The Christian’s Hope

MEMORY SELECTION: “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.” —I John 3:2

SELECTED SCRIPTURE: Romans 8:18-25; John 14:1-3

AS INDICATED in our selected texts, part of the hope of the Christian is that by faithful endurance he might seek for glory, honor, and immortality. (Rom. 2:7) But the real hope, with motivating power in our lives, is that we will be enabled to use the promised glorious station in the kingdom as a means of bringing blessings to all the families of the earth. This was the prospect that was set before Jesus. The Apostle Paul states, “Looking unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” —Heb. 12:2

The joy that was set before Jesus was the prospect of being the Mediator of the New Covenant. “Now hath He obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also He is the Mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises: … not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people.”—Heb. 8:6-12

It is under the terms of this covenant that God will write his law in the hearts of the people. The basis for this hope was the promise that God gave to Abraham: “That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the seashore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.”—Gen. 22:17,18

The Apostle Paul identifies this promised seed as Jesus; “Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.”—Gal. 3:16

The word “Christ” is the Greek translation of the Hebrew word “Messiah.” In other words, what Paul was saying in the text quoted above is that Jesus was the long-promised Messiah, or Deliverer. In Acts 3:20-24 we read: “And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began. For Moses truly said unto the fathers, a Prophet [Messiah] shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me [he will be like unto Moses in that Moses was the mediator of the Law Covenant; Christ will be the Mediator of the New Covenant]; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you. And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear that Prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people.” But it shall also come to pass that if they are obedient, God, under the terms of this covenant, “shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.”—Rev. 21:4

The Christian’s true hope is to be associated with Jesus in administering the New Covenant in the next age. One of the forthright statements in the Bible that supports this statement is found in Galatians 3:26-29: “For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. … And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.”

It is plain, then, that those Christians who have been baptized into Christ’s death are accepted as part of the greater Messiah and will have the great privilege of living and reigning with Christ for the thousand years of the kingdom, for the purpose of bringing blessings and life to all the families of the earth.—Rev. 20:4

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