A Living Hope by C. M. S.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Feb 25, 1909

A Living Hope

By C. M. S.

THERE is a hope in the heart of man that even the certainty of death can not destroy. From day to day we hear the ceaseless tramp of the bearers of the dead; and no day passes wherein the cold hand of the desolator of homes does not fall upon hundreds of households. A tide of bereavement goes around the world with every sun. And yet there are millions who look upon this sad spectacle as that which must always be, world without end.

Into such dark lives there shines no ray of hope. The back is turned upon God, and the eyes peer into the darkness, seeing nothing; and because such men see nothing there, they believe there is nothing to be seen wheresoever they might look. Into life out of nowhere, into death going nowhere into nothing—this is the philosophy of darkness; and the darkness of the abyss into which they look who teach it is mirrored in their own souls. To such there is no law of God, no retribution for sin; and the whole course of life becomes a veritable maelstrom of doubt.

But there is a better philosophy, a brighter prospect. It does not eliminate death; but it opens a shaft through it to the realities beyond. The Lord reveals it to us through the prophet Isaiah in these words:—

“Thy dead shall live; my dead bodies shall arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in the dust; for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast forth the dead. Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast. For, behold, Jehovah cometh forth out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity.” Isa. 26: 19-21.

It is the Lord himself who is making this declaration. The language indicates that he considers a portion of the dead as his. He recognizes the same interest in them on the part of those from whom the hand of death had taken them. The ownership is mutual: “Thy dead shall live; my dead bodies shall arise.” They are dear to those from whom death took them; they are dear to him who gave his Son to redeem them out of the hand of the enemy. The blessed part of it is that they “shall live,” “shall arise;” that those who have made dust their habitation through all the ages since Adam fell shall, if obedient to the purpose of God, “awake and sing.” That is God’s promise, which no power of men, angels, or evil spirits can ever frustrate.

How it takes the sting from death to have him who is the conqueror of death speak to us such words of father-love as these: “Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast.” There is no question there as to their coming out of their chambers again. They are not shut up forever; but when the career of sin is ended, forth from their chambers they come again, glorified, immortalized, crowned with the victors. For, “he shall send forth his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds.” Matt. 24: 31. Wherever death has strewn them, there the angels gather them up again. Such language is like that of a loving mother hushing her timid child to sleep while the storm rages without. “Close your eyes, my child, and sleep; you are safe; and when you awake, the storm will be over.” So would our Father comfort our timid hearts when we draw near to the sleep that hides from us the last great terrors of the storm of sin.

God has filled his Word with such assurances. We hear the Saviour declaring to those who had accepted him: “Because I live, ye shall live also.” Again: “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” “For God sent not his Son into the world to judge the world; but that the world should be saved through him.” John 3: 17. A mighty work is this undertaken for our redemption, to insure to us “an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away.” Every inheritance in this present world, be it never so great, is corruptible, perishable, defiled in some manner through the getting, and sooner or later will fade away, slipping through the fingers of those to whom it comes, and generally carrying with it ruin of soul and disgrace of name.

But the inheritance promised those who come forth from the chambers of death in the resurrection of the just is not of such a nature. The taint and canker of sin is not upon it; moth and rust have not corrupted it, neither can they do so. The glorified ones are “heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ.” As the three Hebrews came through the fiery furnace with no smell of fire upon their garments, so came he forth, and so come forth they that are his, with no tinge nor taint nor odor from the furnace of their test, and therefore no limitations of mortality upon the inheritance to which they are heirs.

The declaration that “the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose,” is only another way of declaring that wherever sin has defaced, God will beautify; and where sin has blighted, God will make fruitful; where Satan has weakened us, God will make us strong; where he has bruised us, God will heal; where he has blurred God’s image in us, God will make it appear again with splendor undimmed.

Isaiah encourages us thus: “Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God; he will come and save you.” Isa. 35: 4. Then of that redeemed and purified inheritance he says:—

“Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as a hart, and the tongue of the dumb shall sing; for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert. And the glowing sand shall become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water: in the habitation of jackals, where they lay, shall be grass with reeds and rushes. And a highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for the redeemed: the wayfaring men, yea fools, shall not err therein. . . . The redeemed shall walk there: and the ransomed of Jehovah shall return, and come with singing unto Zion; and everlasting joy shall be upon their heads: they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.” Isa. 35: 5-10.

The Spirit through Peter tells of the same restoration, in these words:—

“The heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat. But, according to his promise, we look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for these things, give diligence that ye may be found in peace, without spot and blameless in his sight.” 2 Peter 3: 12-14.

Coupled with the assurance of what is to be, comes the admonition to be prepared, that we may meet in peace the Author of our salvation, and share in his triumph, because “God appointed us not unto wrath, but unto the obtaining of salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him.” 1 Thess. 5: 9, 10.

That is the glorious hope toward which we look, soon to be realized, and sure as that God lives and reigns. Christ has triumphed, and promises a share in that triumph to all who accept his proffered grace, even to sit down with him upon his throne in the realm of eternal righteousness. That great day hastens; the last warnings of its swift approach are hurrying to the remote corners of the earth. To some it will prove a day of darkness and perdition; to others, a day of glory and reward, reunion with loved ones, and personal association with the Son of God. The prospect of such an inheritance should make us anxious to

place our lives, our all, upon the altar of service, to be used as he wills in setting the lamp of this hope in the pathway of those wandering in the darkness of doubt and despair. C. M. S.