Inspired Hope

When Abram lived in Ur of the Chaldes with his father, Terah, and his nephew Lot, he would get up in the morning have his breakfast, read the newspaper, go to work, come home, have dinner, watch the TV news, read a book, go to bed, get up in the morning and have his breakfast, read the newspaper, go to work, come home, have his dinner, read the TV news, have a couple of beers and go to bed.

One day his father, Terah, said, “Let’s get out of this rut.” Undoubtedly Terah was being inspired by God. “Let’s go to the land of Canaan.”  So Abram, Terah, Lot and their families packed everything up and headed southwest toward the land of Canaan.

But long before they got there, they stopped to rest in a place which was very pleasant, and they named it Haran.  They stayed a day or two and then another day or two more, and pretty soon Abram got up had his breakfast, read the newspaper, went to work and home, had his dinner, watched the TV news, read a book and went to bed. 

Then his father, Terah, died and God spoke to Abram.

“Now the Lord said to Abram, go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you and I will make of you a great nation and I will bless you and make your name great so that it will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you and him who curses you I will curse. And then all the families of the earth will be blessed.”                                                  Genesis 12:1

So Abram packed up his things, his family, and headed out not knowing wither he went.  And from that day on Abram never again sank back into his old rut. He was on the move. He ended up in the land of Canaan, the land of promise  . God showed him this land and said,  “This is where your children will be,” long before he had any children and even though he was already an old man.

 

But Abram kept moving. Hi never settled down again for the rest of his life, because he was driven by a hope which was given to him by God.  In hope Abram saw a City which has eternal foundations, whose builder and maker is God.

Long after his death, Abram had a grandson named Joseph. Joseph had that same hope burning inside him when he was still in his teens. He knew he was a man of destiny. One day he shared his hope with his brothers.

He said, “I had a dream and I saw the moon and the sun and 11 stars bowing down to me.”

 His 11 brothers were incensed. “What do you mean your mother and father and we your 11 brothers are going to bow down to you? Never!” and to make sure it never happened they sold him to some Midianite merchants who went down to Egypt and sold him  to Potiphar the captain of Pharaoh’s guard.

 As a slave in Potiphar’s house, Joseph continued to pursue that hope. Potiphar’s wife,  a beautiful lady, took a liking to Joseph.  She took him aside one day and said, “Joseph, I really like you. I feel attracted to you. I could make life very good for you. Why don’t you just settle down have breakfast, read the newspaper, do little chores around the house, have dinner, watch the TV news, and when my husband is off on business go to bed with me.”

Joseph wouldn’t let himself be distracted, because he was being driven by a hope far more wonderful, a joy far more fulfilling than any pleasure this woman could offer him. So he refused her again and again until she got so angry she accused him of rape, and had him thrown in jail.

After years as a prisoner, Joseph’s hope was confirmed, as he was lifted out of prison to become the Number 2 Man in all of Egypt.  His position enabled Joseph to save his father, and his mean-spirited brothers from starvation during a famine.

But the hope that drove Abraham is not just the hope for the land of Canaan it is something far beyond. He saw a City which has foundations and whose builder and maker is God.

The hope which drove Joseph was not just the hope of becoming a leader in Egypt, something far greater, it was the hope of the kingdom whose author and finisher is God.

Abraham’s hope, Joseph’s hope, your hope and mine is fixed on one object:  the Kingdom of God,  when God’s reign on this earth will be visible to every human eye and every evil will be judged, every hurt, every tear will be dried and God’s name will be vindicated. 

I consider the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing to the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God; for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the glorious liberty of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning in travail together until now; and not only creation, but we ourselves who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

                                                            Romans 8

We are looking forward to the day when the sons of God will rise out of the dust, lay aside these bodies corruptible of flesh and blood, and stand with the Messiah…

 to serve the purposes of God,

vindicate his name,

in a kingdom that will be righteous, fair, perfect, holy.

 We hear from the mouth of the one who is the Messiah a description of what that will be like:

Blessed are the poor in Spirit for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. Hope.

Blessed are they who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Hope again.

Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Hope.

Blessed are those that hunger and thirst after righteousness, they shall be satisfied.

Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.

Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called sons of God.

We weren’t born of this world in order to get up in the morning, have our breakfast, read the newspaper, go to work, come home, have supper, watch the TV news, read a magazine and go to bed.

We were born into this world and called by the Spirit of God to prepare this earth for the day when the sons and daughters of God will be manifested as a new creation.

 We have to decide whether we are going to continue to stagnate in the swamp of monotony or whether we are going to live in hope.

There are three kinds of hope:

 wish hope,     

dream hope,

divinely inspired hope.

Wish hope is cheap. You can play the lottery for a dollar.  You can have wish hope for a dollar a day, buy yourself a lottery ticket every day and hope you win.

With wish hope you can continue to get up in the morning and eat your breakfast, read the newspaper, go to work, etc. etc. You never change. And even if you win a million dollars, life goes on just like it did before, you get up in the morning, have your breakfast, read the newspaper, now you don’t need to work so you go out and try to keep yourself occupied. Come home, have dinner, watch the TV news, read a book, go to bed.

