How Do We Gain Hope?
Through the Gospel
Col 1:22 But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation--
23 if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel.
This leaves the question, of course, 'What is the Gospel?' Gospel simply means 'good news', and we discover what that good news is through reading the Bible. Sometimes perhaps, we think of the Gospel as the message that we try to explain to people who do not yet believe, and out of necessity we tend to simplify that. I call it the Simplified Gospel, and it goes something like this. 'Turn from your sin and believe in Jesus. Your sins will be washed away, life will be so much better, and when you die you will go to heaven to be with Jesus forever.'
The Gospel is in fact much more that that. It is everything good that God has promised about our future. We discover that as we read the Bible, and however long you live and however much you read the Bible, there will always be more to discover about that.
The Gospel hope in a nutshell is expressed in Christ's command, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.” (Matt 4:17). In other words, God's kingdom is near and God is offering you terms so that you can be a part of it. Our hope is all about the kingdom. This is the same message that Jesus told his disciples to proclaim when he sent them out in Luke 9 and Luke 10.
God's kingdom is near in two ways. Firstly, it is near is the sense of it being a future reality that will be fulfilled in the near future. Secondly, it is near in terms of proximity, so that even now we can reach out and lay hold of it. When Jesus sent the disciples out to proclaim this message, he also commanded them to heal the sick and drive out demons. Such demonstrations of God's power were intended to show the present nearness in proximity of the kingdom.
In Ephesians 1, Paul prays:
18 I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints,
19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe.
Our hope is described as an inheritance. One way of understanding the Gospel is that through Christ we can become beneficiaries of this inheritance, because through him we can become God's children (John 1:12). If you receive an inheritance while you are still a child, it is common that the capital is held in trust for you until you come of age, say at age 18, or 21 perhaps, and that while you are a child you benefit from the income. According to the Gospel, God's kingdom is soon going to be fully established on Earth, with Christ ruling as a resurrected human King. When that happens, we will have come of age, so to speak, and receive our inheritance in all its fullness. Meanwhile, as God's children, we currently receive benefits of our future inheritance, as demonstrated by the fact he has given us the gift of his Holy Spirit, described by Paul as 'his incomparably great power for us who believe.' A few verses earlier in the same chapter of Ephesians he says:
13 And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit,
14 who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession--to the praise of his glory.
And so, the Gospel gives us hope for this life, and even greater hope for the age to come. So great, in fact, is the hope that awaits us, compared to what we have in this life, that Paul says:
1Corinthians 15:19 If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.
By Reading the Bible
Rom 15:4 For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.
The following verses are all from Psalm 119:
49 Remember your word to your servant, for you have given me hope.
74 May those who fear you rejoice when they see me, for I have put my hope in your word.
81 My soul faints with longing for your salvation, but I have put my hope in your word.
114 You are my refuge and my shield; I have put my hope in your word.
147 I rise before dawn and cry for help; I have put my hope in your word.
In this Psalm, the statement 'I have put my hope in your word' is used as a refrain. Notice the various emotions, actions and metaphors that are associated with this hope.
Through the 'God of Hope'
Rom 15:13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
1 Tim 4:9 This is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance
10 (and for this we labour and strive), that we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, and especially of those who believe.
1 Tim 5:5 The widow who is really in need and left all alone puts her hope in God and continues night and day to pray and to ask God for help.
1 Tim 6:17 Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.
Practically, what does it mean to gain hope through the God of Hope. I think it means we should seek to draw every closer to God. We should seek an ever increasing degree of intimacy with him.
Jesus prayed for us in John 17 that we might experience this intimacy, or unity:
Johh 17:20 “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message,
21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.
22 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one:
23 I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
When people read these verses, they often assume Jesus is praying for unity between fellow Christians. The Bible certainly has much to say on that topic, but here the unity he is praying for is primarily the unity, or intimacy, between Christians and God, "I in them and you in me". It is as though Jesus wants us to experience the kind of intimacy that exists within the Trinity, between him and the Father (and the Spirit). That is extended to us by God living in us by the Holy Spirit.
So practically, we should seek an ever more intimate relationship with God, through prayer, worship, reading his Word, and seeking to be continually being filled with the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 5:18).
