth that we as believers do “not grieve as others do who have no hope” (1 Thessalonians 4:13).  That does not mean that we do not grieve.  Jesus Himself wept at the tomb of Lazarus.  Paul was spared from “sorrow upon sorrow” when God showed mercy towards Epaphroditus who was “ill, near to death” (Philippians 1:27).  But there is a difference between the grief of those who possess no hope and the grief of those who do.  In one way or the other the Lord will bring those who belong to Him “safely into his heavenly kingdom” (Cf. 2 Timothy 4:18).  “We are more than conquerors through him who loved us” and “neither death nor life” …” nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the Love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:37-39).

There is a genuine and abiding reason for hope bound up in the glorious truth represented to us in this passage.  There are troubles and trials in this life, but they quickly fade from view as the assembly of believers takes flight.  As the hymn “I’ll Fly Away” puts it, “Just a few more weary days and then, I’ll fly away, to a land where joys shall never end.”  No longer will they experience death or mourning or crying or pain or tears (Cf. Revelation 21:4).  Face to face with Christ, He will then be “marveled at among all who believed” (2 Thessalonians 1:10; Cf. 1 John 3:2).

“Therefore encourage one another with these words” (1 Thessalonians 4:18).  John Walvoord commented on the comfort we find (and can share) in the expectation of Christ’s coming: “Oh the prospect, the joy of looking forward to the coming of the Lord, and of resting in these precious truths!  There are so many ills of life that nothing can heal except the Lord’s return.  How many loved ones are on the other side and how many problems of this life, incurable diseases, pain, sorrow, difficulties will be made all right. As we face the duties and the challenges and the trials of life, God has given us this blessed hope, this hope of the Lord’s return.  May we take it to our bosoms, may we live in its reality, and may our hearts be refreshed by this precious truth. This hope can be the certain prospect of anyone who will trust in Jesus Christ the Son of God, who loved us and died for us, who shed His blood that we might be saved, and who rose in victory that we might have hope.”

 

 

A Certain Hope in Uncertain Days: 30 Days of Hope-filled Focus

Day 5: Hope for the Hopeless

Romans 10:9, “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thine heart that God has raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.”

Jacob DeShazer was born in Salem, Oregon to devout Christian parents of modest means.  He grew up in Madras.  Following graduation from high school he spent several years in various farming type of jobs.  In 1940, as a part of a “peace-time conscription” he joined the Army and for a two-year period received training as an airplane mechanic and bombardier.

After Pearl Harbor plans were undertaken to retaliate by bombing Japan.  General James Doolittle was put in charge of an incredible scheme.  Refitted B25 bombers were to fly off an Aircraft Carrier and make their way over Tokyo.  Jacob DeShazer was on board one of those planes.

After the successful bombing, he and his crewmates parachuted out of the plane over China. He found his way to a village, where he was confronted by soldiers. He didn’t know at first whether they were Chinese or Japanese. It turned out that they were Japanese. He was captured and then repeatedly beaten and tortured. The Japanese intended to put all of the “Raiders” to death, but the emperor granted a reprieve, and only three of the “Raiders” were executed.

DeShazer spent a total of 40 months in various Japanese prison camps. The conditions were deplorable. The men were underfed, over disciplined, and subject to extreme temperatures, solitary confinement, and various diseases. Not all of them survived that ordeal.

At one point in his captivity he was given a Bible—but for only three weeks.  So, there he was, in his little prison cell, in Nanking, China, with nothing but a Bible to read.  The light was dim.  The print was small.  But he devoured the Scriptures.  He read the entire Bible several times.  He read the Prophets six times.  He spent many hours memorizing Scriptures.  Hour after hour he read, and the Holy Spirit opened his heart.

The date was June 8^th, 1944.  He had been reading Romans 10:9, “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thine heart that God has raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.”  He responded in faith to the truth.  He later wrote, “My heart was filled with joy.  I wouldn’t have traded places with anyone at that time.  Oh, what a great joy it was to know that I was saved, that God had forgiven me of my sins.”

God saved Jacob and God changed him too.  He had read Jesus’ command to love and the description of love given in 1 Corinthians chapter 13.  He knew that he needed to obey Christ’s command, but how?  He began to treat the prison guards with kindness.  He would say “Good morning” to them.  He would ask about their families.  Jacob learned how to love his enemies.

