A Lively Hope

This article was published in Issue No. 37, January-March 2005.

IT is a fact that a man can hardly live in this world without a hope of some sort. People naturally like to think of happy prospects and then work towards them. They make plans and preparations and expect in due time to be able to fulfil their personal dreams. Thereby they show that they have a hope for the future.

Hope is truly a precious thing. Without it our present existence would be very grim indeed. Living as we do in a world of suffering and sorrow, death and decay, we surely need something to look forward to, something to hold on to. But we must ask ourselves, What should my hope be if it is going to be realised? What should my hope be if I am to be blessed by it in the end and not made ashamed? Indeed, is there such a hope?

Fantasy

Sadly there are many people who cannot say that they have much hope at all. Their days are full of drudgery and despair. Life for them is simply a never-ending cycle of toil and trouble. Their work is menial and a burden to them. Family life is fraught with difficulties and brings no real fulfilment. Time for true relaxation is rarely found. They long for an escape from this treadmill but there is nothing on the horizon. Persuaded that they have no future they perhaps try the escapism of entertainment or seek the false, delusive comfort of drink and drugs.

If such people have any hope then it is really just a wish or a fantasy. They ‘hope’ that their lot will improve in the months to come much as people ‘hope’ for better weather in the year ahead. But what ground is there for such a hope? What promise do we have? Some things are clearly beyond our control and we are quite powerless to bring about many of our wishes. A hope of this sort invariably proves flimsy and very elusive.

Sometimes hope is a stronger form of desire. Many yearn to be successful in their work, in marriage and in society. Their chief aim in life is to be prosperous, healthy and content. They dedicate themselves to this end with all their heart. If you are careful and diligent in your approach to life then you have some ground for such a hope. But you have no guarantee of it. Unemployment may come to you, illness may strike you, a spouse may prove unfaithful to you and your friends may turn against you. A hope like this may also be fickle and fail.

Vanity

Often people appear to be successful outwardly. They have good jobs and their careers are promising. At home their marriage is stable and their children are under control. Opportunities for leisure and pleasure abound. Yet they are not truly happy. Scripture says, “The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing” (Ecc.1:8). Carnal appetites want carnal things. People hope that as they get and gain more and more they will eventually find fulfilment. In reality they are “chasing the wind” and one day they shall reap the whirlwind of divine retribution.

Millions in our land are like the multitude in Noah’s day who were “eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage” (Matt.24:38). What could be wrong with such things? Nothing at all! The fault was in the people themselves. They were living with little or no thought of eternity. They were neglecting the One who had made them and preserved them. They had forgotten the principle which is to govern our lives, “Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God” (1Cor.10:31). The time came when the foundation they were resting upon – the world and the things that are in the world – was literally taken from under their feet and they were swept away into a lost and undone eternity.

Many of their successors today are doubtless hoping that there is actually no God. At least, they are hoping that there is no God like the God of the Bible. They know that the God revealed there is the Creator and Benefactor of all and that to Him we owe our life, breath and everything and that from Him we have our duty. They know that if the Bible is acknowledged as the Word of God then they are to be blamed for their unbelief. So they attempt to hide from the truth.

People try to deny God. The scientist leans upon his learning: he believes he can explain how everything was made by chance! The pleasure-seeker fills his life with his lusts: what need has he of God when there is so much to enjoy here and now? We must live in the real world! And anyway, surely no-one really believes in God nowadays?

We have to say that the hope that there is no God shall never be fulfilled. Creation, conscience and supremely the Word of God provide solid ground upon which this hope will in fact be dashed. Together they declare the great message that God IS! Listen to these words: “O Lord, thou hast searched and known me. Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off. Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways” (Psalm 139:1-3). What madness it is to hope that God does not exist! “The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God” (Psalm 14:1).

Falsity

It is also common today to find people who put their hope in religion. Any religion. The great thing is to believe in something. It has been well said that when men cease to believe in God they do not then believe in nothing; rather they believe in anything. It does not seem to matter how weird and wonderful their beliefs are or what foundation they rest upon. If we only stopped for a brief moment we would quickly see the folly of this way of thinking.

Can a ‘something’ or an ‘anything’ save us? It is reckless in the extreme to be so vague in such a vital concern! It does not matter that people maintain that their beliefs and practices bring them a sense of peace and provide them with hope for the life to come. We know from Scripture and experience that the devil promotes trouble in the true church and in the lives of the saints but peace in the false church and among her devotees. His deceived and deceiving servants love to say “Peace, peace” when there is in fact no peace between the sinner and God (Jer.6:14).

Beware of any hope which is grounded upon your own feelings about yourself! If the teaching from which these feelings spring is in error then your feelings are bound to be a delusion. We should seek first to know the truth about ourselves and God, however searching and humbling that may be to us. Then and only then can a true hope be born in us and flourish.

Certainty

While we all long for a better future – for our world, for our families and especially for ourselves – the truth is that only some of our hopes for this life will be realised. Others are bound to be disappointed. The day of our death will bring about the end of all such hopes. It will also discover the false hope of those who walked in their pride along the religious broadway.

The believer’s hope however is a different sort of hope. It is not merely a wish or a desire or a fallible persuasion but a sure and certain confidence. It is a hope that is not for this world only but one that stretches beyond the grave and into eternity. It is a hope that anchors the soul in all the tempests of this life. It is “a lively hope” (1Pet.1:3).

It is sin that has brought us low and left us having “no hope, and without God in the world” (Eph.2:12). Our rebellion against God has robbed us of peace of soul, a sense of purpose – and true hope. In Scripture the Lord Jesus Christ is revealed as the only hope of perishing sinners (1Tim.1:1). He lay down His righteous life at Calvary to bear away the sins of many. Those who do not know this precious Saviour are condemned for their sin but those who have trusted in Him, repenting of their sins, are saved.

A Christian then is someone who has faced up to reality. Admitting his accountability to God, the guilt of his sin and the hell he deserves, he has believed the good news of the gospel. He has received a full and free pardon through Jesus Christ, who died on the cross for his sins. Reconciled to God by His blood he has “everlasting consolation and good hope through grace” (2Thess.2:16).

Because of his union with his Saviour the sincere believer has the hope of glory in his heart. He has been born again to a living hope which shall never die. How can it when the object of his hope has “life in himself” (John 5:26) which He gives to His own? As Christ the Head rose from the dead and is “alive for evermore” (Rev.1:18) so shall all who make up His mystical body live eternally and abundantly with Him in glory. Do you have this hope?