Afterwords -- hope
"So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek." (Hebrews 6:17-20)
August 17, 2023
Dear friends,
Hope seems to be in short supply today. The dark, chaotic days of wars, injustice, immorality, pollution, idolatry, and widespread perversion seem to have no end. As believers we wonder, when will the omnipresent squeeze of secularism ever stop? Hebrews chapter six gives us -- along with the first readers, Jewish Christians who were being pressured to give up the uniqueness of Jesus Christ -- a strong warning against falling away (6:1-8), but also a strong encouragement to hold firm to our hope in Christ (6:9-20).
HOPE is one of the big three -- "faith, hope, and love" (1 Cor 13). Psalm 130 reminds us that we need hope for our journey in this life: "I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I hope; my soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning, more than watchmen for the morning. O Israel, hope in the LORD! For with the LORD there is steadfast love, and with him is plentiful redemption." (Psalm 130:5-7) The night seems long and the dawn so far away. We are tempted to ask, "will I make it to heaven's bright shores?" or even, "will heaven's bright shores ever make it to earth?"
HOPE doesn't mean wishful thinking, but rather, trust in a future certainty. Its certainty may not be visible or material, but it is real nonetheless. G. K. Chesterton wrote, "Hope means expectancy when things are otherwise hopeless." We are confidently expectant because behind all of creation and history God is at work to fulfill his plan and purpose.
We may not have a literal boarding pass or a tangible title deed (or even a scannable QR code), but we do have a sure and certain hope to which we hold fast...
"Christian hope is not about wishing things will get better. It is not about hoping that emptiness will go away, meaning return, and life will be stripped of its uncertainties, aches, and anxieties. Nor does it have anything to do with techniques for improving fallen human life, be those therapeutic, spiritual, or even religious. Hope has to do with the knowledge of ‘the age to come.’ This redemption is already penetrating ‘this age.’ The sin, death, and meaninglessness of the one age are being transformed by the righteousness, life and meaning of the other. What has emptied out life, what has scarred and blackened it, is being displaced by what is rejuvenating and transforming it. More than that, hope is hope because it knows it has become part of a realm, a kingdom, that endures. It knows that evil is doomed, that it will be banished. This kind of hope has left behind it the ship of ‘this age,’ which is sinking.” (David F. Wells, from The Courage to Be Protestant)
HERE'S THE BASIS OF OUR HOPE, as seen in Hebrews 6 (and into chapter 7), and the reason we have "strong encouragement to hold fast"...
-- The immutability of God's purpose -- "unchangeable character of his purpose."
-- The unchangeable covenant he vowed -- "guaranteed with an oath."
-- The veracity of God himself -- "impossible for God to lie."
-- The ascension of Jesus into the Father's presence -- "gone as a forerunner on our behalf."
-- The eternal mediation of Jesus for us -- "a high priest forever".
JESUS OUR ANCHOR. Our hope rests upon the character and covenant promises of the Father, and upon the life, death, resurrection, ascension, and continuing intercession of the Son of God on our behalf. We "hold firm" to him, knowing he is our anchor. We believe that Jesus is our merciful and faithful high priest. He is King (God's righteous ruler) and he is Prophet (perfectly revealing God). But he is also Priest: he accomplishes and declares our forgiveness; he cares for us, sympathizes with us, and intercedes for us; he deals gently with us. As high priest, he stands with us, and he stands before God as the once-for-all sacrifice for our sins. This is who and what we put our trust in, and therefore, we have hope, a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, even in the troubled waters of our uncertain times.
"Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you believe in him, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." (Rom 15:13)
ARTICLES AND EXCERPTS.
-- 31 Biblical Virtues to pray for your children (or grandchildren)(PDF). Pray also for the many students returning to schools and colleges. May God open eyes and grant awakening among the students of our day.
-- "It is God who makes the lark sing for us." Abraham Kuyper on seeing God in creation.
-- Pray for Pakistani churches under attack.
-- Here is a very reasonably-priced, new hardback copy of The Everlasting Man, by G. K. Chesterton.
FINAL QUOTE.
"The Bible does not pretend to be a human book; it claims to be a divine Book. It claims from beginning to end that God is speaking in it, that in it God is giving us a message. It is not about man trying to discover God; in it God is revealing himself to man." (Martyn Lloyd-Jones)
That's it for this week. Hang on to your Anchor and be hopeful!
Sandy
Image credit: photo of an anchor at Skalhamn harbor in Sweden is courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from The ESV Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version), copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.