His captivity continued for some time after that, until the men began to see American planes flying overhead. They sensed that the end of the war was coming soon. DeShazer was Spirit-led to pray for peace on the day of Japan’s surrender. He was also determined, as he was being led by the Spirit, to return to Japan as a missionary once the war ended.

Ultimately the war ended, and the captives were brought home. His loving regard for his former captives made the news. As one who harbored no bitterness, the account of his captivity was indeed newsworthy. He was triumphantly greeted by his mother and his sister at home. Many colleges were excited about the possibility of having him study for missions with them, but his sister worked at Seattle Pacific College and that is where he ultimately ended up.

He finished his education at Seattle Pacific in three years, instead of four, despite the fact that he was constantly traveling about for speaking engagements. Many wanted to hear of his story and were blessed by his example and his determination to take the gospel to Japan. After a year at Seattle Pacific he married his wife. Later they had a son. And upon their graduation they left for Japan where they served in missions for many years.

From the biography of his life: “More than a million tracts concerning the Doolittle raider who turned missionary were distributed throughout Japan. The tract in Japanese contained a blank to be signed by those who would accept Jesus Christ as their Savior. Many thousands of these tracts were signed and returned. In view of this, the name DeShazer, was known to many of the Japanese people. So, it was that on December 28, 1948, when DeShazer and his little family arrived at the Yokohama docks crowds were waiting to see them. Many were anxious to know the cause of the change of attitude of a man who had been held for so many months by the Japanese in a solitary cell. They could not understand how one’s heart once filled with animosity could now be overflowing with love for his persecutors.”  (De Shazer: The Doolittle raider who turned missionary; The Light and Life Press (1950), Charles Hoyt Watson)

During the course of his ministry he received many testimonies.  One of the most amazing was that of Mitsuo Fuchida.  He was the commander of the 360 planes that had bombed Pearl Harbor.  God used the tract which spoke of DeShazer’s testimony to speak to Mitsuo.  Within a month of his conversion, Mitsuo Fuchida was privileged to stand side by side on a platform in a large evangelistic meeting in Osaka, where both men gave their testimonies.  4000 people were crowded into the auditorium; 3000 stood outside; 500 professed faith in Christ that day.  Mitsuo himself became a missionary and traveled as far as Europe in sharing the gospel.

I love Jacob DeShazer’s story—it speaks to truths we hold dear.  The Bible is no ordinary book—it is the inspired Word of God.  The Bible is no impotent or docile book—it possesses the power to save and transform lives—even to turn an embittered prisoner of war into a missionary to the people who had held him captive.

 

A Certain Hope in Uncertain Days: 30 Days of Hope-filled Focus

Day 5: The God of Hope

Romans 15:13, “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.”

In the novel, “Cat’s Cradle” by Kurt Vonnegut Jr., an important book comes to light.  It is entitled, “What Can a Thoughtful Man Hope for Mankind on Earth, Given the Experience of the Past Million Years?”  The chief character in his book is anxious to read it, but when he does, he finds that it doesn’t take long.  The whole book consists of one word, “Nothing.”  Even if man had existed for a million years—which he hasn’t—apart from God’s intervention there would be no legitimate reason or basis for hope (Cf. Ephesians 2:12).

But God would have HIs people to be filled with hope.  Because of Him they have good reason to be even amidst troubling times.  Romans 15:14 constitutes a prayer by the Apostle Paul for the readers of his epistle.  It is a prayer that we might “abound in hope.” Hope, as the term is used in Scripture, refers to a confident expectation in an unseen, future, reality.

Confident expectation regarding the believer’s favorable future is availed to him by the God of hope.  God is both the source and giver of hope.  God Himself—who declares “the end from the beginning” (Isaiah 46:10)—has no need of hope.  He who “works all things according to the counsel of his will” (Ephesians 1:11), knows already what will come to pass.  Hope is a creature need.  Unlike God, we live and exist in the realm of uncertainty.  We lack the ability on our own to foresee or dictate the future.  Confidence regarding a favorable future must be ministered to us from One who has the power and ability to achieve that which is hoped for.  The God of hope is favorably disposed towards His children and is absolutely trustworthy in all that He has promised (Cf. Romans 15:4).  He is our reason for hope (Cf. Lamentations 3:21-24).

