“Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts.” Ezekiel 37:11
Dear Ones:
Biblical “hope” has very little, or nothing, to do with the “hope” of this world. In its essence, it is an anticipation of the intervention of God, and the certainty of Him fulfilling what He has promised. One of the most amazing and wonderful aspects of this hope, is that there is a reward in the present moment, as well as that when it is fulfilled. What is meant by this? Concerning the matter of eternal life, we have LIFE in the present moment, as we appropriate Christ as our life. And yet, our experience of that life is like “seeing through a glass darkly,” or simply “tasting” the initial benefits and blessings of it. The promise is for the present moment, not only of actual possession and experience, but of the certainty of “fullness of joy” when we meet the Lord. We have all in Christ while on this earth, as we have access to Him for everything by the Spirit. We also have the promise that, to be absent from the body is to BE present with the Lord, where we enter into the fullness of His joy, and the limitless experience of His perfect love. Our present bodies, and minds, cannot fathom the depths of blessing of such LIFE eternal. It will take another body, a new body, a glorified body, to truly experience the greatness and fullness of this life and love of God. What then is to be our experience of this “hope” on this earth?
Hope begins when we come to grips with, and are brought face to face with, the stark reality of our “littleness, weakness, and need,” as we honestly look at our existence. David wrote that we are fearfully and wonderfully made. It is also true that God has given to man, dominion over the whole earth. God has given men and women, boys and girls, wonderful gifts and capacities, and the resources and strength, to use those capacities for good, and for His glory. In this we rejoice, and are thankful that God has given to us “…all things richly to enjoy.” However, the problem with this beautiful picture of the goodness of God towards man, is the presence, and prevalence of sin in the heart of man, and in the world. Man is not free to love God, nor his fellowman, to the extent that he can use all that God has given in a way that would be a blessing to His creation, and a subject for His glory. Hence, the portrait is marred, and the expectation is limited, even flawed. Where then does HOPE enter in? It, or rather, He who IS our hope, comes knocking at our heart’s door when we realize that we are in great need as a people, and individually, and that, there must be “help” from some other source. How then do we know where to look for this help, with the certainty of hope? As was mentioned above, Israel came to realize that she had no hope in and of herself, her circumstances and state, being without all resources. She even believed that in looking to God, there would be no help, for she “thought” she had gone too far in her rejection of Him. It is then, at the moment of such dire distress and hopelessness, that the Lord says to her through Ezekiel: “Behold, O My people, I WILL open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel.” (Ez. 37:12) His promise of HOPE does not stop there. He declares also: “…and shall put My Spirit in you, and you shall live, and I shall place you in your own land.” (v.13,14) The Hope which God gives is that which is totally out His mercy. The question then becomes, “Will we truly believe God, the words and promises, of God?”
Dear Father, Give us ever grace to hope in You and in You alone, according to the greatness of Your mercy, and the specific promises of Your word. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Love, Dad