Through the power of the Holy Spirit
Romans 15:13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Ephesians 1:17 I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.
18 I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints,
19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe.
Ephesians 5:18 Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.
19 Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord,
20 always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
21 Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.
In verse 18 in the Greek, the tense of 'be filled' is present continuous. So literally, it means 'be continuously being filled with the Spirit'. Verses 19 to 21 show some of the ways that facilitate being filled with the Spirit.
By studying biblical prophecy
1 Peter 1:3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade-- kept in heaven for you,
5 who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.
...
10 Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care,
11 trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow.
12 It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things.
God has richly provided us with much detail about the second coming of Christ and the events which precede and follow it. In Matthew 16, Jesus rebuked the Pharisees and Sadduccees (the religious leaders of his day) for failing to recognise the signs of his first coming:
Matt 16:2 He replied, “When evening comes, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red,’
3 and in the morning, ‘Today it will be stormy, for the sky is red and overcast.’ You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times.
In Luke 19, he lamented over the fate of Jerusalem:
42 ... “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace--but now it is hidden from your eyes.
43 The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side.
44 They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognise the time of God’s coming to you.”
Today, through the Old and New Testaments, we have much more detail about Christ's second coming than the Jews of Christ's day ever had about his first coming. We must pay due attention and study biblical prophecy with the kind of diligence that Peter exhorts us to have. Otherwise, at Christ's second coming, we will be far more deserving of his rebuke than the Sadducees and Pharisees were at his first coming. Peter tells us that angels have longed to look into these things. And yet many Christian leaders are totally complacent when it comes to Biblical prophecy about the future.
Through God speaking to you directly
Rom 4:18 Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”
Abraham received this promise through God speaking to him on several occasions.
Gen 12:6 Abram travelled through the land as far as the site of the great tree of Moreh at Shechem. At that time the Canaanites were in the land.
7 The LORD appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to the LORD, who had appeared to him.
Gen 13: 13 Now the men of Sodom were wicked and were sinning greatly against the LORD.
14 The LORD said to Abram after Lot had parted from him, “Lift up your eyes from where you are and look north and south, east and west.
15 All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring for ever.
16 I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust, then your offspring could be counted.
17 Go, walk through the length and breadth of the land, for I am giving it to you.”
Gen 15:15:1 After this, the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision: “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.”
2 But Abram said, “O Sovereign LORD, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?”
3 And Abram said, “You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir.”
4 Then the word of the LORD came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but a son coming from your own body will be your heir.”
5 He took him outside and said, “Look up at the heavens and count the stars--if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”
Although people do still have visions today, it is more common for God to speak through the Bible, his written word. However, we should not limit God to that. He can speak however he wishes.
Through witnessing Christ's power to heal and deliver
Matthew 12: 13 Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” So he stretched it out and it was completely restored, just as sound as the other.
14 But the Pharisees went out and plotted how they might kill Jesus.
15 Aware of this, Jesus withdrew from that place. Many followed him, and he healed all their sick,
16 warning them not to tell who he was.
17 This was to fulfil what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah:
18 “Here is my servant whom I have chosen, the one I love, in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him, and he will proclaim justice to the nations.
19 He will not quarrel or cry out; no-one will hear his voice in the streets.
20 A bruised reed he will not break, and a smouldering wick he will not snuff out, till he leads justice to victory.
21 In his name the nations will put their hope.”
22 Then they brought him a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute, and Jesus healed him, so that he could both talk and see.
Notice that the above quote from Isaiah 42, which includes the statement, 'In his name the nations will put their hope', is sandwiched between stories of Christ's healing and deliverance.
Although healing and deliverance played no part in bringing me to faith, witnessing his power of healing and deliverance in the weeks and months that followed had a massive impact on me, and greatly affirmed my new found faith. And after about 5 months, when for the first time I laid hands on a sick person and they were instantly healed, it added tremendously to my feelings of excitement and hope about God.
