A Promise is a Promise and Hope Springs Eternal

by Heidi Swander

The news these days can sure drag a person down!  Let’s see . . . a Methane gas cloud may force evacuation of Gulf Coast residents . . . Israel and America appear to be positioning for war with Iran . . . the Communists have slowly but surely infiltrated the highest levels of American government . . . companies are jumping on the bandwagon to show support for homosexual and transgender employees.  Yuk.

It’s important that we keep abreast of these things because they graphically illustrate the times we’re living in and Jesus implied that we should keep our eye on the signs of our times.  But we need to keep perspective.  We need to remember Whose we are and where we’re headed.  We need to be able to come home at night — after a day of battering by such awful headlines — and refocus on the promises of God and the hope we have in Jesus Christ.  When we can view everything happening through a lens of promise and hope in Jesus, the view is much brighter and a lot less distressing – even exciting!  Let me show you what I mean.

God’s Promises

The Apostle Peter said that we have been given great and precious promises.  There are a lot of them!  I challenge you in your daily devotions to keep an eye out for anything you read that would be considered a promise to you as part of the Body of Christ.  And we know that if our Father has promised something to us, we have but to look forward to Him fulfilling it. He can’t lie, so we know what He says will happen in His perfect time!  Let me share with you just a handful of these promises that I’ve found.

Eternal Life

“And this is the promise that He has promised us – eternal life” (I John 2:25).

This means Christians live forever.  I can hear you now saying, “Duh, Heidi.”  Think about that for a minute.  Not, we’ll only die once and then we’ll resuscitate on the other side.  We won’t die.  Ever.  Our eternal life doesn’t begin after we “pass away” from this earthly sphere of existence.  Rather, we have it even now, and when this mortal body breathes its last, it dies, but we keep right on truckin’!

Remember what Jesus said to Mary just before He raised Lazarus?  He said, “. . . whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die” (John 11:26).  Never.  This is a concept difficult for us to grasp, but I leave it with you to contemplate.

The Holy Spirit

“And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever – the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.  I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you” (John 14:16-18).

I love that: “I will not leave you orphans.”

When we come into a relationship with the God of the universe through the blood of His Son, Jesus Christ, we are given eternal life and the Holy Spirit as a down payment on our eternal inheritance.  He is the presence of Jesus (“I will come to you”) always with us.  Always.  Notice the word “forever” in John 14:16.  If “forever” means, well, forever – and there’s no reason to think otherwise — then it would seem that we will continue to have that abiding presence with us for all of eternity.

He’ll Come and Get Us

“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 to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also” (John 14:2-3).

This is my favorite passage of Scripture.

In an earlier article I explained that what Jesus was alluding to here was the tradition of Jewish marriages in His day, where the bride and groom would become betrothed, and then the groom would depart for an undetermined period of time to go back to his father’s house and build on an addition.   When the addition was finished he would go and get his bride and take her to live with him in this newly-finished home.

In John 14 Jesus is identifying Himself as the groom and we – the Church – as His bride (Eph. 5:30-32).  He promised to come back and get us, and because He is truth, we can bank on His coming!  Just like the Jewish bride, we aren’t sure when.  But today we can see the clouds of the Tribulation forming, so we know that our Home-going can’t be far off. We must stay vigilant – just like that Jewish bride – and be ready to go at any moment!

Just think of that glorious day!  Think of it!

New Heavens and a New Earth

“Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells” (II Peter 3:13).

“For behold, I create new heaves and a new earth; and the former shall not be remembered or come to mind” (Isaiah 65:17).

“Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away.  Also there was no more sea” (Rev. 21:1).

God has promised us a brand spanking new universe – and one in which only righteousness dwells.  No evil.  No sin.  No devil and his demons.

It includes a city with streets made of gold – you walk on it!  The foundation of the wall surrounding the city – the foundation, down near the ground – is embellished with the precious stones we adorn ourselves with and consider of high value today.  The gates are huge pearls!  In this new universe God dwells with man and Scripture says we will see His face, and reign with Him forever!  It’s a universe so grand we can’t even imagine it now because of our finite minds and the sin-laden mortal bodies we still live in.  But the day is coming!

This is a glorious truth to meditate on.  It is a promise filled with hope for our future!

Our Hope

Speaking of hope for our future, hope is a big topic in Scripture.

