Of the most important differences between Bible Christianity and all other religions, including the “Christian” cults, is that the true child of God possess a very special hope. Christians have something for which to live enabling us to live through whatever the world throws at us. And unlike its shallow religious imitations, this hope of the saint is not only real, but absolutely wonderful.
I Corinthians 13 closes with a reference to the three great Christian graces: “faith,” “hope” and “charity.” The word “charity” is the Greek word “agape,” and it is 3-times more often translated “love” as it is “charity.” Once we get that idea firmly planted in our minds, we have no trouble understanding “faith” and “charity.” We know what it is to trust and to love. We know what it is to BE loved, and I hope we know what it is to BE trusted. But the word “hope” is a more mysterious word – at least the Biblical version of the word is somewhat mysterious, because the every day, common definition is not the Biblical definition. The common definition of a “hope” is a kind of wish or a very strong desire. The Mariners baseball team has a hope of winning 90 games this year. Or a fan might say that Felix Hernandez is the Mariner’s hope to get them into the play-offs. That kind of hope is very different form the Biblical hope, because the likelihood of reaching these hopes is small.
It is surprising that the first definition of “hope” offered by “Strong’s Concordance” is not so good. It may be accurate – but it isn’t good. The first thing that James Strong says about “hope” is that it is the “expectation of EVIL; fear.” Joseph Thayer, in his “Greek, English Lexicon,” put that into context by saying – “this negative aspect is rare in classical literature and not used at all in the Bible.” So why does Strong’s Concordance even bring it up? Probably because it highlights the expectation aspect. Strong’s second definition is an “expectation of GOOD.” A Biblical hope is an expectation, not a wish but an expectation. It is the anticipation of something which has been promised but not yet received. And Paul put a wonderful adjective on this hope, when he called it the “BLESSED hope.” This is a very good hope.
This morning, let’s think about our great Biblical hope, the “Blessed Hope” of the child of God. And let’s use this wonderful scripture as our launching pad. This is as rich a theological mine as any four verses anywhere in the Word of God. There is mystery here; there is a puzzle; there is rebuke and exhortation; there is hope and excitement. Here, we have words of high praise for our Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. We have the grace of God and a description of the kind of response that it produces in the recipient. We have a comparison of this present world to that world which is soon to come. A dozen messages could be, and should be, preached from these four verses. But I will try to focus on just one theme – “the blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God.”
First, let’s try to define this hope negatively.
Obviously, the hope of the saint of God is not DEATH – even though a Christian’s death is not a bad thing. Because death is virtually guaranteed for everyone, the blessed hope is not death. The only people who shall not die will be God’s saints alive upon the earth at the time of Christ’s return. For everyone else, “it is appointed unto men once to die, (and) after this the judgment.” And how can death be the hope of the saint of God, when it is called our enemy? I Corinthians 15:26 – “The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.” How can something be both our enemy and “blessed” at the same time? And I Peter 1:3 describes our hope as “living” – alive. I know that the context is a little different, but in this situation “death” and “living” don’t mix very well. Death was certainly not the hope of the Christians in Thessalonica. “Ye became followers of us, and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost: So that ye were ensamples to all that believe in Macedonia and Achaia. For they themselves shew of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God; And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.” If death is our hope then many of us are going to be disappointed, because we shall not all die. “Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and WE shall be changed.”
And another thing – the Christian hope is not that someday we SHALL BE saved. There is a very good likelihood if you are not delivered and saved from sin today, then you never will be. “Now, is the accepted time and today is the day of salvation.” There is a strong suggestion in the Word of God that those who have heard and rejected the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ today, will be given a strong delusion when the Lord returns, and they will never be presented with the gifts of repentance and faith. And the Lord’s return could be sometime during your next breath. The “blessed hope” is not that some day the we shall be saved. And as far as today’s Christians are concerned, they are already children of God and living in eternal life. “NOW are we the sons of God” – I John 3:2. The Lord said, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but IS passed from death unto life.”
I suppose that some Christians might say that HEAVEN is their hope. Although this is true in one sense, it is not the entire sense – or the ultimate sense. Listen to Peter’s words – “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.” Peter seems to make a difference between the Christian hope and the Heavenly inheritance. And so does Paul in Colossians: “We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel.”
Here is another false hope – It is the hope of some people, at least so they say, to see the conversion of the world. But, it’s not going to happen even to any significant degree. As religious and spiritual as it might sound that is not THE Christian hope or even A Christian hope.
We might talk about other false hopes, but there really isn’t much of a point.
Our hope, the Biblical hope, the Christian’s hope, is NOT a future EVENT or a condition, but a PERSON.
I Timothy 1:1 says that CHRIST is our hope. And in Him are everything which are eternal and important. In Christ “are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” He is “made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:” “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” Among those “all things” which are new is a future glorified, eternal and incorruptible body. And among those new things is an eternal abode in Heaven. “Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality.” “In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” The hope of the saint is Christ and all that He is doing now and yet shall do for us. Here in Titus we are taught about our redemption and our ultimate purification in Christ. Philippians 3 reminds us that our hope includes our bodies being fashioned like unto Christ’s. “For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.” That passage doesn’t use the word “hope,” and neither does I John 3 but that is their theme: “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.” Our hope involves our meeting with Christ in the air.