God is able to fill His children with hope.  The Holy Spirit indwells every child of God.  Jesus called Him the Helper (parakletos, lit. “called to one’s side”).  Preeminent amongst His many tasks, is His ministry as Helper, is His work in directing our hearts “Christ-ward” (Cf. John 16:13-14).  It is in Jesus Christ that we find “strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow.”  It is He who has caused us to be “born again to a living hope” through HIs resurrection (Cf. 1 Peter 1:3).  It is He who constitutes, in His imminent return, the “blessed hope” of the believer (Cf. Titus 2:13).  As the Spirit of God works to apply the Word of God to our hearts (Cf. Romans 15:4), He ministers confident expectation regarding all that which God has prepared for us.

God’s desires that we “abound in hope.”  The word “abound” translates a Greek term meaning “to be abundantly furnished, to abound in a thing” (Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary of OT and NT Words).  It is elsewhere used of the fragments left over after the feeding of the multitude (Cf. John 6:12-13).  In this context the term speaks of an overabundance of confident expectation.  It is in the present tense and therefore pictures God’s saints as continually abounding in Spirit-imparted hope.

J B Phillips paraphrases this prayer of Paul this way, “May the God of Hope fill you with joy and peace in your faith, that by the power of the Holy Spirit, your whole life and outlook may be radiant and alive.”  Is your outlook “radiant and alive?  By the Spirit it can be.  These are troubling times.  “Out in the highways and by-ways of life, many are weary and sad.”  God would have us to “carry the sunshine where darkness is rife.”  He desires for us to be filled with this kind of hope to such an extent that others would see it in us and wonder why we have it (Cf. 1 Peter 3:15).  Because of our relationship with the God of hope we have good reason to abound in hope.

 

A Certain Hope in Uncertain Days: 30 Days of Hope-filled Focus

Day 4: We Had Hoped

How gloomy is the expression “We had hoped” (Luke 24:21)!  Who hasn’t shared in an experience like that of those disciples who had uttered those words?  They had hoped for something, a noble thing, but suffered bitter disappointment in the death of their dream.  “We had hoped” disappointments are common to man.  Sin and death and their associated trials work to diminish and destroy all ill-founded human hopes, but in Jesus there is good reason for a living and lasting hope.

The disciples on the road to Emmaus were talking with each other about the things that had recently transpired in the city of Jerusalem.  “Jesus himself drew near and went with them.  But their eyes were kept from recognizing him” (Luke 24:16-17).  In their conversation with their unrecognized friend the two disciples spoke of how Jesus, “a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people,” was delivered up by the “chief priests and rulers…to be condemned to death and crucified” (Luke 24:20).  “But we had hoped,” they said, “that he was the one to redeem Israel” (Luke 24:21).

The disciples had hoped for a thing, but God was doing something far greater than that which they had hoped for.  Their hope was invested in the redemption of Israel.  They had thought that Jesus was working to accomplish that goal.  They believed Him to be the promised Messiah.  They hoped that He had come to deliver His oppressed people from the Romans and to reign as King.  They had invested their lives in their ministry with Him.  But His death worked to vanquish their hope.  They could not then envision the greater work that God had purposed to accomplish.  Jesus will one day redeem Israel (as they had hoped), but He came “to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45).  Through His redemptive work “a living hope” has been availed to all, Jew and Gentile alike.

The disciples were lacking hope because they were unaware of Jesus’ presence.  “Their eyes were kept from recognizing him” (Luke 24:16).  Sin is the ultimate cause for diminished hope.  The evils that beset us in this life can be traced back to that fateful day when Adam and Eve fell in the garden.  Adam’s kin are all born to a hopeless existence (Cf. Ephesians 2:12).  The “shadow of death” works to vanquish even the most vibrant of earthbound hopes.  But the two disciples actually had good reason to hope because they were walking with the One who had conquered both sin and death.  In Adam all sinned (Romans 5:12), but the One who came to pay for sin, declaring “It is finished,” was present with them (John 19:30).  In Adam all die (1 Corinthians 15:21), but the “living One,” who rose from the dead, was in their midst (Revelation 1:18).  Sin and death, the great obstacles to reason for hope, had been vanquished by the One with whom they conversed!  It is possible for us to walk unaware of Jesus’ presence.  But He doesn’t just walk with the believer in Christ, He dwells within (Galatians 2:20; Colossians 3:3-4).  By His presence He ministers hope (Cf. Romans 15:13).