Now when the Bible speaks of hope, it isn’t the definition we usually associate with the word.  When we use the word “hope” it’s a shaky, unsure thing.  We “hope” it’s sunny for the ballgame.  We “hope” we get our paycheck on Friday so we don’t run our account dry.

When God uses the word “hope,” it’s a sure thing.  According to Strong’s Concordance of the Bible, the Greek word for “hope” means, “to expect fully.”  John MacArthur, in The MacArthur Study Bible explains, “Unlike the English word ‘hope,’ the New Testament word contains no uncertainty; it speaks of something that is certain, but not yet realized.”  It’s a challenge, but we must try and grasp that definition so we have it as we read and study scripture.

As I began to revisit all the scripture passages I’ve studied about our future hope, I realized that they all, in specific yet distinct ways, speak of the same thing:  The final installment of our salvation — the redemption of our mortal body and all that that means for us eternally.

Paul says, “For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now.  Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body.  For we are saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees?  But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance” (Rom. 8:22-25).

This final installment of our salvation – our hope in Jesus Christ – is multi-faceted:

It protects our minds today: “But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation” (I Thess. 5:13).  MacArthur says here, “The ‘helmet’ is always associated with salvation in its future aspects.”

In Ephesians 6 Paul also mentions the helmet of salvation and, interestingly, MacArthur ties this hope of salvation back to God’s promises when he says, “Satan wants to curse the believer with doubts, but the Christian can be strong in God’s promises of eternal salvation.”  If we are solid in our belief that God will fulfill his promises – if we have this sure hope – then the enemy cannot attack us with doubt.

It involves God’s grace: “Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (I Peter 1:13).  MacArthur says, “Christ’s future ministry of glorifying Christians and giving them eternal life in His presence will be the final culmination of the grace initiated at salvation.”  For more about this aspect of grace check out Eph. 2:7.

It includes perfected righteousness: “For we through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith” (Gal. 5:5).  Again, MacArthur clarifies, “Christians already possess the imputed righteousness of Christ, but they still await the completed and perfected righteousness that is yet to come at glorification.”  We won’t sin anymore.  We won’t want to.  It won’t even come to mind.  God’s work of salvation in our lives will be complete.

It includes sharing God’s glory: “Through whom [Jesus] also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God” (Rom. 5:2).  MacArthur here states, “The believer’s ultimate destiny is to share in the very glory of God (Rom. 8:29, 30; John 17:22; 2 Cor. 3:18; Phil. 3:20, 21; 1 John 3:1, 2).”  I challenge you to investigate each of these verses and meditate on what they mean.  It will thrill you!

This particular facet of our redemption – the realization that we will be changed and completely glorified as Jesus is — has a purifying effect on us now if we allow the truth of it to consume us.  MacArthur explains it well:  “When Christ returns He shall conform every believer to His image, i.e., His nature . . . at Christ’s return the believer shall experience ultimate conformity to His likeness . . . The glorious nature of that conformity defies description, but as much as glorified humanity can be like incarnate deity, believers will be, without becoming deity.”

In regard to this, I’m intrigued that Revelation says, “And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him.  They shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads” (22:3, 4).  Do you remember way back in Exodus Moses asked God, “Please, show me Your glory,” and the Lord said to him, “You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me, and live” (Ex. 33:18-20).  But by the time God has wrapped up His plan of salvation, those He has redeemed – that’s US! – are looking into His face! Wow.  We certainly shall be changed, just as Paul said!  We have so little understanding of what we’re looking forward to!

My, we certainly have come a long way from the distressing news of our day, haven’t we?  It reminds me of an old hymn.  Do you remember it?  If so, hum it through as you read and consider the wonderful, amazing implications for us on a day-to-day basis as we wade through the trouble of our times:

O soul, are you weary and troubled? No light in the darkness you see?

There’s light for a look at the Savior, and life more abundant and free!

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Thro’ death into life everlasting He passed, and we follow Him there;

Over us sin no more hath dominion – For more than conqu’rors we are!

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His word shall not fail you – He promised; Believe Him and all will be well:

Then go to a world that is dying, His perfect salvation to tell!

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Turn your eyes upon Jesus,

Look full in His wonderful face;

And the things of earth will grow strangely dim

In the light of His glory and grace