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THE GOSPEL HOPE

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Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Nov 3, 1881

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 7, No. 41.

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THE GOSPEL HOPE.

By J. N. Loughborough

BY J. N. LOUGHBOROUGH, SOUTHAMPTON, ENGLAND.
ST. PAUL, in writing to Timothy, calls "Christ our hope." 1 Tim. 1:1. A true gospel hope must center in Jesus Christ as the object, being, or agency, through whom the promises of God concerning man are to be carried out. "We are complete in him." Without him we "can do nothing," and really are nothing. He is the "Alpha and Omega." Alpha to the Omega is the more ancient form by which the Greeks expressed their alphabet, Alpha being the first Greek letter, and Omega the last one, in the alphabet. From the Alpha to the Omega was from the first letter to the last, or, in other words, the whole alphabet. So Christ is the Alpha and Omega. He is the Alphabet of God's plan and purposes concerning man. As the twenty-six letters of the English alphabet, arranged in various combinations, constitute literally the words of the Bible, so the subject matter of the plan of salvation, treated of in the Bible, is Christ arranged in various forms as the being through whom God's purposes concerning man will be carried out.
As Christ was employed with the Father in the work of creation (Col. 1:16; St. John 1:3), so also is the second Adam (1 Cor. 15:45, 47), through whom the restitution of all things, God has promised, will be carried out. The Father "has given him authority to execute judgement also because he is the Son of man;" so also the Father "has given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as he has given him."
Christ, then, is in the promises of good, and in the threatenings of judgment. He is the root and center of the great plan of atonement devised for the rescue of man, and, in fact, he is the grand source of all the bliss and joy promised to the faithful. Christ is the agent by whom, and through whom, all is to be accomplished. With this view of the subject, we see, then, that the Bible itself is Christ arranged in his various offices, form, and work. As we would arrange the twenty-six letters of the English alphabet in their various combinations to form a book, so we see how Christ is the Alpha and Omega of God's plan. When we say, Christ is our hope, it embodies all that is in Christ, or is to be brought about through Christ, whether in this world or in the world to come.
In pursuing our inquiries respecting him, and of what is accomplished by him, we find ourselves, in some respects, in a similar position to the ancient prophets in their researches concerning him. St. Peter said of them, "Of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you. Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow." 1 Pet. 1:10, 11. A hope in Christ, then, embraces all that is wrought out for us by Christ till the glory of God is fully revealed in his people, by their being brought to their eternal rest in his kingdom.
Of our hope in Christ St. Peter bears further testimony in the same chapter: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in Heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations; that the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ." 1 Pet. 1:3-7. We see, then, that our hope of final reward is in Christ, to be revealed through him when he shall come again.
Abraham was among the ancient ones to whom God made revelations respecting the hope in Christ. St. Paul says that God "preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed." Gal. 3:8. We may well understand how it is that those promises made to Abraham form so sure a basis to our hope. It is because Christ is the true seed mentioned in those promises, and through whom those promises are to be accomplished, and because those sure promises relate especially to those things to be accomplished by the Saviour after his coming, and after the resurrection of his people.
St. Paul, in his letter to the Hebrews says, "For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself, saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee. And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. For men verily swear by the greater; and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife. Wherein God, willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath; that by two immutable things [God's word and God's oath] in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us; which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the veil." Heb. 6:13-19. It is Christ that is within the veil.
Our hope is inspired and strengthened in its consolations, because the promise to Abraham was made so sure, and takes such firm hold of those things promised through Christ. He is in fact the true seed to whom these promises are made. St. Paul, when writing to the Galatians said, "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. We may conclude, then, that the blessing of all nations in Abraham's seed relates more especially to the way of pardon, hope, resurrection, and life eternal promised through Christ to all that believe in him. As St. Paul says, "If ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise," and, "They which be of faith shall be blessed with faithful Abraham." Gal. 3:9, 29.
