0614. The Unfailing Hope

The Unfailing Hope

"For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ" (2Pe_1:16).

The Word of God is sure and steadfast altogether. When God has spoken who can disannul it?

1. We have the certainty of our hope vouched for by clear and concise promises of Scripture.

In Joh_14:3, Christ said: "If I go I will come again, and receive you unto Myself." This alone would have been sufficient, but we have the added testimony of the two shining ones, who were sent down to give a final message to the disciples, who, with upturned faces, were watching their Lord disappear into Heaven.

Act_1:11. "Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing into Heaven: this same Jesus shall so come again in like manner as ye have seen Him go into Heaven." And He will surely come.

We have not only the positive promises above, but in addition, there are many definite assurances of our Lord’s return in the Gospels and in the Epistles. Then, comes the last Book of the Bible, with the opening assurance: "Behold, He cometh with the clouds," and the thrice repeated promise of the last chapter, "Behold, I come quickly," or, "Surely, I come quickly." This is enough. Our Lord will not fail in one good word which He has spoken.

2. We have the certainty of our hope made more certain by the fact that the Old Testament prophecies concerning the first coming of Christ, have been so literally fulfilled. That Christ would come and be born of a virgin; that Christ would be born in Bethlehem of Judea; that Christ would be called out of Egypt,–all of this, was prophesied in the Old Testament Scriptures, and literally fulfilled in the New.

Many other like prophecies were fulfilled. There were at least twenty-four positive and minute statements, all of them written hundreds of years prior to Christ’s death, and all of them fulfilled, just as written, on the day of Christ’s crucifixion.

No one need doubt that the "Blessed Hope" may fail us, simply because Christ has so long delayed His return. Promises of the first coming of Christ, as the "Seed" that should bruise the serpent’s head, waited four thousand years, before their fulfillment.

3. We have the certainty of our hope established because at this present hour, history is running so fast into the mold of prophecy. The fact that so many things which have such an undeniable relationship to the Second Coming of Christ, are being fulfilled before our very eyes, makes the hope more and more certain of an early fruition.

Surely it is time for us to lift up our eyes. We are seeing daily those things coming to pass, which tell us that He is near, even at the door. These signs could be examined, one by one; but a special lesson for that purpose will be given later on.

Just now suffice it to say:

"Oh, brothers, stand as men that wait,

The dawn is purpling in the east,

And banners wave from Heaven’s high gate;

The conflict now–but soon the feast."

Autor: R.E. NEIGHBOUR