The disciples were lacking hope because they were ignorant as to the promises of Scripture.  The two disciples had heard of the mysterious events that occurred following Jesus’ death.  “Women of (their) company amazed” them (Luke 24:22), having discovered His tomb to be empty.  They “had even seen a vision of angels, who said that he was alive” (Luke 24:23).  Some went “to the tomb and found it just as the woman had said” (Luke 24:24).  They had heard of these events but failed to put things together.  Then Jesus said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken!  Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?  And beginning with Moses and the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself” (Luke 24:25).  The Scriptures, inasmuch as they collectively speak of the Savior and God’s associated promises, are a sure and overflowing reservoir of hope and encouragement to hope-thirsty souls (Romans 15:4).

The disciples were lacking hope until their eyes were opened.  Jesus shared a meal with them.  “When he was at the table with them, he took the bread and blessed it and broke it and gave it to them.  And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him” (Luke 24:30-31).  Their eyes were opened to the truth of His resurrection and in Him well-founded hope was secured.  None of us have seen Jesus (1 Peter 1:8-9), but in Christ the believer has good reason for hope even amidst his trials (1 Peter 1:6), for he has been “born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Peter 1:3).  In this world there is tribulation, but be of good cheer, believer, you serve a Risen, Reigning, and Returning Savior.  The words, “we had hoped,” will never again be uttered by His own after they one day enter into His presence (Cf. 2 Thessalonians 1:10; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18)!

 

A Certain Hope in Uncertain Days: 30 Days of Hope-filled Focus

Day 3: A Living Hope

It was the most tragic and disappointing day in Peter’s life.  As a disciple of Jesus, he had thought all along that Jesus had come to establish His Kingdom.  But Jesus kept speaking to the disciples of a pending cross.  And then Jesus told them how He would soon die and how all of them would scatter.  Peter boldly asserted that he would never do that and was prepared even to die with Jesus.

But we know the rest of that story.  Jesus was arrested and taken away.  Peter was in a nearby courtyard.  Three times he was asked regarding his relationship with Jesus.  Three times Peter denied Jesus.  He denied even knowing Jesus.  He denied Jesus before a slave girl.  After his denials, Jesus turned and looked at Peter.  Peter “went out and wept bitterly” (Luke 22:62).

Can you imagine what must have been going through Peter’s mind?  He had hoped for something.  He had devoted himself to a dream and a cause, only to have his hopes suddenly swept away.  I’ll bet you can relate to Peter.  Who amongst us hasn’t hoped for something only to suffer disappointment when it didn’t come to pass?  It is a part of our human experience.  And in that we go through kind of a refining process.  For there are, in this life, hopes that are mere hopes and there are other hopes that are firmly assured to us in the promises of God.

Some 30 years later, Peter wrote his first epistle to a group of believers who were suffering in the cause of Christ.  They had trusted in Christ only to find that there was a high price to pay for being identified with Him.  They were mistreated.  Ostracized by family members and friends.  Some lost their jobs or their homes.  Some were beaten or abused.  Some even lost their lives.  But Peter wrote to remind them that, despite their trials, they had good reason to hope.  In fact, they had been born again to a living hope.  A hope that transcended their present-day troubles and trials.

Take note of these two words in 1 Peter 1:3. The term “living” is the common term for life that it used of life in all its various manifestations, physical and spiritual.  Here is defines the nature of the hope spoken of.  We should not that 1 Peter 1:3 is a verse that “bursts forth” with life—there is the being “born again,” which is about life; there is the “living” hope; there is the “resurrection” of Jesus Christ from the dead,” which is also about life.  Richard Baxter spoke of being a preacher as being like a “dying man, speaking to dying men.”  This verse is a message fitting to that enterprise.  It is like a sunny and warm day amidst a cold and dark winter.

And then there is the term hope.  It is not akin to our typical usage of the term.  In our common vernacular the term includes an element of doubt.  “I hope it doesn’t rain tomorrow,” bears no certainty as to that which is hoped for.  But Biblical hope is not like that—“It is a confident expectation regarding an unseen, future, reality.”  There is no doubt associated with that which is hope for.  The 1828 Edition of the Webster’s Dictionary includes this amongst the various meanings of the term hope: “Confidence in a future event; the highest degree of well-founded expectation of good; as a hope founded on God’s gracious promises.”  That’s a great representation of the definition of the Greek term.  By the way—interestingly—you won’t find that definition in the modern versions of the Webster’s dictionary.