The Gospel hope in a nutshell is expressed in Christ's command, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.” In other words, God's kingdom is near and God is offering you terms so that you can be a part of it. Our hope is all about the kingdom. In the Gospels, the reality of this kingdom was demonstrated through Christ's ministry of healing and deliverance. And what God's kingdom is like is the subject of most of his parables and teaching. Consider the above statement in its context:
Matthew 4:17 From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.”
18 As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen.
19 “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.”
20 At once they left their nets and followed him.
21 Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them,
22 and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.
23 Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people.
24 News about him spread all over Syria, and people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralysed, and he healed them.
And also:
Matthew 12:28 But if I drive out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
Healing and deliverance demonstrate the reality and nearness of God's kingdom, not just as a near future reality that is coming soon, but also as a present reality that is near enough for us to reach out and lay hold of now.
When Jesus was training the disciples as Gospel evangelists, he very deliberately associated proclamation ministry with healing and deliverance:
Luke 9:1 When Jesus had called the Twelve together, he gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases,
2 and he sent them out to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick.
Luke 10: 8 “When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is set before you.
9 Heal the sick who are there and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God is near you.’
This association of proclamation ministry with healing and deliverance, was not just for the generation of Jesus and the Apostles, but is also part of the Great Commission that is passed down to Christians of every generation:
Matthew 28:18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
He makes the way he trained his disciples the model for how we are to make disciples.
Miracles were such a crucial affirmation of the Gospel hope that Jesus even said:
John 10:37 "If I do not the works of my Father, do not believe me." (NASB)
If he did not require people to believe without miracles, why should we? As Christians, if we want to offer hope, we must take seriously our commission, not just to proclaim the Gospel, but to demonstrate it as he did through works of healing and deliverance. The challenge, or course, is how to actually do that.
Notice also, the association of hope with power in Ephesian 1:
Ephesians 1:18 I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints,
19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength,
20 which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms,
21 far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.
Hope is part of our calling. And in order that we might realise that calling effectively, God has placed his incomparably great power within us. The challenging part is learning how to release it, but one of the main factors in its release is faith, which grows out of hope.
By persevering through suffering
Rom 5:2 .... And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.
3 Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;
4 perseverance, character; and character, hope.
It is a strange thing, but hope enables us to persevere through suffering, and persevering through suffering produces hope. We need to have hope to start with, before we enter into suffering, for we need it to persevere. Note that character comes between perseverance and hope. Suffering changes and develops who we are. And at the end of it, we have a deeper level of hope than what we started with. God sometimes allows us to go through suffering. Although it is painful, it has the effect of refining us and purifying us, like gold in the refiner's fire.
Peter speaks of this:
1 Peter 1:6 In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.
7 These have come so that your faith--of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire--may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honour when Jesus Christ is revealed.
However, Christians who lack hope and then encounter suffering may become disillusioned and lose their assurance of God's love and goodness towards them. If they fail to persevere, they may lose what hope they had. As in medicine, 'prevention is better than cure'. Hope is both preventative medicine and curative medicine. I don't mean that it prevents suffering, but rather the disillusionment that can result from suffering. We need it both before and after suffering. It is vital that churches teach Christians properly about the riches of our hope in Christ, and all that God has prepared for us in the future. Teaching about what God has done in the past is essential, but not sufficient.
In Matthew 24, Jesus teaches about the signs that will precede his second coming, including the persecution and suffering that Christians will experience:
9 “Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me.
10 At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other,
11 and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people.
12 Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold,
13 but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.
14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come....
21 For then there will be great distress (KJV: great tribulation), unequalled from the beginning of the world until now--and never to be equalled again.
It should greatly concern Christian leaders that Jesus tells us 'the love of most will grow cold'. Similarly, in 2 Thess 2, Paul describes two major signs that must precede Christ's coming, one of which is a 'falling away'. (I quote from the KJV as I don't think the NIV's translation is clear on this)
2:1 Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him,
2 That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.
3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
Because many churches have adopted a theology which teaches that this time of great tribulation is either past, or that it is future but that Christians will be raptured before it, many churches totally fail to prepare Christians for these challenges that lie ahead. It is my belief that the church must go through the great tribulation, and church leaders must prepare their people for this. Otherwise, their churches may be decimated in the great falling away.
In the parable of the sower, Jesus says:
Luke 8:13 Those on the rock are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away.
