Our hope as believers is the personal return of the Lord to take us to Himself, and afterwards to reign in glory, as He said, “I will come again, and receive you unto Myself “ (Jn. 14:3). Ah, that is it. He Himself coming is our “blessed hope,” and He Himself in the Father’s house and we like Him, morally (1 Jn 3:2) and bodily (Phil. 3:21)—these are our richest blessings.
THE HOPE OF THE CHURCH
He will come to claim “His own.” He comes from heaven into the “air,” and with “shout,” “voice,” and “trump,” He gathers His people from every land and clime, from tomb, earth, and sea. Not one redeemed through the precious blood of Christ will be left behind, whether then alive on the earth, resting in the grave, or the precious dust scattered to the four winds of heaven. The “shout” is to startle. The “voice” is addressed to each, whether awake or asleep. The “trump” is the summons to enter the chariot-clouds and meet Him in the air.
All are caught “up” in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air—the trysting-place with our adorable Lord and Master (1 Thess. 4:17). He has made the appointment, and He will secure the meeting. Then will the Christ present to Himself His Church all glorious and spotless, without sign of age or decay, holy too and blameless (Eph. 5:25-27; Col. 3:4).
What is the hope of the Bride but the coming of the Bridegroom (Rev. 22:I7)? Now espoused to Christ, what is her hope but to have the relationship of wife established? (2 Cor. 11:2, with Rev. 19:7). What a hope! Christ coming personally to take the Church to Himself, displaying her in the coming ages in joint-heirship over creation (Eph. 1:10-11), and forming in her everlasting bridal affection and establishing eternal relationship (Rev. 21:2). We wait to take our part in His magnificent future. His is the kingdom, His the dominion, His the inheritance. His Sun will never go down; His glory will never wane.
THE HOPE OF THE SERVANT OF GOD
The hope of the servant is to find the fruit of his labor in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ at His coming (1 Thess. 2:19). “And now, little children, abide in Him; that when He shall appear, we [the servants] may have confidence, and not be ashamed before Him at His coming” (1 Jn. 2:28). The crown of glory will, at the appearing of the Chief Shepherd, be set on the brow of the faithful laborer, now toiling among the flock of God (1 Pet. 5:1-4). The crown of righteousness will be bestowed as reward of service, and to all who love His appearing (2 Tim. 4:7-8).
Four crowns are held out as reward and encouragement. Every Christian receives a crown of gold (Rev. 4:4). The faithful witness gains the crown of life (Rev. 2:10). The devoted servant earns the crown of righteousness (2 Tim. 4:8). The crown of glory (1 Pet. 5:4) will be a rich recompense to the faithful shepherd.
Heralds of the grace and glory of the risen Lord, may we be ready when your Lord comes and knocks, to open to Him “immediately” (Lk. 12:36).
THE HOPE OF ISRAEL
Jehovah-Jesus, the Saviour, is the only hope of Israel, as said the weeping prophet, “O the hope of Israel, the Saviour thereof in time of trouble” (Jer. 14:7-9). “All Israel shall be saved” (Rom. 11:26) but how and when? There is no salvation for Israel as a people until they acknowledge their offense (Hos. 5:15), and turn to their long and bitterly rejected Messiah, saying, “Blessed is He that cometh (not that came) in the name of the Lord” (Mt. 23:39); then shall they see Him.
Through mercy we have believed in Him whom we have not seen (1 Pet. 1:8); Israel, Thomas-like, will believe when they see (Jn. 20:29). The blessing of Israel—effected by looking upon Him whom they have pierced—is yet future, as Zechariah 12 clearly shows.
Jerusalem will be besieged—not as before by the Romans, but by the northeastern powers of the closing days; the city having been captured once, a second time it will be assaulted—this is the interesting moment when the Lord interferes by descending from heaven with His heavenly saints (Zech. 14:5) to Mount Olivet, effecting deliverance for His people and destroying their foes. Only the Lord’s personal intervention on behalf of Israel will save them.
Israel will then mourn in the presence of her Messiah as did Jacob’s children in the presence of Joseph, of which it is a type. Then will have arrived the times and the seasons when the kingdom is restored “again” to Israel (Acts 1:6-7); when the glorious declarations of prophets, and the theme of bards, will be fulfilled to the very letter. Psalm 72 is an actual and true description of these millennial days. Israel’s hope then, whether for conversion as a people, or for glory of millennial times, is the personal return of her Messiah. “The Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgressions in Jacob, saith the Lord.”
Then follows a description of Zion’s glory, which for beauty of language is matchless in the world’s literature (Isa. 60), He delivers Israel from her sins (Mt. 1:21) and from her enemies (Lk. 1:71). “His mercy endureth for ever,” twenty-six times repeated (Ps. 136), will be Israel’s shout of victory.
Read the prophets as descriptive of what will actually take place. Alas! that Christians should seek to deny or fritter away the plain and obvious meaning of the numerous predictions in the Old Testament intimating a glorious future for Israel.
THE HOPE OF THE WORLD
For six thousand years this present creation has been groaning and travailing together in all its parts “in pain until now.” What, then, is creation’s hope? When will it emerge from its long millenaries of bondage, into the “glorious liberty,” rather the “liberty of the glory of the children of God”? Our future glory when displayed will liberate the groaning and suffering creation, and for that revelation creation anxiously awaits: “For the earnest expectation of the creature [creation] waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God” (Rom. 8:19- 22); that “manifestation” takes place when Christ and we appear in glory (Col. 3:4). Psalm 65 and Hosea 2:18-22 intimate a blessed future for this earth. Its jubilee will be celebrated in the song and dance of the ransomed (Ps. 110). There will be a great calm for one thousand years.
THE BLESSED HOPE AND THE GLORIOUS APPEARING
The Lord Jesus Christ is Himself expressly declared to be “our hope” (1 Tim. 1:1). This “blessed hope,” therefore, is independent of prophetic or other events. It is the subject of divine revelation alone made known in the New Testament (1 Thess. 4:15; 1 Cor. 15:51).
Connect prophecy with Israel, and revelation with all that concerns the Church. He will come Himself. Far beyond the glory that will dazzle by its brightness is the infinitely deeper—because distinctly moral— glory in the person of the Lord.
We look for a person to come, the One “who delivered us from the wrath to come.” We wait for Jesus: that is our hope. It is neither crown, harp, robe, glory, nor kingdom, but the Lord Himself. It is well termed “that blessed [or happy] hope.” We look for Christ, and He is better far than even the glory He brings. Christ and His glory together form our certain hope.
“The glorious appearing” or “appearing of the glory” does not refer to Christ’s coming for His saints, but to the after event—His coming with them. It is called the “appearing of the glory” because the world, the angels, and the Church will witness it. It will be a grand public event, a spectacle worthy of the coming Christ (Rev. 19:12).
As saints we wait for the realization of that blessed hope; as servants we look for the appearing of the glory. The former is entirely of grace, the latter is connected with our responsibility. In the one we are immediately occupied with Himself as the morning star; in the other with the glory connected with the kingdom. Between the realization of the hope and the appearing of the glory, at least seven years transpire—Daniel’s seventieth week—but both are embraced in one all encompassing and definite hope—all in Him. “For yet a little while, and He that shall come will come, and will not tarry” (Heb. 10:37).
—from Prophetic Scenes and Coming Glories
Written by Walter Scott