Then there is dream hope. Many a man and many a woman has dreamed of a better world. A world where there is justice, where the courts are fair, where the laws are just and where everybody has an opportunity, where  people are  free. Sometimes dreamers find each other and form a revolution.  After years of sacrifice and work and bloodshed the revolution succeeds.  But a strange thing happens. New people are in power, but they end up using their power as corruptly as their predecessors. 

Pretty soon the survivors settle into their former monotony.  Life goes on in it’s old dull way.  The dreamers dreamed.  But their dream was an illusion.

Finally there is inspired hope, hope that is given to us by God as he opens our eyes that enables us to see beyond the visible to the one thing in this world worth living for and dying for: His Kingdom.

Jesus came to this world in order to pull us out of our little wish hopes and deliver us from our dream hopes which disappoint again and again ---to call us into His Kingdom.

He came to bring us to the place where we can see beyond the sadness of this world to that kingdom where the sons  and daughters of God rise out of the earth to serve the Messiah as they usher in the only just society we will ever see on this planet. Every word Jesus spoke was a revelation of the Kingdom of God.

 

Again and again he names it, he teaches in the prayer, Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy Name, thy Kingdom come.  Every sign, every healing Jesus performed or still performs is a manifestation of the Kingdom of God.

Jesus’ death on the cross opened the door so we can get into the kingdom. His resurrection,  with the outpouring of his Spirit was his welcome into the kingdom.

As you read these words, his hand reaches out to you with help to bring you out of the Darkness, into his Light.  

I consider the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory which is to be revealed to us. For creation waits with eager longing for the revelation, the manifestation of the sons of God; for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of him who subjected it in hope; because this creation will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the glorious liberty of the sons of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning in travail together until now; and not only creation, but we ourselves who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved.                                                                        Romans  8

The clearer the hope of the kingdom is on our hearts, the less likely we are to be distracted by every little wish hope and dream hope that comes along. The reason it was possible for Joseph to keep batting away at the temptations of Potiphar’s wife was because Joseph had in his heart a vision of God’s purpose. A vision so clear and so bright that what she tried to offer him was nothing

Beloved, we are now the sons of God. It does not yet appear what we shall be but we know when he appears we shall be like him, and we shall see Him as he is. Everyone who thus hopes in Him purifies himself even as He is pure.                                                    I John 3

We see the Banquet and the Lord at the head of that banquet table.

We see ourselves sitting with the apostles, the prophets, the martyrs and the saints of old. 

 We see that great multitude which no man could number standing before the throne with palm branches in their hand before the Lamb, praising and worshipping the living God.  We are in that number.

We begin to understand that this world is not our home.

Nobody stays here, nobody stays here.

 We will either be in that multitude which no man could number

Or wander in the wasteland of hell.

But nobody stays here.

Jesus died on that cross and rose again in order to breathe into us the life of the Holy Spirit, and by the power of the Holy Spirit to enable us to press on towards that hope,  and never give up. 

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.

                                                                                    Romans 15

Not that I have already obtained this or have already been made perfect, but I press on to make it my own because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brethren I do not consider that I have already made it my own, but one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and straining to what lies ahead. I press on towards the goal of the prize of the upper call of God in Christ Jesus.                               Phil. 3:12

The power to press on is given to us by the Holy Spirit who is in our midst. The Holy Spirit is a foretaste of the coming glory. Every gift the spirit gives, every word he speaks to our hearts, every revelation that comes to us and every dream he inspires becomes a vision of that glory. Not only do I see the glory at the end of the road, but it’s burning in my heart. That’s what keeps me going. I never wear out, I keep pressing on.

The Holy Spirit is also our guide to the kingdom. When the Comforter has come he will guide you into all truth. Not just intellectual truth, but the truth which is the kingdom itself. When we get off the track he pushes us back on. When we fall off to the other side, he helps us back on.

The Holy Spirit is the helper, the Paraclete, the one who helps us to keep going.

The Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness for we don’t know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit intercedes for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.                                                                         Romans 8

The Spirit is the one who helps us see the kingdom. “He will take what is mine and show it to you,” Jesus said. “He will show us things to come.”  He opens our eyes to the kingdom.

Now every tree becomes a sign of the kingdom as it stretches its branches toward the Father in worship and praise.

Every sunset, the rushing wind, the thunder, the lightening, the mighty rivers all tell us about the coming glory and we keep pressing on.

The God who called Abraham out of Haran, to leave his country and his kindred and his father’s house to go to a land that he will show him. ….

The Lord who called Andrew, Peter, James and John to leave their fishing and follow Him….

is calling us to leave our comfortable monotonous rut and pursue the hope he inspires in us even today as he now breaks bread with us and in the breaking of that bread the eating of his flesh and drinking of his blood, he wipes away time.

We see the last supper, Jesus with his disciples and we also see the marriage supper of the Lamb, gathered with him, the saints, the prophets the apostles, the martyrs, and we among them. By the Spirit he gives us the power to press toward it, rejoice in it and hope for it.

I consider the sufferings of this present time, or the boredom of this present time, are not worth comparing to the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God, that we should be among them and in this hope we are saved.

We have to decide whether we are going to continue to stagnate in the swamp of safe monotony

or whether we are going to live in hope and pursue that hope all the way to the City of God.

 

PRAYER

Heavenly Father, I desperately need your help!  I don’t know which way to turn.  Put light on my path, put strength in my heart, and lead me out of this swamp!  In Jesus’ Name!  Amen.

 

 

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