Col 1:22 But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation--
23 if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel.
This leaves the question, of course, 'What is the Gospel?' Gospel simply means 'good news', and we discover what that good news is through reading the Bible. Sometimes perhaps, we think of the Gospel as the message that we try to explain to people who do not yet believe, and out of necessity we tend to simplify that. I call it the Simplified Gospel, and it goes something like this. 'Turn from your sin and believe in Jesus. Your sins will be washed away, life will be so much better, and when you die you will go to heaven to be with Jesus forever.'
The Gospel is in fact much more that that. It is everything good that God has promised about our future. We discover that as we read the Bible, and however long you live and however much you read the Bible, there will always be more to discover about that.
The Gospel hope in a nutshell is expressed in Christ's command, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.” (Matt 4:17). In other words, God's kingdom is near and God is offering you terms so that you can be a part of it. Our hope is all about the kingdom. This is the same message that Jesus told his disciples to proclaim when he sent them out in Luke 9 and Luke 10.
God's kingdom is near in two ways. Firstly, it is near is the sense of it being a future reality that will be fulfilled in the near future. Secondly, it is near in terms of proximity, so that even now we can reach out and lay hold of it. When Jesus sent the disciples out to proclaim this message, he also commanded them to heal the sick and drive out demons. Such demonstrations of God's power were intended to show the present nearness in proximity of the kingdom.
In Ephesians 1, Paul prays:
18 I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints,
19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe.
Our hope is described as an inheritance. One way of understanding the Gospel is that through Christ we can become beneficiaries of this inheritance, because through him we can become God's children (John 1:12). If you receive an inheritance while you are still a child, it is common that the capital is held in trust for you until you come of age, say at age 18, or 21 perhaps, and that while you are a child you benefit from the income. According to the Gospel, God's kingdom is soon going to be fully established on Earth, with Christ ruling as a resurrected human King. When that happens, we will have come of age, so to speak, and receive our inheritance in all its fullness. Meanwhile, as God's children, we currently receive benefits of our future inheritance, as demonstrated by the fact he has given us the gift of his Holy Spirit, described by Paul as 'his incomparably great power for us who believe.' A few verses earlier in the same chapter of Ephesians he says:
13 And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit,
14 who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession--to the praise of his glory.
And so, the Gospel gives us hope for this life, and even greater hope for the age to come. So great, in fact, is the hope that awaits us, compared to what we have in this life, that Paul says:
1Corinthians 15:19 If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.
By Reading the Bible
Rom 15:4 For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.
The following verses are all from Psalm 119:
49 Remember your word to your servant, for you have given me hope.
74 May those who fear you rejoice when they see me, for I have put my hope in your word.
81 My soul faints with longing for your salvation, but I have put my hope in your word.
114 You are my refuge and my shield; I have put my hope in your word.
147 I rise before dawn and cry for help; I have put my hope in your word.
In this Psalm, the statement 'I have put my hope in your word' is used as a refrain. Notice the various emotions, actions and metaphors that are associated with this hope.
Through the 'God of Hope'
Rom 15:13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
1 Tim 4:9 This is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance
10 (and for this we labour and strive), that we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, and especially of those who believe.
1 Tim 5:5 The widow who is really in need and left all alone puts her hope in God and continues night and day to pray and to ask God for help.
1 Tim 6:17 Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.
Practically, what does it mean to gain hope through the God of Hope. I think it means we should seek to draw every closer to God. We should seek an ever increasing degree of intimacy with him.
Jesus prayed for us in John 17 that we might experience this intimacy, or unity:
Johh 17:20 “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message,
21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.
22 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one:
23 I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
When people read these verses, they often assume Jesus is praying for unity between fellow Christians. The Bible certainly has much to say on that topic, but here the unity he is praying for is primarily the unity, or intimacy, between Christians and God, "I in them and you in me". It is as though Jesus wants us to experience the kind of intimacy that exists within the Trinity, between him and the Father (and the Spirit). That is extended to us by God living in us by the Holy Spirit.
So practically, we should seek an ever more intimate relationship with God, through prayer, worship, reading his Word, and seeking to be continually being filled with the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 5:18).