Now we may more clearly understand the speech of this same inspired apostle, delivered as he stood before Agrippa, "And now I stand and am judged for the hope of the promise made of God unto our fathers; unto which promise our twelve tribes instantly serving God day and night hope to come. For which hope's sake, king Agrippa, I am accused of the Jews. Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you that God should raise the dead." Acts 26:6-8. Festus, in declaring this case of St. Paul to Agrippa, said the case related to "one Jesus, which was dead, whom Paul affirmed to be alive." Acts 25:19. It was not simply that St. Paul taught that Christ was alive which so stirred the Jews, but, as was stated in the commencement of this wrath of the Jews against the apostles, they were "grieved that they taught the people, and preached through Jesus the resurrection of the dead." Acts 4:2. We have a sample of the manner of such preaching in St. Paul's sermon recorded in his first letter to the Corinthians, Chapter 15. Having proved that Christ has risen from the dead he goes on to claim that there will be a resurrection of all God's people from the dead by the power of Christ the risen one.
The hope of the promise to Abraham which contemplates Christ as the seed, and believers in Christ as "joint heirs with him," (Rom. 8:17) not only involves in its accomplishment the resurrection of the dead, but relates to a state beyond the resurrection. When St. Paul plead for the fulfillment of the promise made to Abraham before the Saducees who denied the resurrection of the dead, he well knew they might say, "Abraham is dead and the prophets are dead" (St. John 8:52, 53), so he wisely said, "Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you that God should raise the dead?" This was really a forcible way of saying God will give the fathers a resurrection in order that what was promised to them may be accomplished.
In saying that our hope is to be consummated in the resurrection we do not mean to intimate that no benefits are now derived by those who hope in Christ. He said of himself, "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." St. John 10:10. Through faith in Christ we now obtain strength, and are enabled to do what we could in nowise do without him. See Rev. 5:6. "Your life is hid with Christ in God." Col. 3:3. He is the vine and it is our privilege, by the patience and faith in his blood, to become branches of that vine, partaking of its virtue through the Spirit, so that we can in truth say, "The life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." Gal. 2:20.
Our Saviour has told us that unless we abide in that vine—unless we maintain a union by faith with him—we "can do nothing." Separated from Christ how soon we become like the dry and withered branches plucked from the vine.
The hope in Christ gives us, indeed, strength and courage here, so that we may say, "Being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ; by whom we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only so but we glory in tribulation also; knowing that tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope; and hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us." Rom. 5:1-5.
Amid all our earthly sorrows, trials, and privations, we may derive consolation from the hope. "He that ploweth should plow in hope; and he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope." 1 Cor. 9:10. Some of the greatest joys of the Christian in this world are derived from a contemplation of the blessings promised in the future world.
"How sweet to reflect on those joys that await me, In yon blissful regions, the haven of rest, Where bright holy angels with welcome shall greet me, And lead me to mansions prepared for the blest."
From such contemplations we may rise with St. Paul to say, "I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God [i. e., for their reward, to be given them in the resurrection.] For the creature was made subject to vanity [death], not willingly [not by our own choice], but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope. Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the first-fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. For we are saved by hope; but hope that is seen is not hope, for what a man seeth why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it." Rom. 8:18-25.
It is then the privilege of believers in Christ to now receive the Holy Spirit as a source of strength, and that it may be in us "a well of water springing up into everlasting life."
St. Paul states, "If Christ be in you the body is dead because of sin; but the spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead, shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you." Rom. 8:10, 11. That Spirit of God, obtained through faith in Christ will not only give energy for his service here, even changing our characters, but in the resurrection, at Christ's second coming, our vile bodies will be changed by it, and fashioned like unto Christ's glorious body." Phil. 3:20, 21.
We see, then, that the Scriptures proceed upon the ground that a hope was fully opened up to us in the work of Christ at his first advent, and that this hope, which is to the tempest-tossed spiritual mariner here "an anchor of the soul both sure and steadfast," is to be consummated when our Saviour shall come again. St. Paul makes this statement of the case, when writing to the Hebrews, "Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; but unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation." Heb. 9:28.
Have you, reader, made this Saviour your Saviour? Can you say for yourself, The gospel hope is my hope, for Christ is my source of strength; my life now, and by joint heirship I shall be partaker of his glory hereafter? When this is your condition then may you indeed sing,
"Oh, glorious hope! Oh, blest abode, I shall be there; and like my God."