Confident Hope
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Key Verse: “Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.” Selected Scriptures: |
THE HOPE THAT ALL have, who are walking in the footsteps of Jesus, is to be with their Lord and Master, and to reign with him in God’s kingdom. This was the hope expressed by the Apostle Paul to Titus and to all who have “the faith of God’s elect.” (Titus 2:13; 1:1) Paul encouraged Titus to faithfully continue the work he had begun as an assistant to Paul because this hope was sure. It was promised by God as written in this epistle, “Hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began.”—Titus 1:2
The development of the Christ class was a part of God’s plan from the beginning. Jesus had been sent into the world to provide salvation for this class, as Paul reminded Titus—“Who gave himself for us.” (Titus 2:14) These will assist our Lord in blessing the rest of mankind in his kingdom. (vs. 11) Before that kingdom can be established, a prophesied great time of trouble must come upon the earth, to shake out of it the evil and the corrupt. (Heb. 12:26; Hag. 2:6) Using Israel’s experience at Mt. Sinai when Moses was to receive the Tables of the Law, Paul tells of the terrifying scene that Israel viewed, as an illustration of this trouble. (Heb. 12:18-21) Following that trouble will come the establishment of God’s kingdom.
Paul, in writing about this event, emphasized that we look forward not to the terror and shaking that precedes this kingdom, but rather to that “kingdom which cannot be moved.” (Heb. 12:28) We have been blessed in our knowledge of God’s plan which tells us of the “city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem,” the “church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven,” (all called, chosen, and faithful with their Redeemer), “God the Judge of all,” and of “Jesus the mediator of the New Covenant” (when the church is complete). Our hope involves all of these wonderful facets of God’s plan.—Heb. 12:22-24
First, however, God says: “Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven” to separate that which cannot endure his judgments from that which can. (Heb. 12:26,27) The knowledge of this hope should inspire us to lead godly lives so that we can receive this kingdom. The details of how God accomplishes this shaking can be found recorded in the Book of Revelation. The Apostle John here describes how Jesus appeared to him as a glorious spirit being. He appeared to help John understand the many symbols used to describe these events. (Rev. 1:14-20) Jesus had messages to the definite periods of the church, his people, waiting with confidence for the realization of their hopes. His messages served as encouragement, promises, as well as warnings, for those who would be faithful through all the periods of the Gospel Age.
The one big event awaited by all the faithful is recorded in Revelation. When the seventh angel blows the trumpet accompanied by “loud voices in heaven, saying, The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign for ever and ever.” (Rev. 11:15, RSV) Thus will be fulfilled the “blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.”—Titus 2:13