The Believer’s Hope – The Final Call

Feature 4 – November 2013 – Grace & Truth Magazine

The Believer’s HOPE:
The Final Call

It is common to hear someone respond to the question, “Would you go to heaven if you died today?” with a squeamish, “Well, I hope so.” Only the Lord knows whether or not such an individual is actually saved, but what is evident is that the responder has no assurance of salvation. This is a matter which can only be resolved by studying and trusting what Scripture proclaims about salvation in Christ.

Elpis occurs eighty-six times in the New Testament and is translated “hope” all but once (it is rendered “faith” in Heb. 10:23). Its verb form elpizo is translated “hope” fourteen of its thirty-two occurrences in the New Testament; all the remaining instances are rendered as some form of the word “to trust.” These two words, elpis and elpizo, are the only ones translated “hope” in the portion of the New Testament pertaining to the Church Age (Acts through Revelation). Accordingly, when Christians hope it means they are “anticipating something with confidence.” The believer’s hope is thus a living hope and allows him or her to have present joy in the future promises of God. Thankfully hope, as it relates to the various tenses of our salvation in Christ (past, present and future), is a “know so” expectation, rather than a “hope so” possibility. The believer’s calling in Christ, especially the final call, is completely fostered in assurance.

The Call Of Salvation
Those who hear and respond to the gospel message are born of God; no one can get to heaven without spiritual regeneration (Jn. 1:12-13, 3:3). Those who repent of their sins and trust in Christ alone for salvation have eternal life; they have passed from death to life and will never be condemned (Jn. 5:24).

The Call Of Sanctification
The divine work of sanctification begins in the believer’s life immediately after he or she answers the call of salvation. God begins to fashion the new believer into a holy vessel and each one is exhorted to cooperate in the working out of what He is doing in his or her life (1 Th. 5:23; Heb. 13:21). All believers will ultimately be conformed to the moral image of Christ (Rom. 8:29). There is no human choice in that aspect of sanctification – it is God’s will and power that accomplishes this. Yet there is an ongoing call to every believer not to resist God’s working in their life. God promises to chasten those who choose not to submit to Him that they may be brought to a yielded position and experience sanctification (Heb. 12:6). Consequently sanctification in a practical sense is happening to every believer, but some are more serious about it than others and accordingly will reap a greater blessing of being further refined now. Though believers will not obtain sinless perfection until they experience glorification (1 Cor. 15:51-52), the present desire of every believer should be to be like Christ, who is sinless (1 Pet. 2:22).

The Call Of Service
The opportunity to please God through selfless service is made possible to those surrendering to God’s ongoing call of sanctification. As there is nothing in and of the flesh that can please God (Rom. 7:18), it is only those who continue to mortify the desires of the flesh and put aside their personal ambitions that are able to honor God through service.

The Lord Jesus gave individuals, such as evangelists and teachers, as gifts to the Church for a particular reason: “For the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ” (Eph. 4:12 NKJV). Every believer in the body of Christ has a work of ministry to engage in, the benefit of which will bless the entire body. As believers rightly use their spiritual gifts they equip others in the body to do ministry, which then passes the original blessing along to other believers in order to further edify the body.

The Call Home
The believer walking hand in hand with Christ is invincible and immortal until his or her work on earth is done. At that time, the helmet of salvation, the shield of faith and the breastplate of righteousness will hit the floor with a clang, for the battle days will be over and eternal rest will begin. Certainly many believers who were waiting for the Lord’s return have already been called home to heaven through the doorway of death.

Our fleshly nature wants its own way for as long as it can have it, but death is a barrier which decisively ends its influence in our lives. Accordingly our fallen nature does not want to think about death. In fact, the brevity of life would serve to motivate the flesh to indulge itself with worldly pleasures all the more. Yet, after His victory at Calvary, Christ broke through death and provided us with a way into God’s presence (Heb. 6:18-20). The fact that He has been resurrected ensures that all those in Him will be resurrected also in a future day. If believers die before their glorification at Christ’s coming then they can be confident that their souls will immediately be in His presence in heaven (2 Cor. 5:8).

Christ is presently with us on earth. In the future we shall be with Him in heaven. His eternally abiding presence with us is certain though our intimacy with Him now depends on our desire for it. With his own execution looming in front of him Paul conveyed his assurance of these truths to his spiritual son Timothy: “For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing” (2 Tim. 4:6-8). We would do well to live each and every day with the anticipation of Christ’s coming. There is a reward for those who do; and our lives will be more joyful and fruitful in light of the imminent expectation.

The Final Call
When the Lord saves a repentant sinner He completely redeems that person’s spirit, soul and body (1 Cor. 6:20; 1 Th. 5:23). The soul and the spirit are immediately delivered from the penalty of sin when one confesses his or her sinfulness before God and accepts Christ’s free gift of salvation (Rom. 10:9). After this God continues to cleanse defilement from the believer’s life. This progressive work is called “sanctification” and in the practical sense saves the soul from the power of sin. The body, however, is not saved from the presence of sin until it experiences a complete overhaul called “glorification.” This aspect of salvation is what Paul referred to when he wrote, “For now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed” (Rom. 13:11).

All living believers will experience this transformation simultaneously at the coming of the Lord Jesus for His Church. Regarding this event Paul wrote to the believers at Thessalonica shortly after their conversion, “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord” (1 Th. 4:16-17).

In a twinkling of an eye what was corruptible will be incorruptible and what was mortal will be immortal (1 Cor. 15:51-52). The believer’s body will be instantly transformed: sin and pain will cease to exist within. The believer’s glorified body will be enabled to worship and please God without any hindrance of the flesh or any ills of its previously fallen state.

Paul had one hope (Eph. 4:4) and earnest expectation: “Looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ” (Ti. 2:13). While this may include aspects of Christ’s future earthly kingdom as well, it is noted that the believer’s faith and hope finish their course at the rapture of the Church, but love continues forever (1 Cor. 13:8,13). Paul lived each and every day in the anticipation of being imminently brought into the presence of Christ: “According to my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. But if I live on in the flesh, this will mean fruit from my labor; yet what I shall choose I cannot tell. For I am hard-pressed between the two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better” (Phil. 1:20-23).

Although Paul longed to be with the Lord, as long as the Lord had work for him to do on earth he would be faithful to perform it. He understood that his ministry was needful for the saints so he pressed onward until the Lord would call him home either through death or through glorification at Christ’s coming for the Church.

Get A Hope!
The blessed hope of every Christian is the imminent appearance in the air of the Lord Jesus Christ, at which time He will gather up the true Church from the earth to be with Him forever. This is the curtain call, the final call of all Christians. Glorification, the salvation of the body from the presence of sin, occurs at this moment for them. Each believer will receive an incorruptible, immortal, Christ-like body that cannot sin. In an instant of time the fleshly nature, which was passed down from generation to generation, will be completely eradicated in them once and for all. The indwelling sin that caused the believer so many difficulties on earth will be gone forever. This is Christ’s total and final solution to sin. Until that time John exhorts believers to serve with this living hope: “Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure” (1 Jn. 3:2-3).

In heaven, believers will not struggle with fatigue, temptation, pride, envying or inappropriate thoughts. Our unhindered attention and praise will be forever rendered to the One who delivered us from the penalty, power and presence of sin. Don’t let your doubts pose a despairing “hope so” attitude. Eyes of faith, emboldened by Scripture, peer beyond this temporary realm of corruption to anticipate eternal bliss with Christ!

By Warren Henderson