This living hope exists because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.  There would be no living hope if there were no risen Christ. To know Him is to possess both eternal life and this living hope (Cf. 1 John 5:11-12).   That being said, not all possess such a hope.  A person must be born to it through faith in Jesus. I’ve got a book entitled “Last Words of Saints and Sinners.”  It recounts the hope-filled last words of saints who were near death and the hopeless and bitter last words of sinners who were on the verge of a Christ-less eternity.  Not only is a living hope of value for life here and now, the possession of a hope makes all the difference for those who are facing the prospect of death.  When every other hope and dream has run its course.  When all hope for any earthly advantage is exhausted, this living hope is not diminished or threatened in the slightest.  In darker days its shines even brighter.  Do you possess such a hope?  Do you know Jesus?

A Certain Hope in Uncertain Days: 30 Days of Hope-filled Focus

Day 2: Hope Lost and Found

The prophet Jeremiah is commonly referred to as the “weeping prophet.”  In Jeremiah 9:1 we read of his plea that his eyes would be “a fountain of tears” that he might “weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!” In his God-given ministry he called the people to repentance, warning them repeatedly of pending judgment.  He was faithful to his task, though he ongoingly suffered harsh criticism and physical threats and harm.  His unheeded warnings ultimately came to pass, and he witnessed that which he had foretold in the destruction of Jerusalem.

God sent the Babylonians.  They brought utter destruction to the city.  They burned the temple and the King’s house and all the houses of Jerusalem.  They broke down the city walls.  They raped, pillaged, and killed Jeremiah’s people.  Those not killed were taken off into captivity.  Jeremiah saw it all.  Women and children dead in the streets; the law, the temple, the priesthood—all torn away.  And he wept.  And he was discouraged.  He said, “My strength has perished, and so has my hope from the Lord…my soul…is bowed down within me” (Lamentations 3:18-20). Jeremiah loved the city and the people.  Its hard to imagine how hard it must have been for him to witness such utter destruction.  His own eyes told him that he should abandon all hope.  He was defeated, discouraged, and depressed in the lostness of it all.

Did you know that Jeremiah owned a piece of property in that wasteland?  Before the destruction of Jerusalem, God had instructed Jeremiah to purchase it.  He bought it at the very time that “the king of Babylon was besieging Jerusalem” (Jeremiah 32:2).  Not only was the city under siege, God had reaffirmed to Jeremiah His plan to give the city into the hand of the King of Babylon (Jeremiah 32:4).  Jeremiah’s cousin came to Jeremiah with the proposal to buy the field.  Jeremiah knew the matter to be “the word of the Lord” (Jeremiah 32:8).  So, Jeremiah purchased the field.  And the matter begs the question, “why purchase a piece of property in a land that is soon to be overthrown?”  God Himself provided the answer.  He instructed Jeremiah to secure the deeds in an earthenware vessel, that would last for a very long time.  He then explained the reason why, “Houses and fields and vineyards shall again be bought in this land” (Jeremiah 32:15).  Jeremiah responded to God’s promise by praying, “Ah, Lord God!  It is you who has made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm!  Nothing is too hard for you.  You show steadfast love to thousands…” (Jeremiah 32:17-18).  In responding to Jeremiah’s prayer God spoke of a future day when God would gather up His scattered people and make them to dwell in safety.  He said, “And they shall be my people, and I will be their God” (Jeremiah 32:38).

Jeremiah witnessed the destruction of Jerusalem and wept and saw no reason for hope.  But then we read of a most dramatic shift in his outlook, “But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is Thy faithfulness.  ‘The Lord is my portion,’ says my soul, ‘therefore I will hope in him’ (Lamentations 3:21-24).  Through eyes of faith, Jeremiah shifted his vision to God Himself.  He called to mind certain truths regarding God’s nature and promises.  His grievous circumstances were not changed, but his mind and heart were encouraged in the truth of who God is.  Perhaps he reminded himself of the field he had bought which spoke of a future day when God’s purpose for His people would be fulfilled.  Somewhere in that wasteland lay a title deed which spoke to God’s promise.

Likewise, God has graced the believer with a future inheritance.  Having believed the gospel, he’s been “sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of His glory” (Ephesians 1:13-14). This promised inheritance is “imperishable, undefiled, and unfading” (1 Peter 1:4).  No circumstance can work to take it away, for it is being “kept in heaven” (1 Peter 1:4).  Not only is the inheritance being kept safe, we “by God’s power are being guarded” until we possess it (1 Peter 1:5). To those suffering believers, Peter then wrote, “set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1:13).

Jeremiah was hopelessly discouraged in all he saw, but then he looked—through eyes of faith—to His faithful and compassionate God and in Him he found hope.  No matter how difficult our circumstances, we can always find good reason for hope in reminding ourselves of the greatness of our God and the certainty of His promises.