Through the power of the Holy Spirit
Romans 15:13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Ephesians 1:17 I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.
18 I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints,
19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe.
Ephesians 5:18 Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.
19 Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord,
20 always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
21 Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.
In verse 18 in the Greek, the tense of 'be filled' is present continuous. So literally, it means 'be continuously being filled with the Spirit'. Verses 19 to 21 show some of the ways that facilitate being filled with the Spirit.
By studying biblical prophecy
1 Peter 1:3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade-- kept in heaven for you,
5 who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.
...
10 Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care,
11 trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow.
12 It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things.
God has richly provided us with much detail about the second coming of Christ and the events which precede and follow it. In Matthew 16, Jesus rebuked the Pharisees and Sadduccees (the religious leaders of his day) for failing to recognise the signs of his first coming:
Matt 16:2 He replied, “When evening comes, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red,’
3 and in the morning, ‘Today it will be stormy, for the sky is red and overcast.’ You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times.
In Luke 19, he lamented over the fate of Jerusalem:
42 ... “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace--but now it is hidden from your eyes.
43 The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side.
44 They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognise the time of God’s coming to you.”
Today, through the Old and New Testaments, we have much more detail about Christ's second coming than the Jews of Christ's day ever had about his first coming. We must pay due attention and study biblical prophecy with the kind of diligence that Peter exhorts us to have. Otherwise, at Christ's second coming, we will be far more deserving of his rebuke than the Sadducees and Pharisees were at his first coming. Peter tells us that angels have longed to look into these things. And yet many Christian leaders are totally complacent when it comes to Biblical prophecy about the future.
Through God speaking to you directly
Rom 4:18 Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”
Abraham received this promise through God speaking to him on several occasions.
Gen 12:6 Abram travelled through the land as far as the site of the great tree of Moreh at Shechem. At that time the Canaanites were in the land.
7 The LORD appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to the LORD, who had appeared to him.
Gen 13: 13 Now the men of Sodom were wicked and were sinning greatly against the LORD.
14 The LORD said to Abram after Lot had parted from him, “Lift up your eyes from where you are and look north and south, east and west.
15 All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring for ever.
16 I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust, then your offspring could be counted.
17 Go, walk through the length and breadth of the land, for I am giving it to you.”
Gen 15:15:1 After this, the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision: “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.”
2 But Abram said, “O Sovereign LORD, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?”
3 And Abram said, “You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir.”
4 Then the word of the LORD came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but a son coming from your own body will be your heir.”
5 He took him outside and said, “Look up at the heavens and count the stars--if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”
Although people do still have visions today, it is more common for God to speak through the Bible, his written word. However, we should not limit God to that. He can speak however he wishes.
Through witnessing Christ's power to heal and deliver
Matthew 12: 13 Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” So he stretched it out and it was completely restored, just as sound as the other.
14 But the Pharisees went out and plotted how they might kill Jesus.
15 Aware of this, Jesus withdrew from that place. Many followed him, and he healed all their sick,
16 warning them not to tell who he was.
17 This was to fulfil what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah:
18 “Here is my servant whom I have chosen, the one I love, in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him, and he will proclaim justice to the nations.
19 He will not quarrel or cry out; no-one will hear his voice in the streets.
20 A bruised reed he will not break, and a smouldering wick he will not snuff out, till he leads justice to victory.
21 In his name the nations will put their hope.”
22 Then they brought him a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute, and Jesus healed him, so that he could both talk and see.
Notice that the above quote from Isaiah 42, which includes the statement, 'In his name the nations will put their hope', is sandwiched between stories of Christ's healing and deliverance.
Although healing and deliverance played no part in bringing me to faith, witnessing his power of healing and deliverance in the weeks and months that followed had a massive impact on me, and greatly affirmed my new found faith. And after about 5 months, when for the first time I laid hands on a sick person and they were instantly healed, it added tremendously to my feelings of excitement and hope about God.
The Gospel hope in a nutshell is expressed in Christ's command, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.” In other words, God's kingdom is near and God is offering you terms so that you can be a part of it. Our hope is all about the kingdom. In the Gospels, the reality of this kingdom was demonstrated through Christ's ministry of healing and deliverance. And what God's kingdom is like is the subject of most of his parables and teaching. Consider the above statement in its context:
Matthew 4:17 From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.”
