The Hope And Its Effects

Feature 2 – November 2013 – Grace & Truth Magazine

The HOPE
And Its Effects

Hope was preeminent during Old Testament times. Faith was there as Hebrews 11 so strikingly shows, and love also. That which had been revealed as an object for faith was small and partial. Every saint had his eyes directed into the future. While emphasizing faith, Hebrews 11 makes this element of hope very plain as seen in verses 10, 13, 14, 16, 20, 22, 26, 35 and 40.

The appearing of the Savior in humiliation that He might accomplish redemption has fulfilled many Old Testament hopes and predictions. In Him the great Object that fills faith’s vision has been discovered. By that epoch-making event a whole range of things that were matters of promise have become accomplished fact and are therefore removed from the category of hope and are now placed upon that of faith.

Though this is so, hope remains a very powerful force with the Christian and many promises remain to be fulfilled. No longer preeminent, hope still abides with faith and love (1 Cor. 13:13). We are “saved in hope” (Rom. 8:24 JND); and our hopes are sufficiently pronounced for Christianity itself to be designated not only “the faith” but “a hope.” “There is a setting aside of the commandment going before for its weakness and unprofitableness (for the law perfected nothing), and the introduction of a better hope by which we draw nigh to God” (Heb. 7:19).

The law introduced hopes of a sort but they were connected with a system that necessarily prohibited access to God. Christianity has introduced the one great hope which hangs upon the great High Priest after the order of Melchizedek, who is to come forth from the presence of God soon. But meanwhile He is in the presence of God, there on our behalf, crowned with glory and honor. He gives us boldness to draw near and maintains us in our access to God.

Christian Hope
The Christian hope is not something only for the mature. It lies at the very beginning of things. The Colossian believers heard of it “in the word of the truth of the gospel” (Col. 1:5 KJV) and the Thessalonians were still an infant assembly when Paul wrote in his first epistle to them speaking in every chapter of the coming of the Lord. They needed further instruction concerning details but the fact of His coming again was known from the hour of their conversion. It could be said of them: “Ye turned to God from idols ... to wait for His Son from heaven” (1 Th. 1:9-10).

An Exhortation
A century ago the coming of the Lord, the proper hope of the Christian, was very largely ignored or was relegated to a future so hazy and far distant that it excited little or no influence as a hope. Now it occupies a prominent place in the minds of most evangelical Christians and has been preached for many decades with increasing conviction and clearness. Some of our readers may be able to look back to a moment after their conversion when the truth of the imminent, pre-millennial coming of the Lord shone into their hearts as a hope and began to influence their lives mightily.

There is a danger that we may hold the coming of the Lord as an item in our theology without its being a powerful hope to influence our lives, missing the thrilling power that a genuine hope conveys. We earnestly ask for close attention to this point and for an honest spirit of self-examination and self-judgment. We challenge every Christian young man or woman as to whether they are “like unto men that wait for their Lord” (Lk. 12:36) and are consequently shaping their course through the world’s present gloom in view of the day when Christ appears. Or, while avoiding its gross sins and excesses, are we conforming to the world’s ways and spirit, seeking our own things rather than the things of our Master, the Lord Jesus Christ?

Effects Of Hope
The effect of hope upon the Thessalonian believers and the marks it left upon them and their lives may serve as very useful tests to us if we wish to examine ourselves. The gospel came to these believers of primitive days “not ... in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance” (1 Th. 1:5). The heralds of it, Paul and his companions, were men of a most unusual “manner” in their grace and devotedness, preaching the gospel with uncommon power and fullness. Jesus, the Son of God, risen, in heaven and coming from heaven, was their theme (1 Th. 1:10).

Upon embracing such a message in faith, great moral results appeared in them. Divine life was now theirs and it began to manifest itself. An extraordinary revolution took place: New life meant a new nature and a new nature meant transformed characters. Things now appeared in them personally that had never been there before – things not worn outwardly as an article of raiment, but rather produced outwardly as the fruit of the working of life within. Faith, love and hope were working in their hearts (v.3).

Each of these three things, however, had its own appropriate manifestation. Faith expressed itself in work; love in labor and hope in patience or endurance. God could see fully and appreciate the faith, love and hope wrought in them. Man could see and consequently “remember without ceasing” the work, labor and patience shown outwardly as a fruit of the work within.