There are a pair of important omissions in the Greek language of Titus 2:13. Of course they are divine omissions; purposeful omissions; meaningful omissions, because there are no mistakes in the inspired word of God. “Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.” The second omission is that there isn’t a second article between “God and our Saviour.” Paul doesn’t say, “THE great God and THE Saviour.” If he did make that kind of statement, it would mean that the two were separate; that there is a difference between the Saviour and God. But without the second article we are taught that the Saviour is God. Amen, Paul! Never does the Bible speak about the “appearance” the “epiphaneia” of God the Father, or the God-head. But God has been seen in Christ Jesus, who is the Second Person of the God-head. And God will be seen again in the manifestation, the re-appearing, the return of Christ very soon. The omission of a little Greek article in this verse points out the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And the first omission is just like the second one, but it’s not so obvious in our English Bibles. There is no article between the blessed hope and the “epiphaneia” of our great Saviour/God Jesus Christ. In other words, the blessed hope is one with the appearing. Or to put it another way, the appearing of our Saviour/God, Jesus Christ, is a part of our blessed hope.
Listen to those who have taught us about this hope.
Beginning at the top, it is the promise of the Lord Jesus Himself. I’ve already quoted the first verses, but there is much more in John 14 about our Blessed Hope. “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” Verse 18 – “I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also. At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.” Verse 25 – “These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you. But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”
In addition to a multitude of promises from the Saviour, others come from other directions. On the Lord’s final day prior to His ascension into Heaven, the disciples were filled with questions: “When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power. But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.”
We have the promise of holy angels that Christ Jesus is coming again just as He left 2,000 years ago. There is no way to confuse and twist these words, unless we are confused and twisted ourselves. The hope of the saint is not the Lord’s return for us at the time of our death, even though many shall go to be with Him in that way. The hope of the saint is the visible return of the Lord in the air. And the return of Christ will not be secret – despite the world’s and the Antichrist’s denials and lies. And by the way, this return of Christ is not something to worry over, speculate upon and wonder about. Stop your gazing into Heaven Christian, with your gaping mouths and watery eyes. With that hope and promise in your pocket it is time to get busy obeying the Lord’s commands. There are churches to be built, souls to be evangelized, doctrines to be expounded and promulgated. God’s angels, who are probably the best examples of God’s faithful servants, are very fit to remind the rest of us about our responsibilities.
And then there are the many, many references which the Apostles make to the hope of the saint. For example, what was the key ingredient to the persecution of the Apostle Paul? Several times Paul said that it was his hope in Christ. “Because I know thee to be expert in all customs and questions which are among the Jews: wherefore I beseech thee to hear me patiently. My manner of life from my youth, which was at the first among mine own nation at Jerusalem, know all the Jews; Which knew me from the beginning, if they would testify, that after the most straitest sect of our religion I lived a Pharisee. 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.” When Paul addressed the Jews in Rome after his arrival he said, “For this cause therefore have I called for you, to see you, and to speak with you: because that for the HOPE of Israel I am bound with this chain.”
In writing to the Ephesian church he tried to encourage the saints by praising the Lord. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace; Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence; Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself: That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him: In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will: That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ. In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory. Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints, Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers; That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the HOPE of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints.”
That was before he reminded them of who they were without Christ. “Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands; That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world: But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.” Now in Christ Jesus ye who were aliens and lost, are possessors of the hope which is in Christ.
Then there are the two classic scriptures from I Thessalonians and I Corinthians. “But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
“Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.”
Then we have the promise from the throne – the last promise of the Word of God – Revelation 22:20: “He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly.” And the saints all say, “Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.”
Why is this called the “BLESSED hope?”
Because this the best of the best, the highest of the highest, the great superlative promise of God. This is the hope which is above all other hopes. It is the culmination of our salvation. And as you might guess, this word “blessed” is related to the other “blesseds” that you have learned. This is referring to the greatest of all joys and happinesses, because it has its roots and source in Heaven.
It will be blessed towards creation, because the universe will be restored to it’s pre-sin, pristine condition . It will be blessed to us because we shall be completely delivered from the bondage of this death and sin. It will be blessed to Jehovah, because He shall be glorified as He should have always been glorified. It will be blessed to Christ, because He shall be crowned the King as He deserves. “Every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.” He shall sit upon the throne of His Father. And He shall enjoy those souls who were given to Him before the foundation of the world, and for whom He gave his life.
And again for us, unworthy and worthless sinners, that hope fulfilled, will be greater than anything we can even imagine today. In fact we won’t know what the word “blessed” really means until the day that we are ultimately blessed. We don’t yet know what joy there is in Christ, because we are still buckets filled with holes. And we can’t know true happiness, until our circumstances are perfectly perfect. But … one day soon, we’ll know what the “blessed hope” really contains.
That is assuming that YOU are a true child of God. That is assuming that you are living in repentance toward God. That is assuming that your faith and expectation for eternity are based solely on the merits of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. That is assuming that you are in love with the One who is our hope. Is the blessed hope YOUR blessed hope?