18 As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen.
19 “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.”
20 At once they left their nets and followed him.
21 Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them,
22 and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.
23 Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people.
24 News about him spread all over Syria, and people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralysed, and he healed them.
And also:
Matthew 12:28 But if I drive out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
Healing and deliverance demonstrate the reality and nearness of God's kingdom, not just as a near future reality that is coming soon, but also as a present reality that is near enough for us to reach out and lay hold of now.
When Jesus was training the disciples as Gospel evangelists, he very deliberately associated proclamation ministry with healing and deliverance:
Luke 9:1 When Jesus had called the Twelve together, he gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases,
2 and he sent them out to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick.
Luke 10: 8 “When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is set before you.
9 Heal the sick who are there and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God is near you.’
This association of proclamation ministry with healing and deliverance, was not just for the generation of Jesus and the Apostles, but is also part of the Great Commission that is passed down to Christians of every generation:
Matthew 28:18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
He makes the way he trained his disciples the model for how we are to make disciples.
Miracles were such a crucial affirmation of the Gospel hope that Jesus even said:
John 10:37 "If I do not the works of my Father, do not believe me." (NASB)
If he did not require people to believe without miracles, why should we? As Christians, if we want to offer hope, we must take seriously our commission, not just to proclaim the Gospel, but to demonstrate it as he did through works of healing and deliverance. The challenge, or course, is how to actually do that.
Notice also, the association of hope with power in Ephesian 1:
Ephesians 1:18 I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints,
19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength,
20 which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms,
21 far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.
Hope is part of our calling. And in order that we might realise that calling effectively, God has placed his incomparably great power within us. The challenging part is learning how to release it, but one of the main factors in its release is faith, which grows out of hope.
By persevering through suffering
Rom 5:2 .... And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.
3 Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;
4 perseverance, character; and character, hope.
It is a strange thing, but hope enables us to persevere through suffering, and persevering through suffering produces hope. We need to have hope to start with, before we enter into suffering, for we need it to persevere. Note that character comes between perseverance and hope. Suffering changes and develops who we are. And at the end of it, we have a deeper level of hope than what we started with. God sometimes allows us to go through suffering. Although it is painful, it has the effect of refining us and purifying us, like gold in the refiner's fire.
Peter speaks of this:
1 Peter 1:6 In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.
7 These have come so that your faith--of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire--may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honour when Jesus Christ is revealed.
However, Christians who lack hope and then encounter suffering may become disillusioned and lose their assurance of God's love and goodness towards them. If they fail to persevere, they may lose what hope they had. As in medicine, 'prevention is better than cure'. Hope is both preventative medicine and curative medicine. I don't mean that it prevents suffering, but rather the disillusionment that can result from suffering. We need it both before and after suffering. It is vital that churches teach Christians properly about the riches of our hope in Christ, and all that God has prepared for us in the future. Teaching about what God has done in the past is essential, but not sufficient.
In Matthew 24, Jesus teaches about the signs that will precede his second coming, including the persecution and suffering that Christians will experience:
9 “Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me.
10 At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other,
11 and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people.
12 Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold,
13 but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.
14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come....
21 For then there will be great distress (KJV: great tribulation), unequalled from the beginning of the world until now--and never to be equalled again.
It should greatly concern Christian leaders that Jesus tells us 'the love of most will grow cold'. Similarly, in 2 Thess 2, Paul describes two major signs that must precede Christ's coming, one of which is a 'falling away'. (I quote from the KJV as I don't think the NIV's translation is clear on this)
2:1 Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him,
2 That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.
3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
Because many churches have adopted a theology which teaches that this time of great tribulation is either past, or that it is future but that Christians will be raptured before it, many churches totally fail to prepare Christians for these challenges that lie ahead. It is my belief that the church must go through the great tribulation, and church leaders must prepare their people for this. Otherwise, their churches may be decimated in the great falling away.
In the parable of the sower, Jesus says:
Luke 8:13 Those on the rock are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away.