0609. The Blessed Hope

The Blessed Hope

"Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the Great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ" (Tit_2:13).

The Second Coming of Christ is not as some might think a story full of dismal forebodings. The only one who needs to dread the Lord’s return is the one who is lost and who, therefore, stands outside the grace of God.

It is true that the saved who are living worldly lives, or who are tied up with worldly things, may have but little pleasure in the anticipation of their Lord’s return. This, however, is not the form of Christian experience. The faithful follower of Christ should stand with his loins girded about, watching for the Lord’s return, as one who waits for the morning.

God pity the bride who does not happily anticipate the coming of her bridegroom. God pity the Christian who is not aglow with the anticipation of the Lord’s return. If we live soberly, righteously, and Godly, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we will find it easy to live, looking for that Blessed Hope.

The coming of Christ is a Blessed Hope because Christ brings with Him the glorious riches of our coming inheritance. When we consider that the Second Coming means the redemption of our body, our perfection in spiritual knowledge, our entrance upon enlarged service, our release from satan’s wiles, our partaking of our rewards, and, above all, our meeting with Christ Himself, immediately it becomes our Blessed Hope.

No wonder Samuel Rutherford, when in prison in Aberdeen, cried: "O, Fairest among the sons of men why stayest Thou thus so long away! O, heavens move fast! O time run, run, and hasten the marriage day; for love is tormented with delays!"

Autor: R.E. NEIGHBOUR