A Challenge
It has been said that God has more to do in us than by us and the remark is profoundly true. What then about the work of God in us? Shall we test ourselves? Have we the spiritual fiber to do so? Look at the young people of the world. Viewing them in the best possible light as they express themselves in their most innocent pleasures, what marks them? We find three things which are very opposite to the trio of 1 Thessalonians 1:3: an absence of fixed principle, egotism and a carefree recklessness – born of a feeling of insecurity regarding the future, no vision beyond the immediate present, and a determination to exploit today for all its worth.

Brother or sister in Christ, is hope burning brightly in your soul? Faith gives you an Object that instantly fixes your course. Love delivers you from a self-centered existence and sets you at the happy task of laboring for Christ’s glory and the good of others. Hope steadies your soul and nerves you with the absolute certainty of final victory and glory, and so you endure. We ask again, is hope burning brightly in your soul or are you, while perhaps quite nicely carrying out all the outward observances of religion in meetings and the like, largely living an insipid, aimless existence? Are you centered on self and bent upon extracting as much mild and lawful pleasure from the world and the earth as you can?

Hope’s Results
Not only was work wrought in the Thessalonian believers, but God took them up and made of them something for His glory and the furtherance of His interests. They became:

• “Followers of us, and of the Lord” (v.6). They were attached to Him as His disciples and they began to walk in His ways and manifest His character. This they did not as mere copyists, but because they now possessed His life and nature.

• “[Examples] to all that believe in Macedonia and Achaia” (v.7). The fellow believers in Macedonia and Achaia could find in the Christians of Thessalonica a practical example of the grace that the gospel brings and promotes in those who receive it.

• From them “sounded out the word of the Lord ... in every place” (v.8). They became advertisements of the power and efficacy of that Word which they had believed. From them the word of the Lord “sounded out” and in every place their faith toward God was “spread abroad,” and that to such an extent that no testimony was needed on the part of the apostle.

All three of these characters were worn by people who came out of very unpromising surroundings. The Thessalonians in Acts 17 contrasted unfavorably with the Bereans who are said to have been “more noble than those in Thessalonica” (v.11). The majority of the Thessalonians were “Jews which believed not, moved with envy” and included “lewd fellows of the baser sort” (v.5).

Let us again test ourselves and ask, “What is the character that I wear? Is it that of a follower of the Lord and consequently an example and an advertisement of His grace? Or am I a follower of the fashions of the world and consequently a poor example of Christianity?”

Hope And Service
The last verse of 1 Thessalonians 1 carries the story of these early Christians one step further and shows us how, having turned to God from idols and with these remarkable results flowing from them, they were waiting for Christ with full expectancy while serving the living and true God. When hope burns brightly the service of God is diligently pursued. And the converse is equally true.

It has been supposed by some that the hope of the coming of the Lord is an unpractical and visionary thing, that those whose hearts are filled with it are left idly standing and “gazing up into heaven” like the “men of Galilee” (Acts 1:11). It is possible no doubt to misuse the Christian hope in this fashion, but its use is far otherwise. A proof of hope lies in the very Scripture alluded to. It was His departure into heaven that for the moment rooted the disciples to the spot and left them gazing upwards. Having their hearts assured of His actual and visible coming again by the testimony of the two angels, they returned to Jerusalem. In the rest of Acts 1 we find them continuing in prayer and in Acts 2 and onwards they continue in preaching with overflowing results.

“Ye turned ... to serve the living and true God.” The words we have italicized describe the normal and proper life of the Christian. The service of God is every Christian’s business. We may hold the doctrine of the Second Advent but at the same time be cold and lethargic in our high and holy service, and very active in the pursuit of earthly pleasure. But if His coming holds our hearts as a burning and shining hope, it will be far otherwise – we shall be diligent servants of God!

A Final Challenge
Shall we close by once more testing ourselves? What is the aim and purpose of my life? I am certainly serving something or someone. Am I serving the living and true God or my own ease and convenience, whims and pleasures? Is the truth of the Second Advent of Christ a mere doctrine and matter of theology to me; or is it a bright, inspiring and compelling hope?

By F. B. Hole; extracted from Scripture Truth, Volume 15, 1923, by permission from Stem Publishing, adapted.